Carthage College Athletics

The Carthage College football team (3-1, 0-1 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 35th in the Oct. 5 “D3football.com” poll, opened its CCIW-schedule on Saturday, Oct. 3 with a 42-16 loss to Illinois Wesleyan University (4-0, 1-0 CCIW) at Art Keller Field in Kenosha, Wis.

 

Carthage fell behind in the game’s opening moments, as the Titans scored on the second play of their opening drive.  Chris Messina caught a 39-yard touchdown pass from Kraig Ladd.  The Michael Fenger point-after was good for a 7-0 lead at 14:05.  On the first Carthage drive, Messina returned a blocked Tyler Funk punt 16 yards for a touchdown.  Fenger’s kick was good, and the Titans led, 14-0, at 12:32.  Jack Scalcucci caught a 14-yard TD pass from Ladd midway through the second period.  The two-point conversion was successful, and Illinois Wesleyan led, 22-0, at 7:54.  The Red Men got on the board with a 36-yard field goal by Funk at 4:29 second period, making it a 22-3 game at halftime.  Scalcucci caught a pair of touchdown passes from Ladd  in the third quarter to give the Titans a 35-3 margin.  The first catch in the period was a 36-yarder at 9:28 and the second a 20-yarder at 5:39.  Carthage’s Chris Schulz caught a 40-yard TD pass from Trevor Beazley with 46 seconds remaining in the period to make it a 35-9 game, and Nick Merchut pulled in an 18-yard TD grab  at 10:56 fourth quarter to cut the lead to 35-16.  Illinois Wesleyan closed out the scoring with a 41-yard scoring pass from Brien Rooney to Scalcucci, the latter’s fourth TD reception of the game, at 4:36 fourth period that closed out the scoring at 42-16.