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Results

MENOMONIE, Wis. (Sept. 15, 2012) - Jumping ahead early with a pair of quick scores and getting a record-setting effort from placekicker Nick Dace, the North Central College football team led throughout a 37-10 victory over the University of Wisconsin-Stout at Williams Stadium on Saturday.

In their first road game of the 2012 campaign, the 13th-ranked Cardinals (2-1) rolled up a season-high 410 yards of total offense and forced four turnovers while Dace booted three field goals, including the two longest successful attempts in North Central history.

After forcing a punt on the game's first possession, the Cardinals needed just three plays to get into the end zone for the first time, as quarterback Spencer Stanek fired a 48-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Stolzenburg with 11:08 still remaining in the opening period.

The Blue Devils (1-1) got a 54-yard return on the ensuing kickoff from Trevor Morning and drove 35 yards in 11 plays to get on the board. After the possession stalled at the North Central nine-yard line, Stout kicker Ricky Marteney booted a 26-yard field goal to narrow the gap to 7-3 with 5:30 on the first-quarter clock.

Two plays later, however, Stanek struck again, once again finding Stolzenburg for a 48-yard scoring strike to give North Central a 14-3 advantage that would hold up through the end of the opening period.

The Cardinals' next scoring drive came in the second period and was North Central's longest possession of the day, an 11-play, 72-yard trek which prominently featured the running game. After six straight running plays, Stanek completed an 11-yard pass to Manny Juarez which left the visitors just one yard from the goal line. Jordan Tassio covered the remaining distance on the next play, boosting the Cardinals' lead to 21-3.

The Blue Devils produced the final score of the opening half on the next possession. Morning once again came through with a solid kickoff return, setting the hosts up near midfield. Quarterback Michael Blizel capped off a seven-play, 54-yard drive with a 16-yard TD pass to tight end Josh Peterson with 4:30 before halftime, and North Central went into the break with a 21-10 edge.

The Cardinals dodged a trio of bullets in the third period, turning the ball over three times in their own territory but yielding no points. North Central's first play from scrimmage resulted in a fumble at its own 28, but linebacker Alex Pirelaintercepted Blizel's pass at the three-yard line on the next play.


Two possessions later, another North Central fumble gave the Blue Devils the ball on the Cardinals' 20, but Marteney missed on a 33-yard field-goal attempt. Stanek was intercepted at the North Central 41-yard line by Stout cornerback Jeremy Troupe-Masi on the Cardinals' next drive, but the hosts were forced to punt and an errant snap was recovered by the Cardinals' Jason Callahan at the Stout 40.

North Central made good on the fumble recovery early in the fourth quarter, when Dace split the uprights on a 41-yard field goal. After forcing the Blue Devils to punt deep in their own territory, the guests took over on the Stout 41. Tassio opened the drive with a 20-yard pass to Stolzenburg and later finished it with a one-yard plunge to pull ahead, 31-10.

Stout's next possession resulted in a punt as well, but the kick traveled just 13 yards before going out-of-bounds. The Cardinals were unable to move the ball, but Dace came on and nailed a 53-yard field goal, breaking the previous school record of 50 yards set by Matt Carlson against Illinois Wesleyan University in 1994.

North Central cornerback Jordan Dean intercepted a Blizel pass with 2:26 to play. On fourth down at the Blue Devils' 38, the Cardinals brought Dace on one last time and the junior shattered his own record by connecting on a 55-yard field-goal attempt with just six seconds left. Dace made three field goals in a game for the fourth time, tying the Cardinals' single-game best.

Stanek completed 13 of 21 passes for 226 yards, as Stolzenburg made three catches for 116 yards to post the first 100-yard game by a North Central receiver this season. Nick Kukuc gained a game-high 115 yards on 13 rushing attempts to pace the Cardinals' ground game.

The Cardinals' defense allowed just 187 total yards. Stout gained just nine rushing yards, the fifth-lowest total ever by a North Central opponent. Joey Michals led the Cardinals with 11 tackles and two tackles for loss, while Will Sayer made nine stops.

Blizel completed 18 of 42 passes for 178 yards. Running back Eric Brown caught four passes and led Stout with 43 receiving yards. Safety Damian Guggenbuehl led the Blue Devils with 11 tackles.

North Central is idle until Saturday, Sept. 29, when the Cardinals host Elmhurst College in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) opener for both teams.