Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
Oct. 10, 2015 - Shifting into high gear regardless of who was at the wheel, the North Central College football team's offensive unit enjoyed the longest single-game travel in its history Saturday, rolling up nearly 700 yards in a 47-20 victory over College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) rival North Park University at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium.
WIth a total of 693 yards (398 rushing, 295 passing), the 17th-ranked Cardinals eclipsed the previous single-game school record of 674 yards recorded in a 41-24 win at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse on Sep. 14, 2013, and were just one yard short of matching the CCIW single-game record set by Millikin University against Wheaton College in 1983. North Central covered at least 60 yards on six of its eight scoring drives and owned more than a 17-minute advantage in time of possession.
The Cardinals used both Dylan Warden and Justin Hunniford at quarterback, and each experienced success moving the offense. Hunniford completed 13 of 19 passes for 193 yards, throwing for one touchdown and running for another, while Warden ran 10 times for 66 yards and a TD and connected on 6 of 10 passes for 102 yards.
"I would prefer to use one quarterback, but with all the injuries we've had among our receivers, it's been difficult for Justin to get into a rhythm in the passing game," said North Central head coach Jeff Thorne, whose offensive units have recorded eight of the top 10 single-game yardage totals in school history. "He was playing well, but when Dylan was out there we seemed to be moving a little more, so we went with the hot hand, and Justin came in late and also played well."
North Central also saw running back Austin Breunig enjoy a breakout performance, scoring twice and running for 221 yards (outdoing his previous single-game best of 97) on 19 carries.
"The offensive line did a fantastic job blocking up front," Breunig said. "We started a little slow, but once we got the adjustments from the sideline we were really able to get rolling. We were able to move the line of scrimmage and we all had huge holes to run through."
The Cardinals (3-2, 2-0 CCIW) took the game's first possession 64 yards in seven plays to notch the first touchdown of the day on Warden's 26-yard run. After forcing a punt, North Central converted its first successful field-goal attempt of the campaign, as Dom Zavaglia capped off a 14-play, 82-yard drive with a 21-yard field goal. The hosts made a bid for a third straight first-quarter score by successfully recovering an onside kick, but handed the ball back to the Vikings after a failed fourth-down conversion.
North Park got its first scoring drive of the afternoon jumpstarted with a 40-yard pass from quarterback T.D. Conway to wideout Devin Childress which left the Vikings knocking on the door at the North Central nine-yard line. Four plays later, James Herron ran for a two-yard touchdown, though the Cardinals' Larry Holman blocked the extra-point attempt to leave the score at 10-6 with 13:12 left in the first half.
North Central's shortest scoring possession started on the VIkings' 43 after a short punt. Four plays later, Breunig raced around the left end for a 25-yard touchdown. The visitors struck back quickly, as Conway completed a 22-yard pass to Dakota Conway and a 17-yard strike to Anthony Burton before hitting Childress for a 33-yard score with 1:56 left in the half. The Cardinals responded more quickly than perhaps even they anticipated, as Breunig took a handoff two plays later and cut through the North Park defense for a 72-yard scoring run, the longest of his career and North Central's longest of the season, to push the lead to 24-13 with 1:27 still on the clock.
After forcing the Vikings' fifth punt of the first half, North Central was able to tack on a second field goal from Zavaglia, a 32-yarder as time expired, as Warden hit Nolan Brannick for 19 yards and Alex Ulmer for 21 more with time winding down.
Warden got the hosts' first second-half scoring drive started with a 28-yard pass to Ulmer, then capped off the nine-play, 63-yard jaunt by handing off to Matt Randolph for one-yard plunge to extend the Cardinals' lead to 34-13 with 7:55 left in the third quarter. Hunniford boosted North Central's advantage to 41-13 with 1:54 left in the quarter, finding Ryan Kuhl for a 23-yard scoring pass, then kept the ball for a one-yard TD run with 10:16 left in the game. North Park's Matthew Chapp capped off the day's scoring, taking a screen pass from T.D. Conway and racing 59 yards to the end zone.
The Cardinals owned more than a 300-yard advantage in total offense as North Park gained 336 total yards, but was able to manage just 110 after halftime.
"We were just more assignment-sound in the second half," Thorne said. "We made some mistakes in the first half. We had some penalties and missed some tackles. We got refocused and guys took better care of their own jobs."
Kuhl was North Central's top receiver with six catches for 89 yards, while Ulmer caught five passes for 80 yards. Tom Sora was the Cardinals' top tackler with five total stops.
T.D. Conway completed 14 of 36 passes for 269 yards, finding Childress four times for 122 yards. Chaun Maiava and Matt DiFecchio paced North Park's defense with 13 tackles each.
The Cardinals travel to face Carthage College next Saturday. The Red Men improved to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the CCIW with a 31-17 victory at Elmhurst College. Kickoff at Art Keller Field is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
