Fanthorpe-to-Hlavac TD gives Cardinals victory

Twentieth-ranked North Central College claimed a thrilling, come-from-behind victory on a last-second 19-yard touchdown catch by Steve Hlavac from Aaron Fanthorpe to give the Cardinals a 44-42 victory over 16th-ranked Franklin College in the first round of the NCAA III playoffs Saturday at Faught Stadium.

The Cardinals (9-2) advance to play at UW-Whitewater next Saturday.

UW-Whitewater defeated Capital University (Ohio) 34-14. Franklin ended its season with a 9-2 record.

The game-winning drive started at North Central's own 35-yard line with 1:08 to play and no timeouts remaining. Fanthorpe (Naperville North) completed a 14-yard pass to Joe Mastrino (Immaculate Conception) for a first down at the Cardinals' 49. After an incomplete pass to Mastrino, Fanthorpe gained 10 yards up the middle for another first down at the Franklin 41. An incomplete pass was followed by a 22-yard connection to Hlavac (Naperville North) that gave North Central the ball at the Grizzlies' 19. After two incomplete passes, the Cardinals faced third and 10 with only five ticks on the clock. Fanthorpe's final connection to Hlavac threaded the needle up the middle, and the 5-foot-9, 180-pound freshman caught the ball 1-yard deep into the end zone as time ran out.

Hlavac and Fanthorpe, high-school teammates, both enjoyed career days.

Fanthorpe completed 23 of 42 passes for 356 yards and 5 touchdowns. Hlavac caught 11 passes for 127 yards and 4 TDs. Mastrino had 5 grabs for 118 yards and 1 touchdown. Butch Rossberg led the ground game with 44 yards on 12 carries.

North Central got a 31-yard field goal from Ben Aguilar (Benet) just before halftime to make the score 35-24 at the break.