Cardinals Dominate Thunder for Third Straight Battle of the Little Brass Bell Victory

For my first of two games Saturday, I drove down to Wheaton College for one of the best rivalries in NCAA Division III football. The Thunder hosted North Central College on homecoming day for "The Battle of the Little Brass Bell." Wheaton went in to Saturday leading the all-time series 49-23-1, but the Cardinals had won the last two including last year's 33-20 win in Naperville.

This one started with a bang. The Cardinals got their first touchdown after two plays thanks to a 73 yard run for running back Joe Sacco. Sacco, a St. Edward graduate, would add a 43 yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter to put the Cardinals up 14-7. He finished with 6 carries for 138 yards, and was taken out of the game early in the 2nd quarter.

The Cardinals led 35-7 at halftime, adding a 78 yard run by quarterback Luke Lehnen and a 65 yard shovel pass from Lehnen to Charles Coleman. Wheaton's offense got going in the second half, but it was too little too late as the Cardinals won 54-35, keeping the little brass bell in Naperville for the third year in a row.

Lehnen finished 5/8 for 166 yards and a touchdown, and had 13 carries for 170 yards and 2 touchdowns. Running back Sean Allen had 15 carries for 74 yards and a touchdown, and caught a 14 yard pass. Running back Charles Coleman had 125 yards from scrimmage on 6 touches and 2 touchdowns (5 carries, 60 yards, TD).

Coleman and Allen, along with DeAngelo Hardy (48 yards), Joey Lombardi (15 yards) , and Bobby Behmer (24 yards) each caught 1 pass from Lehnen.

Wheaton quarterback Ben Thorson, a Wheaton North graduate and younger brother of former Northwestern quarterback Clayton Thorson, was 22/38 for 235 yards and 3 touchdowns. Running back Giovanni Weeks had 25 carries for 150 yards and a touchdown, and caught 5 passes for 39 yards. Henry Brown had 9 carries for 48 yards and a touchdown.

Receiver Seth Kortenhoeven caught 4 passes for 61 yards, and scored the final touchdown with 19 seconds left, and with the game out of reach. Ben Bonga (58 yards) and Caleb Titherington (60 yards) each caught 5 passes and had a touchdown reception.

The Cardinals (4-0, 3-0 CCIW) will have their homecoming game Saturday night against Carroll (3-1, 2-1 CCIW), and the Thunder (3-1, 2-1 CCIW) will travel to Elmhurst (1-3, 0-3 CCIW) Saturday night.