KENOSHA, Wis. – The Carthage College Red Men had their 2016 Senior Day spoiled Saturday, November 5th at Art Keller Field as the Nation's number-five team, the North Central College Cardinals came in and handed the Red Men a hard-fought defeat, 34-21.
 
The loss drops the Red Men to 6-3 on the season and 4-3 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, while North Central clinches at least a share of the CCIW title by moving to 7-0 in the CCIW and stay perfect on the year at 9-0 overall.
 
"North Central is a really good football team," said head coach Mike Yeager following the loss.  "When you're playing a really good football team you can't have missed assignments and you can't have missed tackles or they'll take advantage with their big play ability like they did today. Ultimately, they're a great offensive team. It's not a good offense.  It's a great offense. Their quarterback and receivers are probably the best I've ever seen in terms of accommodation at our level. You can't make mistakes. I will say I'm really, really proud of our guys. I felt we battled back and played really well in the second half and had our opportunities. I'm proud of our effort today in terms of what we did in the second half. You just can't make as many mistakes as we did against a football team like that."
 
The vaunted Cardinal offense put up 105 yards on the ground and passed for 337 yards through the air to outgain Carthage 442-352, however the Cardinal defense caused problems for the Red Men offense all afternoon, sacking quarterback Kyle Friberg 11 times and recording 14 total tackles for loss in the game.
 
Despite the constant pressure, Friberg passed for a career-high 237 yards and threw for two touchdowns for the fourth time this season, while rushing the first in his career.   London Townsend was a threat for the Red Men out of the backfield rushing for a team-high 36 yards and catching the ball five times for 75 yards.
 
Carthage opened the scoring on the day as three-and-out forced by the Red Men defense set the Carthage offense up for their first possession in North Central territory.
 
Following a personal foul on the Red Men, Friberg found James Cobbs for 25 yards along the Cardinal sideline to set the Red Men up in the red zone for the first time Saturday.  Three plays later Rhoades was on the receiving end of a Friberg three-yard touchdown pass all-alone in the end zone to give Carthage an early 7-0 lead after the Lance Unland PAT.
 
That awoke the explosive North Central offense who scored on four of their next five possessions with two of the touchdown drives lasting less than a minute, including a one-play 83 yards pass by Broc Rutter to Austin Breunig on a wheel route that allowed Breunig to get behind the coverage by the linebacker. 
 
The 28 unanswered points gave the Cardinals a 28-7 lead at the half.
 
The Red Men came out of the locker room and marched down the field to open the second half with a nine play drive that took 4:38 to cut the lead in half as Friberg found James Cobbs for a ten-yard touchdown reception.  Cobbs finished second on the team with 73 yards on six catches.
 
Following a pair of stalled drives by each team, North Central regained a 20-point lead as the Cardinals put together another quick scoring drive of three plays to cover 70 yards in just 1:36 with Rutter finding a wide receiver for his fourth passing touchdown of the game.  Kameron Stubblefield blocked the PAT that ensued.
 
The Red Men continued to battle into the fourth as Carthage plugged away with another impressive drive of 10 plays in 4:21 with the 76 yard drive capped-off by Friberg scrambling up the middle for a five yard TD run. 
 
Despite Carthage defense holding the Cardinals scoreless the final 16-plus minutes, which included a goal line stand with a blocked field goal attempt by Connor Calvert, the Carthage offense couldn't get the offense on the board again as the game ended at 34-21.
 
The Red Men defense, led by Greg Money with seven tackles on the day, held the Cardinals below their CCIW-leading points per game average by nearly a touchdown.  Pete Laughlin was second on the team with six tackles, including three for losses, which led the team. 
 
Other notable defensive performances on the day included: Shawntrel Garner whom made five solo tackles on the day including multiple on punt coverage; Cedrick Fry with the Red Men's lone sack; and Amani Dennis and Seth McDorman with a pair of pass break-ups each.
 
Prior to the game Carthage honored seniors, Nick Anzelmo, Tony Block, Jon Gomulka, Fred McCann, Seth McDorman, Greg Money, Richard Motter, Ethan Olles, Rocco Rasnic, Javier Rhoades, K.J. Simpson, Jake Sutter, London Townsend and Jamahl Wright for their dedication and contributions they have given to the program during their time playing with the Red Men.
 
Reflecting on the senior Yeager noted, ""They've come a long way and worked their tails off. This teams success now from when they came in hasn't happened on accident. It's because these guys have worked their tails off for four years and gotten themselves in a position to be a good football team." 
 
The Red Men will return to the road for one final game this season, as Carthage heads to Chicago looking to finish with a perfect 5-0 road record in 2016 as they play at North Park University at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 12, 2016.