Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
SALEM, Va. (Dec. 16, 2023) - In a fierce battle to the end befitting the game's significance, the North Central College football team was denied a second straight NCAA Division III national championship by the slimmest of margins Friday. The Cardinals were narrowly beaten, 38-37, by the State University of New York at Cortland Red Dragons in Stagg Bowl 50 at Salem Stadium.
"I'm really proud of our guys and how they played," Spencer said. "I thought they battled their butts off in all three phases. When you play good teams, and you're in the fifth round of a playoff and have battled as many teams as we've played. As a coach, I need to be better for these guys, and that's on me. That's what I'll live with and work on so that the next time we take the field it doesn't happen again.
"I feel like this is the third week in a row we've played a national championship game. Our guys never flinched, they never batted an eye, they just did it. It's pretty rare for a team coming off the seasons we've had to have to do that…I'm really proud that they battled through it and they did a great job of fighting and playing to our standard."
The teams nearly played to a scoreless standstill in the first half as both sides had promising drives result in turnovers on downs. The Cardinals (14-1) opened the scoring with just 57 seconds left in the second period as Charles Coleman closed out a 15-play, 92-yard drive by taking a shovel pass from Luke Lehnen seven yards into the end zone. Cortland was able to move into field-goal range shortly before time ran out and brought on kicker Mike Baloga for a 31-yard field goal, sending the teams into halftime with North Central in front, 7-3.
The game transformed into an offensive shootout after halftime, as 10 of 12 drives resulted in points. The Red Dragons (14-1) took their first lead at 10-7, taking the first possession of the third period 72 yards in seven plays and scoring on Zac Boyes' nine-yard touchdown pass to Cole Burgess. After the teams traded punts, North Central responded with a four-yard scoring run by Joe Sacco to take a 14-10 lead with 6:34 on the third-quarter clock.
Cortland needed only two plays to move back in front, as Boyes fired a deep pass to J.J. Laap for a 65-yard touchdown toss. Sacco jumpstarted the next North Central drive with a 49-yard run before kicker Sean Ryniec converted a 24-yard field goal to tie the score at 17-17. Boyes connected with John Iadeavio for a nine-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter, but the score was tied again just three plays later. Lehnen uncorked a 59-yard pass to DeAngelo Hardy to advance the Cardinals to the Cortland four-yard line before covering the remaining distance himself to knot the score at 24-24 with 13:39 left.
Boyes capped the Dragons' next drive with another scoring pass to Iadevaio, this time from 10 yards out, but once again, North Central responded in short order. Lehnen took the ball himself on second down-and-15 from the Cardinals' 38-yard line and raced through the Cortland defense for a 64-yard scoring run to knot the score once again at 31-31.
Facing fourth down-and-five at the North Central 42, Boyes avoided the Cardinal pass rush and scrambled 12 yards for a first down before connecting with Burgess for a 21-yard touchdown toss, Boyes' fifth of the evening, to take a 38-31 lead. Once again, Lehnen dialed up a deep pass to Hardy, this time from 60 yards, which Hardy took to the end zone with 1:20 to play. The touchdown catch is the 58th of Hardy's career, establishing a new record for the North Central program.
The Cardinals elected to keep the offense on the field for a two-point conversion attempt, but Lehnen was stopped short of the goal line. Cortland was able to run the clock out and claim the title in its first championship game appearance.
"We've been aggressive on offense all year," Spencer said. "That's just who we are. You want to go down swinging. I'd rather go down fighting, being who we are and putting trust in our players, so that's where those decisions come from. The only thing I would take back is being better as the play-caller and the head coach, and making sure we're in a better position to get those."
Sacco gained a game-high 157 rushing yards on 14 carries and established a new Division III single-season record for yards per rushing attempt (9.77), while Lehnen completed 8 of 17 passes for 179 yards and gained 115 yards on 11 rushing attempts. Lehnen finishes the season with a passing efficiency rating of 262.18, shattering the previous Division III and all-divisions single-season record of 230.4. Hardy was responsible for the lion's share of North Central's receiving yards, making five catches for 146 yards.
BJ Adamchik paced the Cardinals' defense with a career-high 18 tackles, matching the fifth-highest single-game total in the program's history. Will Kettelkamp made seven stops while Julian Bell and Zack Orr each finished with six.
In addition to the single-season scoring record, North Central established new Division III single-season standards for yards per play (9.53), yards per pass (13.55), yards per completion (18.84) and fewest punts per game (1.5).
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