The Carthage College football team (4-2, 1-2 CCIW) lost to CCIW-opponent Augustana College (Ill., 4-2, 2-1 CCIW), 43-16, on Saturday, Oct. 16 at Art Keller Field in Kenosha, Wis. Carthage fell behind Augustana, 10-0, in the first period. The Vikings scored at 7:39 on a 27-yard touchdown pass from quarterback David Lee to tight end Keith Abbey, and Arnie Fitzwater booted a 34-yard field goal at 2:03. Nate Pena scored on a seven-yard run at 12:38 second period for a 17-0 lead, capping a six-play, 66-yard drive. Another long Viking scoring drive, this one 80 yards in five plays, ended with a 67-yard touchdown pass from Lee to wide receiver Corbett Bell at 7:42 second period, upping Augustana's lead to 24-0.
The Red Men got on the scoreboard with a 19-yard TD pass from Evan Jones to Tim Lukas at 4:09, cutting the lead to 24-7 at halftime. Carthage was threatening to score on its first drive of the second half, but wide receiver Chris Schulz fumbled at the two-yard line, with the Vikings recovering in the end zone for a touchback. Augustana capitalized on the opportunity, marching 80 yards in eight plays and scoring on a David Lee carry from the one-yard line at 8:35 for a 30-7 lead. A 62-yard Viking scoring drive late in the third period ended with a 34-yard touchdown pass from Lee to Kyle Hundman and a 37-7 lead at 5:23. Carthage's Tyler Funk booted a 26-yard field goal at 2:29 third period to make it 37-10. Augustana scored its final touchdown at 9:25 fourth period on a five-yard run by Robert Wood that capped an eight-play, 41-yard drive and upped the Vikings' lead to 43-10. The Red Men's Evan Jones hooked up with Mike Koeneman for a 31-yard TD pass with 4:31 remaining to close out the scoring at 43-16.
Augustana rolled up 605 total offensive yards, 155 yards rushing and a whopping 450 yards passing, while Carthage collected 467 total yards, 60 on the ground and 407 in the air. The two teams combined for 1,072 total yards. David Lee completed 28-of-41 passes for 429 yards and three touchdowns. Corbett Bell caught eight passes for 120 yards, while Kyle Hundman caught eight for 101 yards. The Vikings' Robert Wood rushed for 77 yards on 19 carries. Carthage's Evan Jones completed 30-of-48 passes for 407 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Jake Smith caught 10 passes for 138 yards and ran for 67 yards on 19 carries.
"The loss is what it is, and it's not good," said Carthage coach Tim Rucks. "It was not even remotely close to what I expected to happen. We knew we could win or lose the game, but I just didn't expect this kind of game at all. We were flat from get-go. I'm not sure why. We got beat up pretty good, and I just didn't expect it. We really wanted to play a short, field-position game and give Augustana a long field to go. The problem was that Augustana marched down the field pretty good. We went back to the passing game, just to stay alive, but we weren't in synch at all. The touchback at the start of the second half took the wind out of our sails. It was just one of those bad nights." Carthage travels to Wheaton, Ill., on Saturday, Oct. 23 to take on No. 17 Wheaton College (Ill., 6-0, 3-0 CCIW).