Wheaton College prevails over North Central, 52-30
The Little Brass Bell was again at stake Saturday Night at North Central's Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium in Naperville as the host Cardinals and Wheaton College faced off in their annual battle.
Both teams played like they were tugging at the trophy. However, the Thunder had a better grip and prevailed 52-30 for its second consecutive victory over NCC and fourth of the last five battles.
North Central going into the game was ranked fifth in the nation in the D3football.com Top 25 poll. Wheaton was ranked 21st.
Wheaton (3-1 overall, 2-1 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) finished with 352 yards of total offense in the first half and quarterback Curtis McWilliams was a blazing 13 of 14 for 213 yards and 1 touchdown pass. That helped the Thunder to a 31-23 halftime advantage.
"When you play on the road and it's hard to play behind on the road, it's critical that you do something early," said Thunder coach Mike Swider.
Wheaton showed examples of the big play and ball control in the first half. It got on the scoreboard first thanks to Jaelin Goldsmith's 75-yard run just two-and-a-half minutes into the game. Goldsmith swept right toward his team's sideline and found wide open territory and ran most of the rest of the way alone.
Then came the ball control from the Thunder. Tae'Shawn Gibbs' 1-yard run capped a seven-play, 70-yard drive that put Wheaton up 14-3 with 4:59 remaining in the opening quarter.
Early in the second frame, Thunder kicker Griffin Bowes' 22-yard field goal wrapped up a nine-play, 60-yard effort pushing the visitor's lead to 17-6.
Then Wheaton got the big play out again. On the first play of the a new drive, McWilliams threw 80 yards to Carter Roberts. Bowes' extra point made it 24-9 with 8:53 remaining in the second quarter.
The Thunder wasn't done. With 30 seconds left, McWilliams scored on a 3-yard run that wrapped up an eight-play, 81-yard drive.
North Central (3-1, 2-1 CCIW) got its first touchdown after 3 field goals with four seconds left remaining in the half. Quarterback Broc Rutter aired it out 64 yards to Michael Sfikas. Derik Judka's extra point after kicking NCC's first three field goals finally closed out the scoring for the first two quarters. Judka's field goals were from 38, 22 and 40 yards out.
It was a huge night for Rutter as he finished 29 of 39 for 426 yards.
"Holding them to three field goals was massive," Swider said.
The Thunder scored three of the second half's four touchdowns. Wheaton got the ball to start the second half and on the first play of the drive, Jacob Cretin ran for 77 yards. Later, Luke Van Dyke made good on a 3-yard run and Tyler Pace caught a 16-yard pass from McWilliams late in the fourth quarter. McWilliams finished the night with 347 total passing yards.
North Central's second-half points came from Dominick Muoghalu's 1-yard run with 6:13 remaining in the game.
The two teams combined for 1,071 yards in total offense with Wheaton good for 583 of them.