The Carthage College football team (0-2, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) lost to Adrian College (2-0), 40-14, on Saturday, Sept. 13 at Docking Stadium in Adrian, Mich. The game helped launch the CCIW/MIAA Challenge that has all eight conference schools playing opponents from the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association or St. Norbert College, since the MIAA has only seven football programs.
A 31-yard punt return by Jonnie Evans Jr. on the Red Men' second possession of the game set up a 19-yard touchdown pass from Nick Anzelmo to tight end Javier Rhoades at 9:25, and Carthage led, 7-0.
A 60-yard touchdown rush by Emmanuel Stewart at 13:37 second period got the Bulldogs on the scoreboard. The point-after was blocked by Terrance Allen, and the Red Men led, 7-6. Carthage had a scoring opportunity midway thru the second period, but a 25-yard field-goal attempt by Thomas Brannen at 7:56 second period missed, due to a high snap.
Emmanuel Stewart struck again late in the first half, breaking two tackles and scoring on a 41-yard carry at 3:54. The point-after was blocked again, and the Bulldogs led, 12-7. Adrian upped its lead to 15-7 on a 26-yard field goal by Cameron Cook with 15 seconds remaining in the half
The Bulldogs extended their lead early in the third period on an 11-play, 77-yard drive that ate up four and one-half minutes. That scoring drive ended with a seven-yard touchdown pass from Aaron Tenney to Diante Harris at 10:22. The extra point was good, giving Adrian a 22-7 lead.
On the Red Men's next drive, Carthage quarterback Nick Anzelmo was intercepted by Juwan King at his own 28-yard line. King returned the interception six yards, and four plays later, Adrian scored on a one-yard keeper by Tenney, and the score was 29-7 at 8:46. A 34-yard field goal by Cook at 4:06 third period made it 32-7.
An interception by Carthage's Greg Money set up a 10-yard Red Men touchdown pass from Anzelmo to Jamahl Wright at 13:41 fourth quarters that cut the lead to 32-14. A 42-yard pass from Tenney to Josh Delaney was the key play on the ensuing Adrian drive, which ended at 7:05 with a six-yard TD pass from Tenney to Stephen Thompson. Adrian led, 40-14, with the benefit of a two-point conversion. The 12-play scoring drive covered 73 yards.
Adrian rolled up 510 total offensive yards, 302 yards rushing and 208 yards passing, while Carthage had just 157 total yards, 26 on the ground and 131 in the air. The Bulldogs collected 25 first downs and converted 11-of-19 third-down conversions, while the Red Men had 11 first downs and converted just one-of-10. Adrian dominated the time-of-possession, 37:04 to 22:56.
Bulldogs tailback Emmanuel Stewart rushed for 175 yards on 14 carries and scored twice. Quarterback Aaron Tenney completed 15-of-28 passes for 208 yards and two touchdowns, and wide receiver Nathan Hartline caught six passes for 106 yards.
For Carthage, quarterback Nick Anzelmo (So., Schaumburg, Ill.) completed 12-of-24 passes for 131 yards and two touchdowns, with Javier Rhoades (So., Chicago, Ill./Franklin Park-East Leyden) catching two passes for 46 yards. Outside linebacker K.J. Simpson (So., Blue Island, Ill./Eisenhower) led the defensive effort with 10 tackles, including a sack and two tackles-for-loss. Middle linebacker Greg Money (So., Palatine, Ill./Fremd) had 10 tackles with an interception and a forced fumble, and outside linebacker Will Fairchild (Jr., Land O' Lakes, Fla.) also had 10 tackles.
"Adrian physically beat us up," said Carthage coach Mike Yeager, "and we weren't stout enough to hold up to them. When you don't win at the line of scrimmage, you have no chance. We had a scoring opportunity in the first period, but we lost three points with a bad snap. When you come away empty like that, it deflates a team, and we have to get past that point of being deflated. We have to get back to some fundamentals of blocking and tackling during the off-week. When you're poor in those areas, you end up with a game like this. We had a few guys make some plays, but we need a lot more guys making those kinds of plays."
The Rest of the Schedule: Following an off-week on Sept. 20, the Red Men close out their non-conference schedule by entertaining Lakeland College in a 7 p.m. game on Sept. 27. Carthage opens CCIW-play on Oct. 4 with a 6 p.m. game versus No. 27 Illinois Wesleyan University at Tucci Stadium in Bloomington, Ill. The Red Men play their Homecoming game the following weekend, Oct. 11, against Elmhurst College at 1 p.m. at Art Keller Field. On Oct. 18, Carthage travels to Naperville, Ill., to take on No. 6 North Central College in a 2 p.m. clash at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium. The Red Men play host to Augustana College (Ill.) on Oct. 25 at 1 p.m., followed by two-straight road games at Millikin University on Nov. 1 and North Park University on Nov. 8. Carthage concludes its season by entertaining Wheaton College (Ill.) on Nov. 15.