KENOSHA, Wis. – The Carthage College Red Men found themselves on the losing end of another tight game on Saturday afternoon, falling at Art Keller Field to #15 North Central College, 26-14.
 
The loss drops the Red Men to 2-5 on the season and to 2-4 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, while the Cardinals improve to 6-1 and 5-1 in the CCIW.
 
The Red Men regrouped from a disastrous start nicely, as a safety on the second play from offense for Carthage were the lone points allowed by the Red Men in the first quarter.  However, the Red Men were unable to get their offense going as they accumulated just 13 total yards of offense.
 
The defense limited the number-three offense in the nation, who came into Saturday's game averaging 548.2 yards per game and prolific scoring offense at 45.7 points per game, to season lows in rushing yards, 44, total yards, 397 and in points with 26.
 
The Red Men took a short lead in the second quarter when Tommy Bazarek took a screen from Billy Dury and brought it back across the field before busting free down the sideline for a 52-yard touchdown and a 7-2 lead.
 
The lead was short-lived unfortunately, as the Cardinals answered with a touchdown just over a minute later to take a 9-7 lead into the half.
 
After the Cardinals extended their lead in the third to 19-7 behind a field goal and touchdown pass, the Red Men got on the scoreboard again with Dury and Bazarek's second touchdown connection, this time finding the senior over the middle for a 24-yard touchdown.  Bazarek finished with two catches for 76 yards and the two touchdowns, while Dury finished 7-15 passing for 145 yards, two touchdowns and an interception late.
 
The Red Men were held to just 184 total yards of offense and 39 rushing yards in the loss, both season lows for Carthage.  Additionally, the Red Men struggled to keep the offense on the field and to extend drives as the Red Men were just 2-12 on third downs.
 
"(Third down) has been a point of emphasis and we have focused on it in practice but we still aren't to the point where we are getting it done.  We still aren't executing in these key situations and need some guys that are going to step up and make the play when it is on the line and so far we haven't done that," noted Hass.  "I think, that both teams with the weather had a plan to run it and both teams had a great plan to stop the run and you saw that today.  Today, they just threw the ball better than we did."
 
The Cardinals put the game out of reach late in the fourth quarter on a one-yard touchdown run to give the Cardinals the 26-14 win.
 
Emmet Trost set a new career-high in tackles in the loss, as the senior linebacker was everywhere, finishing the game with 18 total tackles including 12 solo, two sacks and three tackles for loss. The Red Men finished with 11 tackles for loss and five sacks as a unit with Jacob Simar tying for a team-high along with Trost with 3.0 tackles for loss.  Simar, along with Gabe Villa and Cedrick Fry each had a sack as well.
 
The Red Men will look to snap their current three-game losing streak next Saturday when Carthage travels to North Park University in North Chicago.  Kickoff next Saturday is set for 1:00 p.m.