Box Score
The Carthage College football team (6-3, 3-3 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) defeated CCIW-opponent North Park University (1-8, 0-6 CCIW), 55-24, on Saturday, Nov. 7 at Art Keller Field in Kenosha, Wis.
North Park enjoyed a brief, 7-0 lead midway through the first period, as the Vikings put together a 13-play, 60-yard scoring drive that used up 7:15. The Red Men came back with two touchdowns in the first period to take a 14-7 lead. Jeff Koeneman caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Evan Jones at 1:33 that capped a six-play, 94-yard drive. Rick Loisi followed with an 81-yard touchdown pass from Jones with 18 seconds remaining in the period. Carthage scored 24 points in the second period to take a 38-14 halftime lead. Nick Merchut caught a 19-yard TD pass from Jones at 11:10, ending a nine-play, 89-yard drive, and Loisi snagged a 26-yarder at 7:05 that made it a 28-7 game. North Park’s Sam Cochario caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Shelby Wood at 2:55 to cut the lead to 28-14, but the Red Men came right back with another scoring drive that ended with a 32-yard TD pass from Jones to Chas Walton at 2:55 to make it 35-14. The first half ended with a school-record 52-yard field goal by Tyler Funk (Sr., Racine, Wis./Case). Funk’s kick, which bumped the Carthage lead to 38-14, broke a record of 49 yards set by Scott Sutton versus North Central College in 1981 and matched by Matt Denny against Millikin University in 2007.
In the third quarter, Merchut caught a 43-yard touchdown pass from Jones at 13:39, and the Red Men led, 45-14. Luke Musselman scored on a three-yard run at 11:54 to make it 52-14. The Vikings’ Bryn Nottoli kicked a 29-yard field goal at 5:37, and the lead went to 52-17. Funk connected on a second field goal, this one a 36-yarder at 8:10 fourth quarter, and Carthage led, 55-17. A two-yard scoring carry by North Park’s Matt Hassan with 2:24 to play in the game closed out the scoring at 55-24.
Carthage rolled up 674 total offensive yards, just missing a 1970 school record of 685 yards. The Red Men had 207 yards rushing and 467 yards passing. North Park collected 316 total yards, 207 on the ground and 109 in the air. Evan Jones completed 23-of-35 passes for 467 yards and six touchdowns. The six TD passes tied Jones’ own school record set against Hope College in 2008 and matched in this year’s North Central College game. Jeff Koeneman caught eight passes for 136 yards, while Rick Loisi caught 3 passes for 118 yards. John Seigler ran for 92 yards on nine carries.
“We started out a little slow today,” said Carthage coach Tim Rucks, “but we did what we needed to do and took care of business. We were able to do pretty much anything we wanted to do. North Park put more people in the box than we had blockers for, so that means throw the ball, and we did. If you give us the pass, you know what we’re going to do. John Seigler did a nice job of running the ball. He’s a good kid, and he wants to be our next Randal Baker. He’s really developed over the course of the season. The offensive line has also really improved. They have nice sense of togetherness and work well as a unit. Tyler Funk wasn’t t at all sure if he could make that 52-yard field goal, but I shoved him on the field and told him he could do it. We also got to play a lot of people today, and that was good. We’ve had a good couple of weeks. If we can beat Wheaton, we can be 7-3, and that would be a pretty good year. Our offense is really in synch at the moment, and any team we play is going to have a do a pretty good on defense to stop this offense. If we can make some improvements on special teams and come up with some turnovers on defense, we can make a game of things at Wheaton.”
Carthage concludes its season on Saturday, Nov.14 with a 1 p.m. game versus CCIW-opponent and No. 21 Wheaton College (Ill., 7-2, 4-2) at McCully Field in Wheaton, Ill.