Oct 25, 2014
A fourth-quarter comeback effort came up just short for the North Central College football team Saturday evening, as the Cardinals lost a 34-31 heartbreaker on a last-second field goal to homestanding Wheaton College in the annual Battle for the Little Brass Bell.
Playing in front of a near-capacity crowd at McCully Stadium, the 12th-ranked Cardinals (5-2, 3-1 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) wiped out a 15-point deficit with two straight scores but could not get the Thunder offense off the field on the game's final drive, as the hosts drove 56 yards in 13 plays before kicker Sam Cote won the game with a 29-yard field goal as time expired.
"I'm really proud of our guys," said North Central head coachJohn Thorne. "We got beat up from play one all the way through, and several of them showed a lot of courage coming right back on the field and playing in quite a bit of pain. There were several plays that were so close that could have gone either way."
The loss spoiled the breakout efforts of a pair of North Central offensive players, as running back Oshayne Brown ran for a career-high 142 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries andAlex Ulmer led the Cardinals' receiving corps with 102 yards and a touchdown on four receptions. Brown had run for 198 yards on 32 carries this season prior to Saturday's game, while Ulmer had caught two passes for 27 yards.
"Oshayne and Alex did a fabulous job," Thorne said. "We're finding some more guys, but we're going to start needing some really big plays from some of our top dogs as well."
The first seven drives of the game resulted in points, as the only punt of the contest did not occur until midway through the fourth period. The Cardiinals opened the scoring by taking their first possession 81 yards in nine plays and scoring onDylan Warden's four-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Kuhl. The extra-point attempt was unsuccessful, leaving North Central with a 6-0 advantage.
Wheaton, which entered the game ranked 11th by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and 17th by D3football.com, got on the board with Cote's 37-yard field goal on its initial drive. The Cardinals' Dom Zavagliacountered with a 22-yard field goal early in the second quarter, though the Thunder followed with their first touchdown drive as quarterback Johnny Peltz fired a 13-yard TD pass to Keegan Kemp, who made the catch amid heavy pressure to give the hosts their first lead at 10-9.
Ulmer made two catches for 30 yards and added a 13-yard run on the next drive before Brown scored on an eight-yard run to put North Central back in front, 16-10. Kemp struck again for the Thunder with a nine-yard scoring run to restore Wheaton's lead at 17-16, and North Central had an opportunity to close the half with a score, but Zavaglia's 46-yard field goal attempt was off the mark.
Wheaton (7-0, 4-0 CCIW) maintained possession for nearly the entire third period in its bid to put the game away. Peltz capped off a 14-play, 87-yard drive with a nine-yard TD pass to Matt Mitchell on the first drive of the second half. After an Alex Mendez interception just two plays later, the Thunder extended their lead to 31-16 as Danny Puknaitis finished a 15-play, 83-yard jaunt with a four-yard touchdown run.
The Cardinals narrowed the gap to 31-24 on their next possession, as Brown scored from three yards out on fourth down. North Central elected to pursue a two-point conversion, and the initial pass attempt was unsuccessful, though a pass interference penalty gave North Central another try. Warden ran across the goal line on the subsequent attempt, leaving the visitors within a touchdown with 11:23 remaining.
North Central forced the game's only punt on the next drive, taking over on its own 20 with 7:11 left. The possession threatened to stall as the Cardinals faced fourth down-and-eight at their own 41-yard line, but Warden found Ulmer on a crossing route for a 59-yard touchdown pass and the game was tied at 31-31 with 4:53 on the clock.
Sticking primarily to its running game, Wheaton was able to run down the clock and move into field-goal position, converting a fourth-down attempt at the Cardinals' 32 with just under two minutes left. The game-winning field goal glanced off some North Central fingers but still had enough distance to clear the crossbar.
"We were able to touch it, but it wasn't enough to keep it from going through," Thorne said. "They don't get much closer than that.
"We're excited about the rest of the season and we're happy for Wheaton. They did a really good job and they deserved to win this one."
Warden finished the game 8 of 15 passing for 179 yards and ran for 49 yards on 15 carries. Defensive tackle Peter Mannand linebacker Justin Stuursma led North Central's defense with career-high totals of 13 and 10 tackles, respectively.
Peltz finished the night 22 of 28 passing for 236 yards and also led the Thunder with 83 rushing yards on 22 attempts. Kemp caught a game-high seven passes for 96 yards and Adam Dansdill and Jordan Dornbush each totaled eight tackles.
North Central hosts Illinois Wesleyan University next Saturday, with kickoff at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium set for 1 p.m. The Titans are 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the CCIW following a 29-28 loss to Elmhurst College.