Carthage College Athletics

ELMHURST, Ill. – The Carthage College Red Men football team fought hard to earn their second win of the season going into Elmhurst College and spoiling their homecoming, 31-17, Saturday at Langhorst Field.
 
The win sends the Red Men to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin.  With the loss the Blue Jays drop to 3-2 and 0-2 in the CCIW.
 
Carthage ran for a season-high 336 yards on 40 carries against the Blue Jay defense.  Freshman Lafayette McGary led the way with 10 carries for 162 yards and one touchdown. 
 
The Red Men ended up with 464 yards of total offense on the day, averaging 8.1 yards per play from scrimmage.
 
Elmhurst opened the scoring on the day blocking a Fred McCann punt for a touchdown to give the Jays an early 7-0 lead.
 
Carthage managed to shake off the rocky start on their next possession moving the ball 71 yards on four plays, aided by a 46-yard completion from Bobby Suchecki to James Cobbs III.  London Townsend capped the drive off with a 13-yard touchdown run over the left tackle.  Following the Lance Unland point after touchdown the Red Men and Blue Jays were tied at 7-7.
 
The Red Men defense would then step up forcing 38-yard field goal attempt by Elmhurst's Brett Bayer, which was pushed wide right.
 
After stalled drives by both teams to closeout the first quarter, Carthage would strike again in at the 11:20 mark of the second.  Following a Nick Anzelmo completion to Javier Rhoades, Cobbs would find the end zone for the first time Saturday taking a jet sweep to the right to give the Red Men a 14-7 lead. 
 
Following a short drive for Elmhurst, Carthage would take the ball back on their own 15-yard line with 8:00 minutes left in the half looking to add to their lead.  Carthage would use 14 plays over 7:50 of clock-time to closeout most of the remaining half to take a 21-7 lead into the half.   The Red Men would face two separate fourth-and-one situations that Anzelmo would rush for gains of 28 yards and two yards respectively to pick up the first downs and continue the drive.  James Cobbs III would finish off the long drive with a jet sweep, this time to the left side, from two yards out with ten seconds to go in the half.
 
Shawntrel Garner would finish the half with an interception on Elmhurst's desperation attempt on the final play.
 
Elmhurst would cut into the lead out of the halftime break with a touchdown and field goal on their two opening possessions respectively to make the score Carthage 21, Elmhurst 17.
 
Elmhurst looked to keep the momentum on their side, going for it on fourth-and-three on the opening possession of the fourth quarter in Red Men territory but K.J. Simpson would come off the edge and rock Blue Jay's running back Tyler Smith in the backfield to halt the drive. 
 
The momentum would switch over to the Red Men the rest of the afternoon. 
 
Lance Unland would kick a season-long 43-yard field goal to regain the seven-point lead midway through the fourth quarter.
 
Lafayette McGary would take over down the stretch for the Red Men, first with a 64 yard touchdown run up the middle, untouched, to score the final points of the game and give the Red Men a 31-17 lead.  On his very next touch, McGary would seal the Carthage victory going over the left tackle and kicking out to the Carthage sideline for another 64 yard run down to the Elmhurst one-yard line.  The 64-yard runs were the longest on the season for a Carthage running back.
 
Bobby Suchecki went 7-for-14 for 114 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.  Nick Anzelmo finished the day 1-for-3 at quarterback with an interception, but contributed 55 yards rushing including the two aforementioned fourth down conversions. 
 
James Cobbs III had 89 total yards of offense with four catches for 74 yards to lead the Red Men, as well as, the two touchdown runs.
 
The Carthage defense would hold to 158 passing yards Saturday, more than 100 less than the opponents have been averaging against the Red Men this season.  Simpson led the Red Men with 10 total tackles on the day along with the one tackle for loss.  Also recording tackles for loss were Pete Laughlin, Darquise Holman, Patrick Purvin Dan Pauscher and Terrance Allen who had 1.5 sacks.
 
Carthage returns to Art Keller Field next Saturday, October 17th for Family Weekend as the Red Men play host to d3football.com's number-17 ranked Cardinals of North Central College.  Kickoff is slated for 7:00 P.M.