NAPERVILLE, Ill. – With victories in Saturday’s games,
North Central, Elmhurst and Wheaton were all named 2012 College
Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) football
champions.
North Central’s 37-6 victory over Augustana, coupled with
Elmhurst’s 35-31 defeat of Illinois Wesleyan and
Wheaton’s 55-7 defeat of North Park, gave all three teams
identical 6-1 records and be declared tri-champions.
The Cardinals earned the CCIW’s automatic bid to the NCAA
Division III Football Championship by virtue of having the
highest
point differential in games featuring the Cardinals,
Bluejays and Thunder during the regular season.
It was North Central's seventh-straight CCIW title (10th overall),
one short of the conference record eight-straight football titles
won by Augustana between 1981 and 1988. This current streak is tied
with Wheaton’s seven-straight titles between 1953 and
1959.
For Elmhurst, Saturday’s win gave the Bluejays’ their
third football title in school history. Elmhurst’s last two
CCIW football titles came in 1978 and 1980.
Wheaton won its first CCIW title since 2006. It was the
Thunder’s 16th football title in school history, second in
the conference only to Augustana’s 21 titles.
This year marked only the third time that the CCIW declared
tri-champions. Wheaton, Augustana and North Central claimed
football titles in 2006 while Illinois Wesleyan, Millikin and
Wheaton finished tied atop the conference in
2000.
The NCAA Division III Football Championship selections will be
announced on Sunday, November 11 at 5 p.m. Central Time.
Visit
NCAA.com for
all the latest details.
The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) was
founded in 1946 and currently services eight member institutions
including Augustana College (Rock Island, IL), Carthage College
(Kenosha, WI), Elmhurst College (Elmhurst, IL), Illinois Wesleyan
University (Bloomington, IL), Millikin University (Decatur, IL),
North Central College (Naperville, IL), North Park University
(Chicago, IL) and Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL). During the 2011-12
academic year, the CCIW honored 1,323 academic all-conference
recipients, 16 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, 1 CoSIDA Academic
All-American of the Year, 89 all-Americans and three national
championship teams.