Box Score North Central 30, Illinois Wesleyan 7 - Box Score

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - In a battle of two top 25 teams, the No. 25-ranked Illinois Wesleyan football team lost a 30-7 decision at No. 6-ranked North Central on Saturday, Oct. 23.

The Titans fell to 5-2 overall and 2-2 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin as the Cardinals won their 17th straight regular season home game and improved to 7-0, 4-0 CCIW. 

The game was scoreless until midway through the second period with IWU's defense forcing turnovers on the Cardinals' first two possessions of the game. Senior linebacker Dan Rogers intercepted a Brad Crackel pass on the first play from scrimmage and linebacker Michael Whittington made the second interception of the first period.

North Central scored the only points in the first period with 7:25 to go on a 13-yard pass to Joe Antonacci from Crackel.

On Illinois Wesleyan's first possession of the second half, Josh McLeod picked off a Brien Rooney pass and, one play later, North Central scored when Crackel completed a 51-yard scoring strike to Manny Juarez to make the score 14-0.

On the Cardinals' next possession after an IWU punt, freshman kicker Nick Dace hit a 22-yard field goal to extend the lead to 17-0 with 1:28 to play in the third.

North Central's defense accounted for the next score as Matt Wenger picked up an errant pitch from Rooney to Bo Lanter and ran the fumbled ball 21 yards for a score on the final play of the third period, putting the Cardinals ahead 23-0.

On the next drive, Tharryn Wright intercepted Rooney's pass at the IWU 44 and returned it 31 yards to the 13-yard line. Three plays later, Crackel connected with Andy Stuursma on a 9-yard TD pass and Dace added the kick to make the score 30-0.

The Titans scored their only touchdown of the game on the next drive when a 5-yard touchdown pass from Rooney to Joey Driver finished a seven-play, 67-yard drive.

North Central finished with 313 total offensive yards and 17 first downs compared to 236 yards and 14 first downs for IWU. The Titans held an advantage in possession time, keeping the ball for 31:15 to 28:45 for the Cardinals. 

Rooney finished with 14 completions on 30 attempts for 116 yards and rushed for 44 yards on 18 carries. Driver had a game-high 10 receptions for 72 yards and senior Eli Williams led the Titans in rushing with 78 yards on 18 carries. Defensively, junior linebacker Ryan Gresko totaled team highs of 11 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss. 

For the Cardinals, Jordan Tassio finished with a game-high 116 rushing yards on 16 carries, while Crackel was 9 of 17 passing for 128 yards. Stuursma caught four passes for 40 yards. Wenger paced North Central's defense with a season-high 14 tackles..

The Titans are at home for a 1 p.m. CCIW contest next Saturday against Millikin.