Semifinal berth warms North Central

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. — The North Central College football team walked off the field at Bethel University feeling a numbness comprised of equal parts frostbite and euphoria Saturday, fighting its way past subzero temperatures and a sturdy opponent to post a 41-17 victory over the Royals in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III playoffs at Royal Stadium.

The win advances the Cardinals (13-0) to the national semifinals for the first time, where they will face top-ranked Mount Union.

“I was very proud of the way our guys played today,” said North Central coach John Thorne. “Bethel is a wonderful team and they’re very well-coached, so we knew it would be a hard-fought game.

“The weather and the field and all that kind of stuff made it difficult, but it’s also going to turn into a day that both teams are going to remember forever. It was a very interesting day, a lot of fun, and we’re very excited to have the chance to move on.”

On a day when the temperature stayed in the negative digits and a natural-grass field worn down by a long season was particularly unforgiving, North Central entered the game prepared to tackle the elements as well as its opponent.

“The coaches prepared us to stay warm,” said senior defensive back Shane Dierking, who became the Cardinals’ all-time leader in interceptions with 16 while also recovering a fumble and recording a team-high 10 tackles to enter North Central’s all-time top 10. “Once the game started, it wasn’t that big of a factor. Cutting and breaking was a little difficult, but there are going to be games like that in the playoffs so it was good to see us overcome those things.”

The Cardinals were also boosted for the second straight game by the rushing performance of junior Ryan Kent. Carrying the ball a career-high 28 times, Kent gained 109 yards and tied a North Central single-game record with four rushing touchdowns for the second straight week.

“It’s all the offensive line and the play-calling,” Kent said. “There are huge holes to run through, and when you’re running behind a line like that, I can’t take too much credit for it.

“I’ve played in cold games before, but the field was pretty hard. It was like playing on cement. I don’t think we were too limited in our ability to make cuts, it was just when you hit the ground there were elbows and knees getting cut open.”