| Nick Kukuc hit the ground
running for North Central and finished with 250 yards. Photo by Joe Bergman, d3photography.com |
The longest trip taken by a NCAA Division III football team did
little to slow down the North Central Cardinals on Saturday, as
they came out of the gate running and blew past the California
Lutheran Kingsmen, 41-21, at William Rolland Stadium in the first
round of the NCAA Division III football playoffs.
The Cardinals (9-2) won for the fifth straight time in the first
round of the postseason, putting up 528 total yards and
establishing control early with a 24-point first quarter.
"I thought our guys played really hard," said North Central head
coach John
Thorne. "They were definitely ready when the game
started. The offense got going early and the defense got several
stops. The guys did a good job running the clock down in the second
half.
"I thought Cal Lutheran played a great game. It was a lot closer
than the score shows. We made some big plays, and they just missed
on some of their opportunities for big plays, partially because our
guys made it happen."
North Central was also the beneficiary of the efforts of running
back Nick
Kukuc, who gained a career-high 250 yards on 20 carries,
coming up just 10 yards short of the Cardinals' single-game record.
Kukuc did break his own single-season school record, currently
owning 1,259 rushing yards this season.
"We knew we had to run the ball," Kukuc said. "The offensive line
did great. We had some mistakes here and there, but we know our
main focus is to run the ball and we knew we could do that. We did
well, but we know we can do better."
Kukuc threw the opening punch soon after the bell sounded, taking
the second play from scrimmage 79 yards to the end zone for a
touchdown. The Cardinals fumbled away their next possession, but
needed just three plays to score once again after forcing a CLU
punt. Quarterback Spencer
Stanek completed a 25-yard pass to Ryan Szudarki and
handed off to Kukuc for 23 yards before calling his own number on
the option and running 11 yards to the end zone.
North Central's special-teams unit came up big on the next play,
forcing a fumble which was recovered by P.J.
Crotty at the Kingsmen's 25-yard line.
Kicker Nick
Dace came on to knock in a 38-yard field goal with
4:55 on the first-quarter clock, boosting the lead to
17-0.
Cal Lutheran (8-2) saw is next possession result in a fumble as
well, as Joey
Michals pounced on the loose ball at the Cardinals'
25. Four plays later, the visitors were in the end zone again. On
third down-and-21, Stanek fired a deep pass to Jeff
Stolzenburg, who collected the ball and tiptoed down the
sideline for a 54-yard TD with 18 seconds left in the opening
period.
The Kingsmen got on the board midway through the second quarter,
intercepting a pass at their own 33 and embarking on an 11-play,
67-yard drive which culminated in a 3-yard scoring run by Ryan
Zirbel with 4:34 on the clock. North Central fumbled on its next
play from scrimmage and the hosts had a chance to further cut into
the lead, but the Cardinals' Josh
Fick forced a fumble on fourth-and-goal at the
1-yard line and Michals recovered to negate the threat.
Stanek got the Cardinals out of the shadow of their own end zone
with a 48-yard bomb to Stolzenburg, and Dace closed the half with a
49-yard field goal to send North Central into the locker room with
a 27-7 halftime advantage.
The Cardinals forced a punt on the opening drive of the second
half, and Kukuc ran four times for 66 yards in a seven-play,
77-yard drive which ended with Stanek's 13-yard TD pass to
Stolzenburg with 9:11 on the clock in the third period. North
Central opened its final scoring drive at its own 32
after Josh
Mitchell intercepted a pass from Kingsmen
quarterback Zach Shultis, as Stanek foundChad
O'Kane for a 34-yard score on third down.
North Central's defense held Cal Lutheran to 324 total yards,
roughly 200 below the Kingsmen's season average, and forced four
turnovers while recording four quarterback sacks. Michals led the
way with nine tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack,
while Alex
Pirela made eight stops and Josh
Beveridge tallied two sacks to give him a team-high
7.5 for the season.
"The getting the job done today was the game plan our coaches put
together," Michals said. "We knew they were a great offensive team,
and they showed it today. We just wanted to go about our business
like we do every week. Our defensive line played great and the
secondary did a great job as well. I think everyone just played
hard and the game plan was what did it for us."
Stanek completed 13 of 19 passes for 236 yards, while Stolzenburg
hauled in a career-high 121 yards on four catches. The Cardinals
recorded 26 first downs and did not punt all afternoon.
Shultis completed 18 of 26 pases for 171 yards, while receiver
Eric Rogers caught nine passes for 111 yards and two scores and
Romello Goodman paced Cal Lutheran's ground game with 70 yards on
16 carrie. Dontaie Ferguson led the Kingsmen with a game-high 11
tackles.
The Cardinals advance to next Saturday's second round, traveling
to face Linfield, a 27-24 winner over Pacific Lutheran in the first
round.
"It's going to be a lot of travel involved," Thorne said, "but we
need these guys to be able to finish their final exams, and we're
looking forward to studying the tapes and trying to figure out a
game plan and watching our guys execute it."