ELMHURST, Ill. – The Carthage College Red Men overcame a 14-point first half deficit on Saturday at Elmhurst College to defeat the Bluejays at Langhorst Field, 37-28.
 
The Red Men, who won their third-straight game Saturday, moved to 5-1 on the season, 3-1 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin and remained perfect on the road at 3-0.  Elmhurst falls to 4-3 overall and 3-2 in the CCIW.
 
Carthage outgained Elmhurst on the day 449-to-297 in total offense with 255 yards coming through the air as starter Kyle Friberg and Ethan Olles combined to go 17-for-22 with three touchdowns and no interceptions.

"Elmhurst came out and played really, really well today for the first ten minutes and really took it to us with them going up 14-0 early," said head football coach Mike Yeager.  "We were able to settle in and see what they were doing and obviously played much better after that.  I am really happy with how our kids responded today and how they fought back.  I just give them credit.  I was unhappy with the start but happy with the finish.  They never say die, never freak out, they keep having fun and playing hard and good things are happening."

The three-headed monster that is the Carthage ground game rushed most of the 194 yards with Layfayette McGary and Jamel Davis each with a touchdown run and London Townsend with a touchdown reception. 

On the running game Saturday Yeager stated, "One of the strengths we have started to have, which I think I have talked about the past couple weeks is our depth.  I think as the games go on we are able to wear some people down. It is a huge asset for us and we are going to stay with our game plan.  We are going to stay with what we do.  We are going to take shots, the wind was a factor today so having the ability to run the ball was huge because there were a number of times that the throws would have been really tough."
 
James Cobbs was the game's leading receiver with 86 yards including a TD reception from Olles, while Javier Rhoades had two catches for 15 yards and a touchdown.
 
Elmhurst jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead in the first quarter as the Bluejays punched in a pair rushing touchdowns in the opening nine minutes from Ben Halloway from one yard out and Orlando Hernandez from two.
 
The Red Men started to chip away at the lead on a seven play drive that took 3:46 aided by a 32 yard pass from Kyle Friberg to London Townsend on 3rd-and-15.  Four plays later, Friberg handed off to Jamel Davis who punched it in from two yards out to put the Red Men on the board.  After the Lance Unland PAT, Carthage trailed 14-7.
 
Carthage's defense stepped-up on Elmhurst's next possession as a pair of sacks by Cedrick Fry and Pete Laughlin put the Bluejays in a 4th-and-26 situation.   The ensuing punt set the Red Men up with great field position at Elmhurst's 45.
 
Friberg led the Red Men to the game-tying touchdown on the next drive as he connected on an improvised play rolling out to the left with London Townsend who followed multiple blocks by Javier Rhoades along the sideline into the end zone.
 
The Bluejays regained the lead with 8:28 remaining in the half and aimed to push the lead back to 14 late in the half but an Amani Dennis breakup in the end zone led to Carthage getting the back with 41-seconds remaining in the half.
 
With Ethan Olles in at quarterback now, the Red Men moved onto the Elmhurst side of the field setting up a dramatic end to the first half.  Coming out of a Carthage timeout with 11 seconds remaining, Olles launched a 44 yard hail mary pass that found James Cobbs in the back of the endzone with 1.5 seconds left to tie the game at 21-21 heading into the break.
 
Carthage came out and owned the third quarter as the Red Men racked up 96 yards on the ground and 56 through the air while having the ball for over 11 minutes in the quarter. 
 
The Red Men took the lead for the first time on the day as they drove 81 yards in 4:44 with Friberg finding Rhoades for his second touchdown pass of the day.
 
On the Red Men's next drive, Carthage's Lafayette McGary became the fifth different Red Men player to find the endzone as McGary busted a 29-yard run up the middle and went nearly untouched into the end zone to give Carthage a 35-21 lead with 1:17 remaining in the third.
 
Following an Elmhurst touchdown to open the fourth quarter scoring and cut the Red Men lead to seven, Carthage went back on the offensive with Olles at quarterback.  Olles found Cobbs for a big third down 42-yard completion to set the Red Men up with first and goal from the Elmhurst ten.  However, the Bluejays defense made a fourth-and-goal stop from the one to take over on downs at their own goal line.  
 
The stop didn't deflate the Red Men as the defense stepped up and tackled Connor Brewer in the end zone for a safety to give the Red Men a 37-28 lead.

On holding Elmhurst's Orlando Hernandez and the offense at bay Yeager said, "That kid is good!  Unfortunately we have to play him two more years.  He is a great athlete.  He throws the ball well.  They have a great wide receiver in Kaylon Miller.  If you are going to stop their run game you are going to get into a one-on-one situation against Miller and they won a couple of those battles… But we want to make teams one dimentional.  We want to make them throw the ball so we know what's coming then at that point.  Luckily we were able to do that and able to limit Hernandez as best we could."
 
After the safety kickoff, the Red Men managed the clock well and gave Elmhurst the ball back via a Nick Candre punt, down nine, with 49 seconds remaining, which the Carthage defense was able to withstand for the win.
 
Next up for Carthage, the Red Men will return home to face Illinois Wesleyan University as Carthage seeks revenge for the Titans spoiling homecoming a season ago on Saturday, October 22nd at 1:00 p.m.