Box Score

KENOSHA, Wis. - The Elmhurst College football team tallied its first CCIW victory with a 29-26 decision on the road at Carthage on Saturday afternoon.

The Bluejays trailed 26-7 late in the third quarter, but Chris Kudyba threw three touchdowns, including a pair of fourth quarter strikes to Matt D'Angelo, to lead the Bluejays to the win.

The winning score came with 1:51 to play when Kudyba found D'Angelo for a seven-yard score to cap a nine-play 70-yard drive. The Bluejays went for two and converted when Kudyba hooked up with Matt Long. D'Angelo caught three passes on the drive, which started after forcing Carthage to punt with 4:14 to play.

The win wasn't sealed as Carthage drove to the Elmhurst 37-yardline before Evan Jones fumbled and the ball was recovered by the Bluejays for the fifth Carthage turnover. A 17-yard run by Kudyba on a third and four play with 1:12 left preserved the win.

Carthage led 14-0 after the first quarter, taking advantage of a short field when Evan Jones hit Nick Merchut for a 19-yard score following a 21-yard punt return with the Bluejays backed up against their own goal line. Jones connected with Merchut again for a 12-yard touchdown following an Elmhurst fumble on a punt.

Tyler Lomnicki missed a 41-yard field goal attempt after a 14-play drive for the Bluejays to begin the second quarter, but Kudyba put the Bluejays in the endzone for the first time with a one-yard pass to K.C. McCarty with 4:40 to go in the first half.

A pair of turnovers in the third quarter enabled Carthage to take a 26-7 lead. Mike Oratowski scored on a five-yard run after an interception, and Evan Jones raced in from 14 yards out after a fumble.

The comeback began with Kudyba finding Sean Seroka from 18 yards out with 4:42 left in the third. D'Angelo caught a 39-yard pass earlier on the drive to set up the score. Elmhurst converted a Carthage (3-2, 1-1) fumble into a score midway through the fourth to pull within 26-21 as Kudyba found D'Angelo for a 14-yard score.

Kudyba completed 21-of-43 pass attempts and threw for 302 yards and four touchdowns, overcoming three interceptions to lead the Bluejays to the win. D'Angelo snared eight passes for 139 yards to go with two scores. Defensively, Randy Wright paced the Bluejays with 14 tackles including 3.5 for loss. Eric Puzon recorded 11 stops with Jon Janus also reaching double figures with 10. Both teams turned the ball over five times in the game.

Elmhurst (4-1, 1-1) will host North Park next Saturday at 1:00pm.