CHICAGO, Ill. – It took the Red Men a little while to get going but eventually the Carthage College Red Men notched their third win of the season, defeating North Park University at the Holmgren Athletic Complex on Saturday, 33-20.
 
The win moves the Red Men to 3-5 on the season and to 3-4 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, while the Vikings falls to 1-7 and 0-7 in the league.
 
"It's always good to win," said head coach Dustin Hass after the win.  "I told them, good teams find a way to win when they don't play very well and I was looking at the stats, there have been times I have looked at the stats and thought we should have won and we didn't.  Today was one that when I was on the field I didn't feel we were playing very well.  Then you come up, look at the stats and realize we had 85 plays for 500 yards of offense, convert 50% of third downs and scored every time we had the ball in the red zone, and you think you should have felt a lot better about it."
 
Billy Dury led the Carthage offense in the first half, matching his career-high in a game with three touchdown passes in the half.  Dury connected on a touchdown pass from 13 yards out to Lafayette McGary that went for a touchdown after Bret Patton sealed the edge for McGary to get into the endzone for a 7-0 lead.
 
After 14 unanswered points by the Vikings, the Red Men tied the game when Evan French picked away a possible interception from his defender and sprinted down the sideline for a 44-yard touchdown to tie it at 14-14 with 7:09 remaining in the second quarter.  Carthage then regained the lead with 4:26 left in the half when Dury found Patrick Murphy for a ten-yard touchdown to give the Red Men a 21-14 lead at the half.  The reception was the first touchdown of Murphy's career.
 
Lance Unland gave the Red Men the first two-possession game of the day in the third quarter, as the senior kicker knocked through a 35-yard field goal to put the Red Men up 24-14. 
 
North Park cut into that lead in the fourth quarter with a touchdown on the ensuing play after Dury's lone interception of the day, but a blocked PAT by Bobby Baker that landed in the hands of Emmet Trost was returned the distance for two points in favor of Carthage.  McGary sealed the win with a 16-yard touchdown run in the final two minutes.  His second touchdown of the game.
 
Dury finished 17-27 for 208 yards and three touchdowns to just one interception, while Evan French led the wide receiving corps with five catches for 99 yards and one touchdown. 
 
McGary led the dominant ground attack, as the Red Men posted two 100-yard rushers for the first time this season, as McGary, the senior from Chicago, ended his day with 30 carries for a career-high 185 yards and one touchdown along with four catches for 23 yards and a touchdown.  Dana Fontenot, the freshman back from Lake Charles, Louisiana, turned in his first career 100-yard game with exactly 100 yards on 23 carries.
 
The Carthage defense held the Vikings offense to 318 total yards of offense and just 65 on the ground on 24 attempts, while Carthage accumulated 502 yards of offense and 294 yards on the ground.  It is the third game for Carthage with 500-plus yards of offense and the best rushing game of the season.
 
On the second half defense that limited North Park to 2-7 on third downs, Hass noted, "We played a lot better in the second half and were able to get off the field on the defensive side, while the offense was able to stay on the field… You want to see your offense run the ball well and we did that today."
 
 Frankie Gazzano led the Red Men defensive effort with 7.0 tackles, while nickelback Djogi Bumba had a team high 2.5 tackles for loss, including the lone sack of the day for the Red Men.  Bobby Baker also had the sole takeaway for Carthage, intercepting North Park's Grant Borsh on the Vikings' final possession.
 
The Red Men will return to action next weekend at Art Keller Field when Carthage hosts Wheaton College on November 3rd.  Kickoff will be at 1:00 p.m. and Carthage will recognize its upperclassmen as part of the Senior Day festivities prior to the game.