Bethel ousts North Central
North Central didn't have an answer for Bethel University freshman quarterback Jaran Roste during Saturday afternoon's NCAA Division III second-round football playoff game.
Roste threw 3 touchdown passes and ran for another as the Royals dominated time of possession in the second half, rallying for a 27-24 win at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium in Naperville.
"Those guys (on North Central) are some dudes up front," Roste said. "They were taking (our running game away), so we were going to have to beat them through the air, and they kind of put us in good situations and we took advantage of some of the things they were doing in the secondary and our wide receivers did a great job."
North Central (10-2) didn't trail until Roste connected for a 10-yard touchdown pass to John Carlson with 6:32 left in the third quarter as the Royals covered 77 yards on 14 plays in 8:22 to go ahead 14-10.
"Their mentality was we'll take a 4- or 5-yard chunk every play," said North Central senior linebacker D.J. Warkenthien (Neuqua Valley). "I thought we did really well in the first half, but that eight-and-a-half minute drive really deflated us. They did a really good job of controlling the ball and our offense needs time to score and we didn't give them enough time."
The Cardinals went three-and-out on their first possession of the second half. The Royals once again ate away at the clock while slowly making their way down field. They used 14 plays again, covering 94 yards in 7:29 to increase their lead to 20-10 on Roste's 1-yard run with 12:40 left to play.
"They came in and did what we knew; they were going to try to control the clock," North Central coach Jeff Thorne said. "We did a great job in the first half of containing their run, but that first drive of the second half, they established a little bit of rhythm and got the running game going and we came back with a great kickoff return and go three and out."
Bethel (11-1) had the ball for 22:28 of the second half and 35:50 total while the Cardinals only had it for 7:32 in the second half.
Dominick Muoghalu's 1-yard run with 6:56 left pulled the Cardinals to within 20-17, but the Royals answered quickly, getting a 43-yard pass from Roste to Drew Larsen just 1:05 later to extend their lead to 27-17.
Knowing time was running out on their season, the Cardinals needed just 1:34 to find the end zone again as quarterback Broc Rutter connected with Cameron Moore for a 26-yard touchdown to make it a 27-24 game with 4:13 left
The Cardinals then came up with a big defensive stop and got the ball back with 2:23 left to play but failed to convert a first down on a drive that began on their own 9-yard line.
Bethel sacked Rutter six times.
"There's a reason our offense struggled because their defense played fantastic football and they made it difficult for us to get in any kind of a rhythm," Thorne said. "This isn't a crying kind of deal where we didn't play our best. That's a really good football team and they earned the win."
The Cardinals led 10-7 at halftime thanks to Muoghalu's 1-yard run late in the first quarter and Derik Judka's 22-yard field goal 12 seconds before halftime.