Box Score KENOSHA, Wis. – One week after dropping a 45-35 shootout to North Park on a blustery night at Lindberg Stadium, Augustana went on the road and picked up a 28-0 shutout victory over Carthage on Saturday, November 2 at Art Keller Field in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The Vikings got a big day from the defense, which limited the Red Men to just 79 yards rushing and a pair of backup players who stepped up huge.
 
Last week the Augustana defense gave up 45 points and over 500 yards of total offense in the loss to North Park. On Saturday, things were a bit different as the Vikings completely shut down the Carthage rushing attack, allowing just 79 yards on 31 attempts. That is an average of 2.5 yards per rush.
 
Senior linebacker Erik Westerberg (York HS, Elmhurst, Ill.), who earlier this week was named as a National Football Foundation postgraduate scholarship recipient, led the way with nine solo tackles. The Vikings also played takeaway against the Red Men, intercepting quarterback A.J. Simoncelli three times and sacking him three times as well. Junior Ben Fornek (Batavia HS, Batavia, Ill.), junior Caleb Nickels (Sierra Canyon HS, Northridge, Calif.) and senior Mike O'Donoghue (Mundelein HS, Mundelein, Ill.) recorded the interceptions. O'Donoghue also had seven tackles to finish second on the team in that department.
 
The offense got a spark from a pair of former high school teammates. Freshman running back Brandon Price (Providence Catholic HS, Plainfield, Ill.) led the rushing attack with 94 yards on 10 carries for a whopping 9.4 average per attempt. He was in the lineup because second leading rusher Eric Chandler (Cary-Grove HS, Cary, Ill.) missed the game due to injury. Sophomore quarterback Chris Salazar (Providence Catholic HS, Plainfield, Ill.) came off the bench to replace starter Sam Frasco (Prospect HS, Mount Prospect, Ill.) in the first quarter and wound up passing for 180 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 47.
 
It didn't take long for the Vikings to get on the scoreboard as they took the opening kickoff and marched 71 yards in nine plays with Frasco hitting sophomore Sean Fitzgerald (Providence Catholic HS, Manhattan, Ill.) with a seven yard scoring pass to culminate things. Junior Connor Murray (Conifer HS, Morrison, Colo.) was perfect on the first of his four extra points on the afternoon and Augustana led 7-0 with the game less than five minutes old.
 
Fornek's interception of Simoncelli at the goal line thwarted a Carthage drive midway through the first quarter and the Viking offense, with Salazar at the controls put together an impressive march. Augustana went 97 yards on just seven plays with Price bouncing over from a yard out to make it 14-0 after Murray split the uprights with 1:17 left in the first period. On first down from his own three yard line Salazar hooked up with senior Nick Krantz (Moline HS, Moline, Ill.) for a 49 yard completion past midfield to get the Vikings out of the shadow of their own goal posts. Later in the drive Salazar hit Fitzgerald for 39 yards to the Carthage eight yard line.
 
Late in the second quarter Salazar hit Krantz with a nine yard scoring toss just four seconds before the horn sounded to make it 21-0 at intermission.
 
In the second half the Vikings scored just once, a 65 yard pass from Salazar to Krantz with 3:49 left in the third quarter.
 
Augustana ripped off 252 yards of rushing offense on 39 attempts with Price's 94 yards leading the way. Frasco added 71 yards on just five attempts and Salazar had 47 yards on 17 carries. Krantz had one rushing attempt for 35 yards. Krantz caught three passes for 123 yards and two touchdowns while Fitzgerald had two catches for 46 yards.
 
With the victory the Vikings move to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the CCIW while Carthage falls to 1-7 and 0-5. The win upped Augustana's series advantage of the Red Men to 64-14-5 with wins in the last six meetings between the two teams that share affiliation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
 
The Vikings' next game will be Saturday, November 9 against Illinois Wesleyan at Lindberg Stadium at 1:00 p.m.