Sep 12, 2015
Fans were treated to a little bit of everything in the North Central College football team's 2015 season opener at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium on Saturday, as the Cardinals routed visiting Trine University, 41-7, in Jeff Thorne's first game as their head coach.
The 13th-ranked Cardinals delivered a special-teams touchdown, presented an unconventional approach to its offense and saw several new faces contribute to a winning effort, prevailing in their season opener for the third straight year.
"It was exciting," Thorne said. "I've been waiting for this for a long time. It was really satisfying to come out here and have it play out the way it did. The guys just played phenomenally well. We ran the ball really well and our defense was just fantastic."
North Central threatened to score on its first possession, but turned the ball over on downs after three straight unsuccessful rushing attempts from the one-yard line. The season's first score came with 3:24 remaining in the first period, as Matt Randolph burst through the line on a Trine punt attempt, blocking the kick and recovering the ball in the end zone.
"We knew that there was going to be an opening in the A gap, so I just ran through it," Randolph said. "The other guys did their job, and I was just fortunate to get my hand on the ball."
Cardinal quarterback Dylan Warden, the team's starter most of last season, started the game under center on Saturday but also saw time at wide receiver as freshman signal-caller Justin Hunniford saw a great deal of action as well. After North Central took over following another Trine punt near the end of the first quarter, Hunniford delivered the first touchdown of his collegiate career on the first play of the second period, firing a 42-yard scoring pass to tight end Nolan Brannick to extend the hosts' lead to 13-0.
The Thunder, which won its season opener, 38-14, over Manchester College last week, was dealt a significant blow in the first quarter when starting quarterback Taylor Masiewicz left the game due to injury. Backup Evan Wyse came on to direct the Trine offense to its lone score on the ensuing drive, finishing off a 13-play, 77-yard possession with a two-yard TD run to close the gap to 13-7 with 9:27 left in the first half.
North Central responded with another Hunniford touchdown pass with 6:04 to go in the period, as he connected with Ryan Kuhl on a 10-yard score after running back Andrew Sledd ran the ball five times in the eight-play drive for 39 yards. The Cardinals tacked on the half's final score with 1:09 on the clock when tailback Oshayne Brown left Trine's defenders grasping at air on a 50-yard TD run. The hosts carried a 27-7 advantage into halftime.
"I was a little nervous going in, but I knew we had a great game plan," Hunniford said. "It was just a matter of me doing my job with the offense. We try to run to open up the pass, and I thought we did that really well. It was just a matter of finding the holes on the passing plays to gain big yardage."
The Cardinals' first scoring drive of the second half saw Hunniford complete three passes to Warden before handing off to Austin Breunig for a 23-yard run to the end zone. Hunniford completed three straight passes for 54 yards to set North Central up for the day's final touchdown, a four-yard run by Warden with 1:53 left in the third quarter.
North Central owned a 431-273 advantage in total yards, including a 269-115 edge in rushing yards after the Thunder rolled up more than 400 yards on the ground last week. Hunniford completed 13 of 17 passes for 162 yards, while Warden caught a team-high four passes for 25 yards. Brown ran for 128 yards on 12 carries and Sledd finished with 86 yards on 15 attempts.
Justin Stuursma totaled a game-high nine tackles to pace North Central's defense, whilePat Cravens finished with six total stops and Kevin Schroeder and Derrek Warkenthieneach made two tackles for loss. Kevin Nalefski intercepted a pass and Jack McCoyrecorded a quarterback sack.
The Cardinals travel to face the No. 25-ranked University of Wisconsin-Platteville next Saturday, with kickoff at Ralph E. Davis Pioneer Stadium set for 1:00 p.m.