Covenant News

Vikings Overcome Eureka in Saturday Contest

CHICAGO, IL (September 21, 2002) - Josh Gruenewald rushed 25 times for 198 yards and two touchdowns as North Park University (NPU) evened its record at 1-1 with a 27-8 home win over Eureka College Saturday.

Gruenewald's rushing total was the ninth best game performance in North Park history. He scored on a two-yard run just 1:09 into the contest and added a second scoring run less than 11 minutes later to give the Vikings all of the points they would need.

From there, the NPU defense carried the load, getting interceptions from Jason Ellerman, Randle Williams, Scott Sousa and Alfredo Cruz. Sousa returned his interception 22 yards for a touchdown in the fourth period.

North Park started strong, driving 76 yards in three plays after receiving the opening kickoff. Gruenewald started with a 32-yard run before quarterback Phil DeWald tossed a 40-yard pass to Jon Harris to move the ball to the Eureka two-yard line. Gruenewald then carried the ball into the end zone and Ryan Johnson kicked the extra point at the 13:51 mark of the first quarter.

After the Vikings held Eureka defensively, NPU got the ball back and scored again as Gruenewald rushed four times for 34 yards in a 54-yard drive. Gruenewald's seven-yard scoring run and Johnson's extra point kick put NPU ahead 14-0.

The North Park offense sputtered for most of the second half and Randy Hakes tossed a 48-yard scoring pass to Brett Smith with 9:43 left in the game to cut the NPU lead to 14-6. The Red Devils got the ball back a few minutes later, only to have Sousa intercept a Hakes pass and take it to the end zone to give the Vikings a 20-6 lead. Johnson's extra point kick was blocked, however, and Eureka's Keith Smith returned the ball 95 yards to the Eureka end zone, giving them a rarely seen two-point conversion and narrowing the North Park lead to 20-8.

Eureka got the ball back, but the Vikings stopped the Red Devils, thanks to the Cruz interception, and finished off the scoring with 50 seconds remaining on a one-yard quarterback sneak by DeWald. DeWald passed for 93 yards and ran for 39 more to support the work of Gruenewald. Hakes passed for 181 yards for Eureka.

North Park travels to Milwaukee for a 1 p.m. non-league game Saturday at Wisconsin Lutheran.

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