Despite a slow start for the offense, the Cardinal football team brought home a 49-21 victory over the Millikin Big Blue under the lights at the Big Blue’s brand new stadium, Lindsay Field, in Decatur, Ill.
Each team opened up with interceptions on their first offensive plays from the line of scrimmage, including North Central senior Richard Zirngibl’s (’16) pick for a return of 43 yards. North Central started off the scoring, capping off the Zirngibl interception with a seven yard touchdown run by Austin Breunig (’18).
Two drives later, North Central put another seven points on the scoreboard with a 48-yard touchdown pass from freshman quarterback Justin Hunniford (’19) to junior wideout Alex Ulmer (’17). The Big Blue came back with three unanswered touchdowns spanning from 1:30 in the second quarter up until the last 30 seconds of the third.
The fourth quarter is where the Cardinal’s offense shined with five straight touchdown runs to sprint ahead of Millikin 49-21. Junior Dylan Warden (’17) accounted for three of those five touchdown runs with the other two coming from senior Matt Randolph and junior Andrew Sledd (’17), respectively.
This victory has the Cardinals 1-0 in the early part of College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, or CCIW, play. Head Coach Jeff Thorne and his squad are looking to earn their ninth championship in the last ten years.
