After coming off a 43-13 nonconference victory over Christopher Newport, the #5 North Central Cardinals were rewarded a bye week. The bye week has passed and the Cardinals are heading into their conference schedule. The Cardinals’ first College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) opponent is #24 Washington University in St. Louis.
Last year, the Cardinals defeated the Bears 32-19 at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium. In that game, Cardinals quarterback, Broc Rutter, ’20, established to throw for 379 yards with three touchdowns. Wide receiver, Andrew Kamienski, ’21, had nine receptions for 130 yards and one touchdown. Defensively, Jake Beesley, ’21 totaled eight tackles and forced an interception on Bears’ quarterback Johnny Davidson. The Cardinals ended up totaling 577 yards, while the Bears had 367 total yards.
In the previous game for the Bears, they defeated University of Chicago 43-7. Davidson led the way as he passed for 341 yards with five touchdowns. Two of those touchdowns were caught by Tim Matthiessen on his three receptions for 114 yards. On defense, the Bears allowed 278 yards, collected five sacks and a fumble recovery.
It’s going to be a hard-fought game to start the CCIW portion of the schedule. North Central Head Coach Jeff Thorne knows how valuable this top-25 matchup is.
“Wash-U is a really good football team. They are a veteran team as they have 15 returning starters and went 8-2 last year. We are going to have to be prepared,” said Thorne.
The top-25 matchup between the #5 North Central Cardinals and the #24 Washington University in St. Louis Bears is set for Saturday, Sept. 21 at 5 p.m. at Francis Olympic Field on the Bears’ Olympic Day.
