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November 10, 2012

Augustana vs. North Central Preview

Senior offensive tackle Mike Kautz hopes to close out his career by helping Augustana knock off 14th-ranked North Central Saturday at Ericson Field.

Big plays on both sides of the ball this past Saturday carried coach Rob Cushman's Augustana football team to its fourth straight win as the Vikings defeated Illinois Wesleyan 22-7 in Bloomington, Illinois. Augustana is now alone in fourth place in the CCIW with a 4-2 record and improved to 5-4 on the season. North Central, one of three teams tied for the league lead, visits Ericson Field on Saturday, November 10 at 1:00 p.m. to close the regular season.  

The Vikings piled up 441 total yards on offense Saturday, including touchdown passes of 58 and 78 yards, and the defense limited the Titans to 257 yards while picking off a pair of IWU passes.  

All of the game's points were scored in the opening half. Freshman receiver Jawan Straughter (Plainfield East HS, Bolingbrook, Ill.) took an option reverse in from 12 yards out to give Augustana a 7-0 lead with 5:10 left in the first quarter. After a Brady Rogers (Cherokee Trail HS, Aurora, Colo.) field goal and an IWU touchdown early in the second quarter made it 10-7 Vikings, senior quarterback Nick Welch connected with junior Kyle Snow (Wheaton Warrenville South HS, Wheaton, Ill.) for a 58-yard touchdown pass and a 16-7 Viking lead. Snow broke a tackle at the Titan 30 and outran the IWU secondary to the end zone. Then, with just over two minutes left in the half, junior running back Eric Chandler (Cary-Grove HS, Cary, Ill.) took a short Welch pass and went 78 yards for a touchdown and a 22-7 halftime advantage.  

The defense kept the Titans off the board in the second half, getting interceptions from seniors John Draminski (Wethersfield HS, Kewanee, Ill.) and Matt Glawe (Wheaton Warrenville South HS, Winfield, Ill.), and the offense put together a 13-play, 57-yard march that milked the final seven minutes off the clock.  

With his 277 passing yards against Illinois Wesleyan, Welch now has 1,326 on the year, which ranks as the ninth-best single-season total in school history. He's completed 97 of 165 attempts (58.8 percent) with 11 touchdowns against six interceptions. Chandler ranks third in the CCIW in rushing and has 687 yards and five touchdowns on 102 carries (6.7 per attempt) this season. Senior Brett McWilliams (Hononegah HS, Roscoe, Ill.) has added 417 yards and four touchdowns on 64 attempts, an average of 6.5 yards per carry. Snow, with 26 catches for 301 yards and two touchdowns, leads a balanced receiving corps, which also includes sophomores Torre Harrell (Bloomington HS, Bloomington, Ill.) (18-212-3) and Antonio Owens (Naperville North HS, Chicago, Ill.) (17-208-2). Junior Nick Krantz (Moline HS, Moline, Ill.) had 18 catches for 329 yards and two scores before suffering a season-ending injury in the season's seventh game.  

Defensively, the Vikings are giving up 377.1 total yards per game. Opponents average 153.3 rushing yards per game and 3.7 yards per carry and have completed 55.1 percent of their passes for an average of 223.8 yards per game. Junior linebacker Erik Westerberg (York HS, Elmhurst, Ill.), the CCIW's leading tackler, has 113 on the year and leads the Vikings with 63 solo stops, 50 assists and 14 tackles for loss. His four sacks are second on the team to Sean McIntyre's (Genoa-Kingston HS, Genoa, Ill.) nine. McIntyre, a sophomore, and junior Mike O'Donoghue (Mundelein HS, Mundelein, Ill.) have each recovered a pair of fumbles and sophomores Bo Goshorn (Romeoville HS, Romeoville, Ill.) and Tim Maroder (Burlington Central HS, Elgin, Ill.) lead the team with three interceptions each.  

North Central, which has won or shared the last six CCIW titles, visits Ericson Field this Saturday in a three-way tie for the conference lead with Wheaton and Elmhurst. The Cardinals are 7-2 overall and 5-1 in the league. They're coming off a 35-21 loss at home to Wheaton this past week. They feature four first-team and four second-team All-CCIW performers from 2011 and have five Division I and two Division II transfers on their current two-deep.  

North Central is averaging 39.4 points per game while surrendering just 15.7 per contest and leads the conference in both categories. The Cardinal running attack produces 220.4 yards per game and 5.5 per carry. Nick Kukuc leads the way with 112 carries for 925 yards (8.3 per attempt) and 13 touchdowns, while Jordan Tassio has 397 yards and 14 touchdowns on 77 carries (5.9 ypc). Quarterback Spencer Stanek is 142 of 224 passing for 1,979 yards and 15 touchdowns.   

AUGUSTANA VS. NORTH CENTRAL...  

Augustana holds a 57-24-1 lead in this series, which began in 1923, but the Cardinals have won the last six meetings between the two...The Vikings' last win against North Central came in 2005 by a score of 20-17...Augustana won 23 straight games between 1981 and 2004...North Central won the first ever meeting by the score of 20-6 in 1923.  

LAST YEAR...   

10/08/11-NORTH CENTRAL 24, AUGUSTANA 3  

Augustana falls 24-3 at No. 6 North Central   

NAPERVILLE, Ill.-With seven minutes to go in Saturday's game at North Central, Augustana trailed just 10-3 and was driving with the ball near midfield. Unfortunately, the Vikings couldn't convert a third-and-six from their own 49-yard line and had to punt the ball away. The sixth-ranked Cardinals went on to score two touchdowns in the game's final 1:20 to claim a 24-3 victory.    

