Covenant News

Loss to Carthage Concludes Vikings' Season

CHICAGO, IL (November 18, 2002) - North Park University (NPU) ended its football season with a 52-22 loss against visiting Carthage College Saturday at Hedstrand Field despite three touchdown passes by quarterback Phil DeWald.

DeWald passed for 171 yards and helped the Vikings (1-9 overall, 0-7 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) come back from a 14-0 deficit with scoring passes to Quntrell Porter (13 yards) and Jon Harris (53 yards) late in the first period. Carthage scored the next 21 points to lead 35-12 at the half, before DeWald and Harris hooked up on a 6-yard touchdown pass and Ryan Johnson made a 29 yard field goal to narrow the Carthage advantage to 35-22.

From there, however, the Redmen took control, tallying the final 17 points as NPU lost its eighth consecutive contest. Randal Baker scored his third touchdown of the game on a 6-yard run, Carthage got a defensive safety for another two points, and Mike Ripper scored his third touchdown to end the scoring. Baker ran for 296 yards, the fifth best total in conference history for Carthage, which ended its season 4-6 overall, 3-4 in conference play.

Harris, a freshman, had 114 receiving yards on six catches to put himself among NPU leaders in season receiving statistics. His 56 catches and 795 yards for the 2002 season are fourth in school history.

Sophomore running back Josh Gruenewald saw limited duty Saturday, getting just one carry, but his 746 rushing yards was the seventh highest rushing total for a season.

Defensively, seniors Jackie Wayne, Alfredo Cruz and John Zinchuk finished as the team's top tacklers. Wayne had 46 solo tackles and assisted on 38 others. Cruz had 39 solos and 49 assists. Zinchuk led with 4.5 sacks.

Other seniors on the NPU roster making statistical contributions this year, included Steve Eifrid (17 receptions, 18.3 yards per kick return), Brad Leshinke (eight solo tackles, Randle Williams (20 solo tackles, one interception, Dominic Senese (two receptions) and Giles Travis (three tackles).

Printable version of this page.