CHICAGO, Ill. – The Elmhurst University football team fell to North Park University, 23-20, in the final minutes of the contest at Holmgren Athletic Complex.

After a scoreless opening quarter, both teams were eager to get on the board first. North Park (1-8/1-7 CCIW) struck first with a 23-yard field goal by Michael Messersmith with just over five minutes to go before the half to give the Vikings a 3-0 lead.

Jaydin Miller extended the Vikings' lead to 10-0 with a 62-yard punt return with 3:04 left in the second quarter.

The Bluejays (0-9/0-8 CCIW) responded with back-to-back scoring plays in the final three minutes of the first half to tie the contest up at 10-10. Gabe Holtke caught a 72-yard pass from Andrey Acosta for Elmhurst's first touchdown of the game, while Sandro Quintanilla nailed a 22-yard field goal with just seven seconds remaining in the second quarter.

After the break, Quintanilla tallied his second field goal of the contest from 34 yards out with 8:58 left in the third quarter.

The Bluejays extended their lead with a 24-yard pass from Acosta to Max McCarville to give the Bluejays a 20-10 lead over the Vikings.

North Park held Elmhurst scoreless for the remainder of the contest, while the Vikings added a touchdown with 1:10 left in the third quarter off of a two-yard run by AJ Harris.

Marcel Love caught a 12-yard pass from Matt Eck with under two minutes to play to secure the Vikings first win of the season.

Elmhurst totaled 12 first downs and 246 passing yards in 68 plays, while North Park totaled 16 first downs, 153 rushing yards and 94 passing yards in 79 plays in the contest.

Acosta completed 14-of-43 passes for 246 and two touchdowns. Acosta also rushed for nine yards, while Julian Cavallo and Zach Norman each rushed for seven yards. Holtke caught seven passes for 137 yards and McCarville caught three passes for 69 yards.

Gino Cerrone and Charles Scott led the Bluejay defense with nine tackles each, while Bryce Gable tallied eight tackles and one interception in the loss.

Ryan Brenner punted eight times for 222 yards for Elmhurst, averaging 27.8 per punt.

Eck completed 11-of-30 passes for 94 yards and one touchdown. Love rushed for 73 yards, while Harris added in 50 rushing yards of his own. Joseph Kalas caught four passes for 38 yards.

Miller and AJ Henry led the Vikings defense with seven tackles each and one and two sacks respectively.

Car Blatchford punted six times for 210 yards for North Park, averaging 35 per punt.

The Bluejays close out their 2022 campaign at Langhorst Field against the Illinois Wesleyan Titans on November 12 at 1:00 p.m.