The Stagg Bowl feels like a century ago on the campus of North Central College. For some, that’s an understatement. The longest-reigning football national champions in DIII history made their return to Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium on September 11th against the Aurora Spartans, with a statement 64-7 victory. The Cardinals were ranked fourth in the nation before the game according to D3Football.com, with the Spartans ranked 21st after a heartbreaking 39-33 loss to St. Johns (MN) to start their season. Now, the Cardinals are set to prepare for a ranked matchup with CCIW rival Wheaton College
Replacing Rutter
The biggest question for the Cardinals heading into this season was going to be how Coach Jeff Thorne would replace Broc Rutter ’20 at quarterback. Rutter, who had brief stints in both the NFL and the CFL, started 51 games for the Cardinals. He threw for 4,591 yards and 56 touchdowns in the championship season. Thorne’s answer appeared in Luke Lehnen ’24, the CCIW’s Newcomer of the Year in baseball, as he was one of the most highly touted Illinois quarterback prospects during his high school career. Lehnen went 13-24 against the Spartans, throwing for 264 yards and 3 touchdowns.
With all of the hype surrounding him, Lehnen admitted that he felt some nerves as kickoff neared. “I was pretty nervous at first just because of the legacy that Broc had here and what he left here,” said Lehnen. “
I knew that I had big shoes to fill but once we got into that first game and started going the nerves all went away and I was out there just playing my game.”
Familiar Faces
Lehnen wasn’t the only key cog with this Cardinal offense. The powerhouse duo of Ethan Greenfield ’22 and Andrew Kamienski ’22 put up similar eye-popping numbers. Greenfield, a Preseason All-American, ran the ball 16 times for 137 yards and 3 touchdowns. Kamienski, a fellow Preseason All-American, had six receptions for 148 yards and a touchdown.
Greenfield was named CCIW’s Offensive Player of the Week after the showing. The last time he was given the award was on Oct. 26, 2019, after NCC beat Carthage by a score of 49-6.
Just like every team, the offensive line is the home of the unsung heroes. Sharmore Clarke, the third NCC offensive player named to the Preseason All-American team, helped win the battle of the trenches in Week 1, as NCC rushed for 306 yards.
“We have some new guys on the right side (Jeske Maples and Sam Pryor) that are doing awesome … the returning players are all doing amazing as well,” said Lehnen. “If they continue to do their job then I think this year will be pretty fun and successful.”
Defense Doing Their Job
On the defensive side of the ball, the Cardinals had two interceptions by Dakota Cremeens ’22 and Sam Taviani ’23 against Aurora’s All-American quarterback Gavin Zimbelman. The Aurora offense couldn’t muster itself across midfield for the entire first half of the game. Zimbelman was sacked four times in the losing effort. He threw for only 136 of the 219 total offensive yards against the Cardinals after throwing for 341 of the 423 total yards the previous week against St. John’s.
Ben Wong ’22, the lone Cardinal defensive player who made the Preseason All-American list, led the team with eight tackles.
The Battle For The Little Brass Bell
This Saturday, the fourth-ranked Cardinals will travel 20 minutes north to compete in a ranked matchup with fifth-ranked Wheaton College Thunder. The Thunder, responsible for three of the last five Cardinal losses, are the reigning CCIW champions. They manhandled the University of the Northwestern (MN) 56-0 in a Week 1 blowout.
This No. 4 vs. No. 5 game is the closest ranked matchup in this young season.
The Thunder, the reigning CCIW champions, currently have the Little Brass Bell. When these two teams last met back in 2019, Wheaton took down the Cardinals by a score of 35-21.
Wheaton totaled 513 yards of offense in Week 1. Running back Giovanni Weeks ran for 126 yards on 18 carries with one touchdown, while Sam Singleton scored twice as he ran for 81 yards on eight carries. Quarterback Luke Anthony, the transfer from Dayton, was 11-for-20 passing, with 148 yards through the air and one touchdown pass.
The Thunder’s All-American linebacker Ryan Schwartz led Wheaton with seven total tackles, including five on his own. Defensive linemen Brayden Anthony and Dallas McRae each recorded four total tackles. Stephen Watson and Caleb Egbert each snagged an interception as Egbert returned his pickoff 21 yards for a touchdown.
“Higher Stakes”
Defensive lineman Myron Lewis ’24, responsible for half of a sack in the Aurora game, can see a remarkable difference in how Coach Thorne is handling the team in practice this week.
“We can tell there are higher stakes, the staff made practice this week just feel different,” said Lewis.
“We’re all assuming the winner of this game is probably going to shoot up to first in the rankings and have a shot to get a high national seed in the playoffs.”
NCC failed to secure an automatic bid after failing to win the CCIW back in 2019. The team still found a way to sneak in as one of the last at-large bids for the championship season.
Eyes On The Prize
For Lehnen, the ranked matchup with Wheaton is just an obstacle in the Cardinals’ path to repeat as Stagg Bowl champions.
“The big goal is obviously winning another championship, but we wanna do it going undefeated, one week at a time.”
The entire season schedule can be found here.
