North Central whips Wheaton
North Central College’s football team hit Wheaton College hard. Then the Cardinals hit the Thunder hard again. And again.
The Cardinals secured a share of the CCIW championship, a NCAA Division III playoff berth and the Little Brass Bell trophy that goes annually to the winner of this rivalry game with a 33-7 victory against Wheaton on Saturday afternoon in Naperville.
“It’s the one game we care about the most the entire season, the Battle for the Bell,” North Central wide receiver Bai Kabba (Batavia) said as his teammates took turns ringing the bell during a postgame celebration on the field. “Great rivalry, great game, great teams battling, 22 players playing for the game they love. It was an awesome game.”
Big plays made the difference for the sixth-ranked Cardinals (8-1, 6-0), starting with Kabba’s touchdown less than three minutes into the game.
On a third-and-22 play Kabba streaked down the right sideline, catching a pass from freshman quarterback Tyler Dicken in stride and racing to the end zone with a 62-yard touchdown.
“We have a great freshman QB who is amazing,” Kabba said. “He just put the ball on me like we worked on all week.”
Everything seemed to work for North Central the way it should. The Cardinals’ next drive ended in a 5-yard TD pass to Alex Haan from Wildcat quarterback Jordan Tassio (Naperville North). Early in the second quarter Tassio faked a dive over the middle on first-and-10 at his own 14-yard line, then stepped back and threw to Haan over the middle. The tight end saw nothing but open field ahead of him and raced 86 yards for another TD and a 21-0 lead.
“We just came out with the mentality that we knew we could move the ball,” Kabba said. “Lately our defense has been doing great. We just had to get it done on offense, to give our defense a break and basically show our respect and love for our defense by going out there and scoring when they got us the ball.”
The 13th-ranked Thunder (7-2, 4-2) never recovered, losing the Little Brass Bell for a fourth consecutive season.
“They throw balls up there, we just have to make plays on balls,” Wheaton coach Mike Swider said, shaking his head in disbelief. “The bottom line is this: They had an opportunity to make five or six big plays. They made them. We had an opportunity not to let it happen, and we let it happen.”
While North Central can start making plans its sixth playoff appearance in seven seasons, the Thunder knows its season is over in a week.
“Sure, it knocks you out of (the playoffs),” Swider said. “Absolutely, it does. This was our opportunity to get in. Win you probably get in. Lose, you’re not in it. It’s hard to swallow. It really hurts. But that’s the way it goes.”