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

July 11, 2023 - The North Central College football team will open defense of its 2022 NCAA Division III national champion as the No. 2-ranked team in the nation to start 2023, according to the annual Lindy's Sports National College Football Preview Magazine. This year's issue hit newsstands nationwide in June. 

The Cardinals finished the 2022 season with a perfect 15-0 record, including a 9-0 finish in College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) play. North Central led the nation in scoring offense (52.4 points per game), scoring defense (6.7 ppg), rushing offense (355.3 yards per game) and total offense (541.5 ypg), and closed out their second national title with a 28-21 victory over the University of Mount Union (Ohio) at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland. 

Mount Union received the No. 1 spot in the Lindy's preseason rankings this year, followed by North Central, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (Texas), Wartburg College (Iowa) and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. The top 10 is rounded out by Bethel University (Minnesota), Hardin-Simmons University (Texas), Aurora University, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and Trinity University (Texas). 

The Cardinals had a nation-leading eight selections to the Lindy's 2023 Preseason All-Division III Teams. First Team selections include running back Joe Sacco, wide receiver DeAngelo Hardy, offensive linemen Jeske Maples and Sam Pryor, defensive lineman Dan Lester and defensive back Antwain Walker, while quarterback Luke Lehnen and linebacker BJ Adamchik are Second Team honorees. 

Sacco is the Cardinals' leading returning rusher, gaining 627 yards on just 64 carries (9.8 yards per carry) and scoring seven touchdowns. Sacco also returned eight kickoffs and six punts for North Central in 2022. Hardy earned First Team All-America honors last season after ranking second in Division III in touchdown receptions (20) and fifth in receiving yards (1,198 on 70 catches). Maples and Pryor started all 15 games at left tackle and right guard, respectively, as Maples was a First Team All-America honoree and Pryor earned Second Team All-Region accolades.  

Lester was voted the co-recipient of the CCIW Don Larson Defensive Student-Athlete of the Year award in 2022 and was named a First Team All-American after ranking second in the conference in tackles for loss (21), including 9.5 quarterback sacks. Walker ranked second in the CCIW and eighth nationally in passes defended (17) a season ago, also earning First Team All-America recognition. 

Lehnen was a Second Team All-CCIW pick in 2022. He ranked fourth nationally in passing efficiency (192.0), throwing for 2,709 yards and 38 touchdowns while becoming the first North Central quarterback to rush for at least 1,000 yards in a season (1,034). Lehnen set a single-season program record for yards per rushing attempt (9.5), and his 94-yard touchdown pass to Hardy in the national championship game is the longest in the Cardinals' history. Adamchik was North Central's leading tackler last season with 87 total stops and earned First Team All-CCIW and Second Team All-Region honors. 

North Central's Sept. 30 matchup at No. 11-ranked Wheaton College is designated as one of five national games to watch this season. 

The Cardinals open the 2023 campaign Saturday, Sept. 2 at Roosevelt University. 

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