FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302

Box Score

MCMINNVILLE, Ore. (Nov. 24, 2012) - A rash of turnovers doomed the North Central College football team to defeat for the third time this season on Saturday, as the Cardinals saw the 2012 campaign come to an end in a 30-14 loss to Linfield College at Maxwell Field.

Two fumbles and fiveinterceptions wound up resulting in 23 Linfield points and wound up determining the outcome well before time ran out. The Cardinals (9-3) committed 17 turnovers in their three losses this season.

“Linfield is a great team,” said North Central head coach John Thorne. “I thought their guys played hard. I think we're better than we showed today. Our guys were in finals all week and were just a little off today. Linfield played well and deserved to win this game for sure, but I don't think people got to see how well our players can actually play.”

North Central threatened to score first late in the opening period, but kicker Nick Dace's 37-yard field goal sailed wide left. Linfield (11-0) took the ensuing possession 80 yards in nine plays and scored on a 17-yard pass from Mickey Inns to Charlie Poppen with 14:22 on the clock in the second quarter.

The 14^th-ranked Cardinals drove into Linfield territory on their next possession as well, but linebacker Dom Forrest stepped in front of Spencer Stanek's pass and raced 73 yards to the end zone to double the home team's lead. A bad North Central snap from center was recovered by the Wildcats' Michael MacClanathan at the Linfield 37 and resulted in a 44-yard field goal by kicker Josh Kay, sending the hosts into halftime with a 17-0 advantage.

Two more Linfield interceptions netted third-quarter touchdowns for the Wildcats as they took a commanding 30-0 advantage. The Cardinals got on the board late in the third period as Nick Kukuc capped off a seven-play, 75-yard drive with a 32-yard touchdown run. After forcing a punt, North Central threatened to make a game of it as a three-play, 51-yard trek culminated in Kukuc's 15-yard TD run with 14:54 on the clock in the fourth period.

“We had that momentum shift to our side,” Kukuc said. “But Linfield did a great job of pressuring our quarterback and making plays on defense to take it back.”

The Cardinals forced a quick punt and went into their hurry-up offense, driving into the Linfield half of the field once again before the Wildcats' fourth interception, this time by Michael Link.

The loss spoiled a heroic performance by Kukuc, who established new North Central career records for scoring (288) and all-purpose yards (4,832) after rushing for 192 yards on 21 carries and catching two passes for 51 yards. The senior finishes the season with school records of 1,451 rushing yards, 1,670 all-purpose yards, 17 rushing touchdowns and 18 total TDs and ranks second in North Central history with 3,730 yards and 44 rushing scores.  

Stanek finished the day 19 of 39 passing for 25 yards, throwing six times to Chad O'Kane for 45 yards as the Cardinals outgained Linfield, 416-331. Quinn Haas paced the North Central defense with 10 tackles, three tackles for loss, two quarterback sacks and a forced fumble.

Third-ranked Linfield moves on to face the fifth-ranked University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in next week's national quarterfinals.