First round can't contain North Central this time
It's pretty clear that North Central College is no longer satisfied with just getting past the first round of the NCAA Division III football playoffs.
That much was obvious after the top-seeded Cardinals shook off a slow start to win going away 44-23 in first-round action against No. 8 Thomas More College of Kentucky on Saturday afternoon in Naperville.
North Central improved to 11-0 on the year and will host Franklin College (Indiana) next week, a school that the Cardinals outlasted 44-42 in Round 1 a year ago. But coach John Thorne and his players talked more about their early mistakes while falling behind the Saints 10-6 than they did about the team's 556 yards of offense and total domination over the final three quarters.
"We're in the middle of finals week, and it's really hard to get kids ready for a ballgame," Thorne said. "But they just kept plugging away and some good things happened."
Plenty of good things happened with the ball in the hands of Naperville North graduate Aaron Fanthorpe. After a fumbled handoff exchange halted the Cardinals' first drive of the game inside the Saints' 30-yard line, the North Central quarterback rebounded in a big way, finishing 17 of 21 through the air for 339 yards and 3 scores and running for another 58 yards.
But even Fanthorpe, who hooked up with three different receivers for scores - including fellow former Naperville North Huskie Steve Hlavac - talked about getting off to a quicker start next week to keep his team from falling in the second round again.
"We had some little mental mistakes in the first quarter and we've got some things to work on before we're ready for Franklin," he said.
After North Central's fumble early, Thomas More quarterback Trevor Stellman connected with Chris Farley on a 68-yard pass that set up Stellman's 2-yard keeper that gave the visitors a quick 7-0 lead. Farley finished the day with 7 catches for 123 yards and one TD, but the Cardinals defense sacked Stellman four times and also picked off the Saints quarterback four times.
Junior linebacker Matt Wenger had a game-high 12 tackles and also had one of the four picks for North Central. A Derek Sulo interception and 26-yard return set up a 31-yard TD run by Dominic Sulo that put the Cards on top 20-10.
"That first real long pass gave them a lot of momentum and they fed off that," Wenger said of Farley's 68-yarder. "But we got it figured out. We had to take it (momentum) from them."
A big momentum swing came when the officials gathered and overturned what initially was a muffed punt by the Cards. Ahead 10-6 and looking at a first-and-goal from the North Central 2-yard line, the Saints' golden opportunity was erased when the refs called Thomas More for kick catching interference.
On the very next play Fanthorpe threw a 48-yard pass to Mike Macintosh and soon thereafter Phillip Rossberg caught a 5-yard TD. Instead of facing a potential 17-6 hole, the Cards found themselves on top 13-10.
"It took some air out of us, to have the call and then the big play by them," Thomas More second-year coach Jim Hilvert said. "When they scored it happened very quickly. Their top 52 players are very good players. I don't think they're vulnerable anywhere."