ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – 17th-ranked North Central handed Augustana a 48-10 setback this past Saturday in the Vikings' Homecoming contest at Lindberg Stadium. Coach Steve Bell's squad, now 2-3 on the season and 1-3 in the CCIW, will look to bounce back when it visits North Park on Saturday, October 13. Kickoff at the Holmgren Athletic Complex in Chicago, Illinois is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
 
Senior receiver Ryan Hennessy (Oswego HS, Oswego, Ill.) caught seven passes for 49 yards on Saturday to pass Gary Fairchild and become Augustana's all-time leading receiver. With 16 catches for 158 yards on the season, Hennessy now has 115 for his career, two more than Fairchild hauled in from 1970-73. Hennessy's 1,187 receiving yards rank eighth in school history. Paul Ander (1965-68) is the record holder with 2,071 yards and Fairchild is second with 1,912.
 
Quarterback Zachary Fuller (St. Patrick HS, Schiller Park, Ill.) matched a season-high with 256 yards passing Saturday. On the season, the senior has completed 107 of 162 passes (66.0 percent) for 1,182 yards and six touchdowns with three interceptions. Sophomore Max Uranich (La Salle-Peru HS, La Salle, Ill.) leads the Vikings with 25 catches for 322 yards. Senior Ryan Pitra (Geneseo HS, Geneseo, Ill.) is the top ground-gainer with 368 yards and two touchdowns on 81 attempts, an average of 4.5 yards per carry.
 
Defensively, junior linebacker Luke Sawicki (Neuqua Valley HS, Naperville, Ill.) leads Augustana in solo (26), assisted (18) and total (44) tackles. He also has team highs of seven tackles for loss and two interceptions. Sophomore safety John Kappel (Wheeling HS, Wheeling, Ill.) (22 solo, 10 assists, 32 total) and senior linebacker Cassin Wolfe (Bettendorf HS, Bettendorf, Iowa) (20-11—31) are next on the Vikings' tackles list and sophomore corner David Lane (Civic Memorial HS, Bethalto, Ill.) also has 20 solo stops. Junior end Daniel Tjaden (Assumption HS, Bettendorf, Iowa) leads with three sacks.
 
Saturday's opponent, North Park, is 2-4 on the year and 0-4 in conference play. Quarterback Grant Borsch leads Coach Mike Conway's offense. Through five games, he's 97 of 157 (61.8 percent) through the air for 955 yards with six touchdowns and five interceptions. Woodrow Corey is his top receiver with 203 yards and two touchdowns on 24 catches. Justice MacNeal-Young is the top NPU rusher with 293 yards and a touchdown on 76 carries.
 
On defense, Conway returns second team All-CCIW defensive back David Simmons, who has 34 tackles (30 solo), an interception, a fumble recovery and a pair of blocked kicks so far this year. Linebacker Gary Anish leads NPU with 47 tackles (35 solo) and three interceptions. End Uati Pati has team bests of nine tackles for loss and four sacks.
 
 
10/06/18—NORTH CENTRAL 48, AUGUSTANA 10
 
Vikings drop Homecoming contest to North Central
 
ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – North Central's Broc Rutter threw for 389 yards and three touchdowns Saturday to lead the 17th-ranked Cardinals to a 48-10 win over Augustana on Homecoming at Lindberg Stadium. The Vikings dropped to 2-3 on the year and 1-3 in the CCIW, while the visitors improved to 4-1 overall and 3-1 in the conference.
 
North Central took the opening kickoff and went 78 yards in nine plays for a touchdown. Dominick Muoghalu covered the last 42 yards on three rushes, finally going into the end zone from eight yards out. Derick Judka's point after made it 7-0 Cardinals.
 
The hosts answered with a seven-play, 61-yard touchdown drive of their own. Senior Zachary Fuller (St. Patrick HS, Schiller Park, Ill.) hit junior Ethan Jennigs (Notre Dame HS, Chicago, Ill.) with a 32-yard completion on the march and sophomore Alek Jacobs (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, Ill.) finished it off with a five-yard touchdown run on third-and-goal. Ryan Ganson's (Geneseo HS, Geneseo, Ill.) extra point tied it 7-7 with 9:39 to play in the first quarter.
 
