NAPERVILLE, Ill. - The Elmhurst University football team could not sustain its momentum from last week's victory at home, as the Bluejays fell 77-7 to top-ranked North Central College.
Elmhurst (1-5/1-4 CCIW) started the game with two solid defensive stands.
Zack Hazelhoff forced a fumble on North Central's (6-0/5-0 CCIW) opening possession that Stephan Postman recovered. Elmhurst could not capitalize on the field position and punted the ball back to the Cardinals. The Bluejays' defense forced a punt on NCC's next possession as well, but disaster struck for Elmhurst when a bad snap on fourth down resulted in North Central taking over at the Elmhurst eight-yard line. Luke Lehnen scored on an eight-yard carry just one play later.
North Central added a 31-yard pass from Lehnen to Andrew Kaminski and a 37-yard scoring strike from Lehnen to Khori Blair to take a 21-0 lead after one quarter. Terrence Hill scored three straight touchdowns for the Cardinals in the second quarter to give NCC a 42-0 lead at the half.
North Central scored four more touchdowns to start the second half before Elmhurst took advantage of a North Central mistake to score its touchdown. North Central muffed an Elmhurst punt with the Bluejays recovering inside the Cardinals' 25-yard line.
Nick Eilers connected with
Ben Kline from five-yards out to account for the Bluejays' touchdown.
Elmhurst finished with 129 yards on the day, passing for 104 through the air. The Cardinals tallied 582 yards on the evening.
Anthony Antrobus led Elmhurst on the ground with 10 carries for 23 yards. Eilers completed 10-of-21 passes for 77 yards and a touchdown.
Lehnen paced the Cardinals through tha air, completed 16-of-26 passes for 272 yards and four touchdowns. Terren Hill rushed 12 times for 82 yards and a two touchdowns to pace North Central on the ground.
Bryce Gable led Elmhurst's defense in the loss, totaling eight tackles, including two tackles for loss and a QB sack. Gable also forced a fumble.
Tanner King added a sack and two tackles for loss for Elmhurst.
Elmhurst plays at North Park University next Saturday, October 23.