Despite holding the Vikings to just one first down--and that via penalty--in the first half, North Central led just 7-0 at intermission. The Cardinals missed a 25-yard field goal attempt on their first possession and Augustana forced them to punt on their second. A 38-yard Tyler Dicken to Jeff Stolzenburg completion set up a one-yard touchdown run by Nick Kukuc on North Central's third possession and the Cardinals led 7-0. The drive covered 40 yards in just three plays.    

The Vikings forced North Central to punt on its next two possessions and then came up with a big stop on fourth and four from the Augustana 43 with just over three minutes left in the half. The Cardinals got the ball back one more time, moving from their own five-yard line to their own 30 before time ran out.    

On the opening play of the second half, senior quarterback David Lee (Springfield HS, Springfield, Ill.) hooked up with senior Jordan Peart (Marion Central HS, Bull Valley, Ill.) on a 24-yard completion for the Vikings' first non-penalty first down of the night. From there, the Cardinal defense stiffened again and forced one of 10 Arnie Fitzwater (Union HS, Waterford, Wis.) punts on the evening. North Central then went 58 yards in 11 plays and took a 10-0 lead on a 34-yard Nick Dace field goal. The key play in the drive was a 23-yard Dicken-to-Nick Hicks pass on third-and-16 from their own 19-yard line.    

After forcing another Viking punt, which Joe Antonacci returned 47 yards to the Augustana 36, the Cardinals were in position to put another field goal on the board with four minutes left in the third. However, senior Matt Glawe (Wheaton Warrenville South HS, Winfield, Ill.) got a hand on Dace's 43-yard attempt and Augustana's Rob Mago (Cary-Grove HS, Cary, Ill.) recovered to end the threat.    

The Vikings responded with their only scoring drive of the night, going 65 yards in eight plays to set up a 25-yard Brady Rogers (Cherokee Trail HS, Aurora, Colo.) field goal. Lee started the march with back-to-back nine-yard connections with freshman Antonio Owens (Naperville North HS, Naperville, Ill.) and then finding senior Zachary McCullough (St. Charles North HS, St. Charles, Ill.) for a 28-yard completion. Lee rushed for 12 yards to the Cardinal 15-yard line and hit Jack Gilleland (Marian Central HS, McHenry, Ill.) to the eight before and incompletion and a one-yard rushing loss forced the Vikings to settle for the field goal and a 10-3 deficit.    

Each team punted on its next two possessions, with the last coming after the Vikings' inability to convert that third-and-six near midfield with seven minutes left. North Central took over at its own five-yard line with 6:40 remaining. On one of the game's key plays, Dicken, facing a third-and-13 from his own two, found Chad O'Kane for a 24-yard gain to keep the drive alive. From there, the Cardinals finished off the nine-play, 95-yard march, capping it with a 42-yard touchdown run by Dicken for a 17-3 lead.    

The Viking looked like they might at least make it interesting when sophomore Sean Walker (Annawan HS, Annawan, Ill.) brought the ensuing kickoff back 46 yards into Cardinal territory. Lee completed a pair of passes to get to the North Central 34, but on third-and-six, Kane Thompson picked him off and returned the interception 70 yards for a touchdown, scoring with 23 seconds left to account for the final of 24-3.    

Lee finished the night 14 of 27 for 119 yards and one interception. He was also the team's leading rusher with 20 yards on eight carries. McCullough (44 yards), Peart (28) and Owens (24) each caught three passes. Sophomore linebacker Erik Westerberg (York HS, Elmhurst, Ill.), as he has all season, led the Vikings in tackles. He had 12 total including eight solo stops. Glawe (7-1--8) and Mago (5-2--7) were next. Fitzwater was outstanding again, averaging 42.8 yards on 10 punts.    

Now 0-5 on the year and 0-2 in CCIW play, the Vikings return to Ericson Field next Saturday, October 15, hosting Carthage at 6:00 p.m.  

2012 AUGUSTANA VIKINGS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE/RESULTS

* - College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin game      

2012 CCIW STANDINGS

LAST WEEK'S RESULTS  
November 3

AUGUSTANA 22, Illinois Wesleyan 7
Millikin 37, North Park 10
Wheaton 35, North Central 21
Elmhurst 41, Carthage 24  

THIS WEEK'S GAMES
November 10
North Central at AUGUSTANA, 1:00 p.m.
North Park at Wheaton, 1:00 p.m.
Carthage at Millikin, 1:00 pm.
Illinois Wesleyan at Elmhurst, 1:00 p.m.      

HEAD COACH ROB CUSHMAN
Rob Cushman is in his second season as the head coach of the Augustana football program. He has spent the 2008-10 seasons serving as the Viking defensive coordinator. His coaching career began at Cal State-Chico in 1979. His first head coaching position was at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande, Oregon, where he spent five seasons before being named the first head coach at Feather River College in Quincy, California in 2002. He led the fledgling program to a 34-21 (.618) record in five seasons, reaching a post-season bowl game each year. He served as special teams coordinator and defensive backs coach at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York in 2007, prior to coming to Augustana.  

CUSHMAN'S RECORD AS HEAD COACH

                                                OVERALL                                CONFERENCE

ROB CUSHMAN BY THE NUMBERS: Here is a closer look at Rob Cushman's record at Augustana College.

CUSHMAN AGAINST THE OPPOSITION

2012 AUGUSTANA FOOTBALL TWO DEEP

Prior to North Central game on 11/10/12

2012 NORTH CENTRAL FOOTBALL TWO DEEP

2012 AUGUSTANA VIKINGS STATISTICAL HIGHLIGHTS