Football Week 2 Preview: Wartburg

Setting the Scene: Taking on another top-10 team in Week 2, the North Central College football team hits the road for the first time this season to face No. 9/10 Wartburg College at Walston-Hoover Stadium.

Series History:  The Cardinals and Knights have met once before, squaring off in the 2023 NCAA Division III Semifinals. North Central earned a 34-27 victory to head to a fourth straight Stagg Bowl.

After building a 20-0 first-half lead, the Cardinals faced adversity when Wartburg scored 27 unanswered points and took a lead, 27-26, with 12:17 remaining. The turning point came when Zack Orr intercepted a pass at the North Central 45 with 7:36 left. One play later, Luke Lehnen connected with Joey Lombardi for a 54-yard gain, setting up Joe Sacco's go-ahead four-yard touchdown run. DeAngelo Hardy added the two-point conversion for a 34-27 lead. The Cardinals' defense sealed the win with three late stops, including Orr's game-saving tackle on fourth down in the final seconds. Sacco rushed for 126 yards and two touchdowns, while Lehnen threw for 222 yards and three scores. Lombardi totaled a career-high 161 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Orr starred defensively with an interception and the clinching stop as unbeaten NCC improved to 14-0.

North Central vs American Rivers Conference: North Central is 3-6 all-time against A-R-C competition, with all six losses coming before 1970. The Cardinals are 1-3 vs Central College (Iowa), with the most recent contest coming in 1967. Against the University of Dubuque, North Central is also 1-3, with a 59-13 win happening in 2011. 

National Rankings: North Central remains the unanimous No. 1 team in Division III, earning all of the possible first-place votes in the D3football.com poll and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Top 25. Wartburg is No. 9 in the D3football.com rankings and No. 10 according to the coaches’ rankings.

Scouting the Knights: Wartburg enters the contest 1-0 following a 36-21 victory over the 2025 Midwest Conference champions, Monmouth College. As a team, the Knights put up 386 yards offensively, 276 came through the air, and did not punt in the game. 

Josh Papesh threw for 265 yards with two touchdowns on an efficient 19-of-24 day at quarterback. Ten different players caught a pass with Taylen Curry leading the receiving room, posting 75 yards on four catches. Dawson Rud tallied 100 yards on the ground, with two scores on 16 carries. 

Defensively, preseason All-American Conner McDonald led the Knights with nine tackles, including two for a loss. McDonald and Jake Walker each forced a fumble while Adam Link hauled in two interceptions. Senior linebacker Link was named the A-R-C Defensive Player of the Week for his eight tackles, two picks and a forced fumble.

Wartburg was just 3-of-11 on third down and 1-of-4 on fourth downs in the tilt vs Monmouth.

Making History: Brad Spencer is 59-2 as the North Central head coach. With a win Saturday, he would tie “the Father of American Football,” legendary Yale University and Stanford University head coach Walter Camp, as the quickest coach in NCAA football history to reach 60 wins (62 games). Camp coached from 1888 to 1896, posting a 68-2 mark in his first five seasons.

Weekly Honors: The Cardinals earned both conference and national recognition as linebacker Phillip Carlton Jr. was named the CCIW Defensive Player of the Week and kicker Sean Ryniec claimed CCIW Special Teams Player of the Week honors while also being selected to the D3football.com Team of the Week. Carlton Jr. recorded a career-high 12 tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack, helping lead a defensive effort that held one of Division III’s most explosive offenses to 21 points. Ryniec delivered a perfect performance, going 3-for-3 on field goals and 5-for-5 on extra points for 14 total points. His 56-yard field goal tied for the second-longest in program history, stood as the longest made kick in Division III during the week, and ranked as the second-longest across all NCAA divisions this season.

North Central in Nonconference games: North Central is 12-0 in regular-season nonconference contests over the past 10 years. 

Around Division III: There are two other ranked matchups in Division III this week: No. 6 UW-River Falls visits No. 21 Coe College and No. 12 UW-La Crosse hosts No. 14 Hardin-Simmons University. 

In the CCIW, No. 2 Wheaton visits Albion, North Park visits Olivet, Carroll hosts UW-Eau Claire, Augustana visits UW-Stout, Elmhurst visits Rockford and Illinois Wesleyan hosts Trine.