After the teams traded punts, the Cardinals struck quickly, covering 70 in just three plays to take the lead for good. Rutter found Michael Sfikas behind the Augustana secondary for a 59-yard scoring strike and Judka's kick made it 14-7 late in the first quarter.
 
It looked like Augustana would pull even on its next possession. Taking over at their own 25, the Vikings drove to the North Central 19. On a second-and-two play, Fuller lofted a throw toward Jennings in the right corner of the end zone. North Central's Jake Beesley deflected the ball before Jennings appeared to gather it in with a foot down in bounds. However, the officials ruled the catch out-of-bounds and after a four-yard loss on third down, Ganson's field goal attempt from 40 yards went wide left.
 
The Cardinals capitalized, putting together long touchdown drives on their next two possessions to go up 28-7. Rutter connected with Cameron Moore on a seven-yard scoring strike to cap a 12-play, 77-yard march and Muoghalu's one-yard burst finished off a 12-play, 68-yard trek. The visitors took the 28-7 advantage to the halftime break.
 
Fuller-to-Jennings completions of 36 and 10 yards keyed Augustana's opening possession of the second half. The Vikings went 45 yards in six plays before Ganson's 34-yard field goal made it 28-10.
 
North Central scored on its next four possessions to complete the day's scoring. The Cardinals sandwiched a Rutter-to-Moore 15-yard touchdown toss and Terrence Hill's 27-yard scoring run around Judka field goals of 35 and 37 yards to lead 48-10 with 6:25 to play. That turned out to be the final, as both coaches substituted liberally the rest of the way.
 
Fuller connected on 27 of 41 throws for 256 yards and was intercepted once. Jennings caught nine passes for 139 yards and sophomore Max Uranich (La Salle-Peru HS, ) and senior Ryan Hennessy (Oswego HS, Oswego, Ill.) each caught seven balls for 56 and 49 yards, respectively. Hennessy pushed his career reception total to 115, breaking Gary Fairchild's previous school record of 113 set from 1970-73.
 
Jacobs rushed for 54 yards on nine carries, but North Central stymied an Augustana ground game that came into the contest as the CCIW's best, limiting the Vikings to 92 net yards on 28 attempts. Junior linebacker Luke Sawicki (Neuqua Valley HS, Naperville, Ill.) led the defense with a game-high 12 tackles.
 
Sfikas was on the receiving end of 13 of Rutter's passes for 178 yards. Muoghalu ran for 78 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.
 
Next Saturday, October 13, Augustana travels to Chicago, Illinois to take on their Viking namesakes from North Park. Kickoff at the Holmgren Athletic Complex is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
 
 
2018 AUGUSTANA VIKINGS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE/RESULTS

DATE	OPPONENT		SITE	TIME/SCORE
September 1	Coe		Cedar Rapids, Iowa	W, 26-7
September 15	Elmhurst*		Elmhurst, Ill.	W, 35-0
September 22	Illinois Wesleyan*	Family Weekend	HOME	L, 24-41
September 29	Millikin*		Decatur, Ill.	L, 27-28
October 6	North Central*	Homecoming	HOME	L, 10-48
October 13	North Park*		Chicago, Ill.	1:00 p.m.
October 20	Wheaton*		HOME	1:00 p.m.
October 27	Washington-St. Louis*		HOME	1:00 p.m.
November 3	Carroll*		Waukesha, Wisc.	1:00 p.m.
November 10	Carthage*	Senior Day	HOME	1:00 p.m.

* - College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin game
 

2018 CCIW STANDINGS

School	CCIW	Overall
Illinois Wesleyan	4-0	4-1
Millikin	3-1	4-1
North Central	3-1	4-1
Washington U.	3-1	4-1
Wheaton	3-1	4-1
Carthage	2-2	2-3
AUGUSTANA	1-3	2-3
Carroll	1-3	2-3
Elmhurst	0-4	1-4
North Park	0-4	1-4