Box Score
ELMHURST, Ill. - The Elmhurst College football team closed out the 2008 season with a 35-28 loss to second-ranked North Central College.
Trailing 35-7 in the second half, the Bluejays scored three touchdowns to pull to within a score in the final seconds of the game. Elmhurst's onside kick in the closing seconds did not go the required 10 yards and North Central (10-0, 7-0 CCIW) took over and ran out the final seconds of the game.
North Central jumped out to a quick 14-0 first quarter lead as Aaron Fanthorpe capped long scoring drives with touchdown passes to Mike MacIntosh and Joseph Sosinski. The Bluejays cut the lead in half early in the second quarter as Chris Kudyba hit Mitch Holmer from 29 yards out for an Elmhurst touchdown.
North Central answered right back with a 64-yard scoring drive capped by a 10-yard touchdown pass from Fanthorpe to MacIntosh. The score gave the Cardinals a 21-7 lead.
Elmhurst appeared to be building momentum late in the first half. The Bluejays drove inside the Cardinals' 5-yard line with less than a minute to play, but Kudyba's pass was tipped in the end zone and intercepted by North Central's Matt Wenger, killing the Bluejays' scoring drive.
The Cardinals opened up a commanding 35-7 lead in the second half. After a Bluejays' three-and-out, North Central marched 58 yards in seven plays with Phillip Rossberg capping the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run.
North Central grabbed a 35-7 lead when Wenger picked off Kudyba at the Cardinals' 49-yard line and returned the interception 51 yards for a touchdown.
Elmhurst's offense got rolling late in the third quarter as the Bluejays marched 75 yards in 14 plays with Kudyba hitting Matt D'Angelo on a 10-yard touchdown pass.
Midway through the fourth quarter, the Elmhurst offense again strung together a long drive with Kudyba capping a 12-play, 69-yard drive with a 9-yard scoring toss to Matt Long.
After a Cardinals' punt, the Bluejays drove 80 yards in 16 plays with Kudyba hitting Holmer from 11 yards out to bring the Bluejays to within seven points with just 12 seconds to play.
Elmhurst finished the day with 452 yards of total offense. The Bluejays ran 99 plays on offense, the third highest single-game total in school history. Elmhurst did most of its damage through the air as Kudyba completed 36-of-70 attempts for 419 yards. The 36 completions is the second highest single-game total in Elmhurst history, while the 419 passing yards is the third highest single-game output for a Bluejay quarterback.
By passing for over 275 yards, Kudyba set a pair of Elmhurst passing records in the loss. He set a new single-season passing yardage record with 2,614 yards. In addition, he also became Elmhurst's career leader in passing yards, as he finished his career with 6,428 passing yards.
D'Angelo also tied an Elmhurst single-season record by catching eight passes. He tied the school's single-season receptions mark with 67. D'Angelo also set a school record for touchdown catches in a season with 13. He finished the game with eight catches for 141 yards and a score. Holmer added nine receptions for 135 yards and two touchdowns while Sean Seroka added 10 catches for 67 yards.
North Central did the bulk of its damage on the ground, rushing for a combined 215 yards on 43 carries (5.0 yards per carry). Mike Mucha led the Cardinals with 86 yards on 15 carries while Rossberg added 71 yards on 14 touches. Fanthorpe finished 10-of-20 for 133 yards and three touchdown passes to lead the Cardinals through the air.
Defensively, the Bluejays were led by Randy Wright's 11 tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss. Eric Puzon added nine tackles.
Wenger led the Cardinals with 13 tackles and a pair of interceptions.
Elmhurst finished the season with a 7-3 overall record and a 4-3 mark in the CCIW. The Bluejays finished the year with the most victories since the 1985 season.
