ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Elmhurst defeated Augustana on Homecoming this past Saturday, using a stout defensive effort to post a 14-3 win at Lindberg Stadium. The Vikings, 2-3 on the year and 1-2 in the CCIW, will look to bounce back when they travel to Bloomington, Illinois for a date with Illinois Wesleyan at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 8.
Statistical leaders for Coach
Steve Bell's squad include senior linebacker
Jack Asquini (Buffalo Grove HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.), whose 33 solo tackles, 30 assists and 63 total stops all lead the defense. His 9½ tackles for loss and three sacks are also team highs. Senior safety
Frank Kalble (Hersey HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.) (25 solo, 16 assists, 41 total tackles), junior linebacker
Danny Giffels (Prairie Ridge HS, Crystal Lake, Ill.) (17-22—39) and sophomore safety
John Asquini (Buffalo Grove HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.) (17-21—38) are Augustana's other top tacklers.
Vikings opponents are averaging 22.0 points and 343.6 yards of total offense per game. Augustana has allowed averages of 116.6 rushing yards per game and just 2.9 yards per carry, along with 227.0 passing yards per contest on 57.8% completions.
On offense, sophomore running back
Ryan Pitra (Geneseo HS, Geneseo, Ill.) has 271 yards and two touchdowns on 82 rushing attempts. Senior
Brandon Price (Providence Catholic HS, Plainfield, Ill.) has carried 24 times for 101 yards.
Sophomore quarterback
Zachary Fuller (St. Patrick HS, Schiller Park, Ill.) has completed 89 of 175 passes (50.9%) for 1,196 yards and six touchdowns with three interceptions. His top receivers have been sophomore
Ryan Hennessy (Oswego HS, Oswego, Ill.) and senior
Danny Lattner (Fenwick HS, Riverside, Ill.). Hennessy's team-high 26 catches have gone for 258 yards and Lattner's 18 grabs have netted a team-best 388 yards. Each has caught two touchdown passes.
The Viking offense has produced averages of 21.2 points, 79.0 rushing yards, 239.8 passing yards and 318.8 total yards per game.
Illinois Wesleyan will enter Saturday's game with a 2-2 overall record and a 1-2 mark in the CCIW. The Titans' two losses have come to conference favorites North Central (34-7) and Wheaton (48-24) and they have wins over Nebraska Wesleyan (17-14) and North Park (45-10).
Coach Norm Eash returns 2015 first team All-CCIW performers, linebacker Sean Garvey and running back Maurice Shoemaker-Gilmore. Garvey leads IWU with 29 solo tackles, 16 assists and 45 total stops. He's averaging a league-best 13.0 tackles per game through three CCIW contests. Shoemaker-Gilmore is the Titans' leading rusher with 386 yards and two touchdowns on 71 carries (5.4 yards per carry). In conference play, he leads the league in rushing and all-purpose yards.
Freshman quarterback Brandon Bauer has connected on 47 of 80 passes (58.7%) for 627 yards and six touchdowns. He has been intercepted seven times.
IWU's leading receivers have been seniors Dom Comfort (15 catches, 205 yards, one touchdown), Adam Muellers (13-210-2) and Austin Wagner (11-153-2).
As a team, the Titans average 23.2 points and 335.0 yards of total offense per game. The IWU rushing attack has produced averages of 111.8 yards per game and 3.8 yards per carry. Wesleyan gets another 223.2 yards per game via the air.
Defensively, Eash's club has allowed averages of 26.2 points and 352.2 total yards a contest. Opponents have rushed for 128.2 yards per game and 3.5 per carry and have completed 57.7% of their passes for an average of 224.0 yards per game. In addition to Garvey, senior defensive end Kyle Venhuizen has 7½ tackles for loss and 3½ sacks.
LAST WEEK...
10/01/16—ELMHURST 14, AUGUSTANA 3
Elmhurst hands Vikings 14-3 Homecoming setback
ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Elmhurst's defense kept Augustana bottled up Saturday and its offense produced just enough to allow the Bluejays to hand the Vikings a 14-3 setback on Homecoming at Lindberg Stadium. Elmhurst improved to 3-2 overall and 2-1 in the CCIW, while Augustana dropped to 2-3 on the year and 1-2 in the league.
The game was still scoreless with 10:44 to play in the second quarter when the Vikings took over at their own 40-yard line following a short Bluejay punt. On their first play, Brian Tucker intercepted a
Zachary Fuller (St. Patrick HS, Schiller Park, Ill.) pass near midfield and returned it to the Augustana 26.
After a false start put Elmhurst in first-and-15, quarterback Orlando Hernandez broke off runs of six and 14 yards and running back Daniel Bourgalt went the last 11 yards around right end for a touchdown. Blake Bailey's point after put the visitors up 7-0.
On Augustana's final drive of the first half, Fuller connected with
Danny Lattner (Fenwick HS, Riverside, Ill.) for 35 yards on the first play to reach Bluejay territory. The Vikings got down to the 35 before consecutive sacks pushed them back to the 44. Following a timeout with 3.6 second left, Fuller rolled right and lofted a ball toward freshman
Ethan Jennings (Notre Dame HS, Chicago, Ill.) in the end zone. It was tipped and nearly snared by senior
Andrew Garcia (West Leyden HS, Melrose Park, Ill.), but fell to the turf as the half ended.
On its second possession of the second half, Augustana put together its first sustained drive of the afternoon. A Fuller-to-Lattner completion for 43 yards was the big play as the Vikings moved from their own 20 to the Elmhurst 25. On four-and-three, the call went to junior placekicker
Jacob Stytz (Minooka HS, Channahon, Ill.) and his 42-yard field goal attempt slid inside the left upright with distance to spare, drawing Augustana to within 7-3.
Early in the fourth quarter, the defense stopped the Bluejays on downs deep in Viking territory and the offense went on another march. Fuller twice kept it alive with third-down completions of 17 yards to
Riley Donald (Morton HS, Morton, Ill.) and 11 yards to Garcia. However, on third-and-six from the Bluejay 45, his pass to sophomore
Ryan Hennessy (Oswego HS, Oswego, Ill.) netted only four yards and Augustana chose to punt on fourth-and-two.
Taking over after a touchback, Elmhurst put together a backbreaking drive for its second touchdown. Hernandez hit Kaylon Miller for 31 yards to penetrate Viking territory and running back Ryan Weier followed with a 16-yard burst up the middle. Hernandez capped the drive, finding Justin Ward—who made a great catch in the left corner of the end zone—from 30 yards out. That gave the Bluejays a 13-3 lead with 8:28 to play. Bailey added the extra point.
Augustana failed to get past midfield on its final two possessions and Elmhurst ran out the final 47 second to ice the win.
Hernandez finished 14 of 23 through the air for 174 yards and a touchdown. He added 61 yards on 17 rushes. Miller caught five balls for 85 yards. The Bluejays compiled 148 yards on 42 rushing attempts and finished with 322 yards of total offense.
Sophomore
Ryan Pitra (Geneseo HS, Geneseo, Ill.) led the Vikings with 63 yards on 21 rushes, but Augustana finished with just 50 yards on 29 attempts as a team. Fuller completed 14 of 32 pass attempts for 217 yards. Hennessy, Pitra and sophomore
Justin Pope (Whale Branch HS, Beaufort, S.C.) each had three receptions and Lattner's two catches went for a team-high 78 yards.
Senior linebacker
Jack Asquini (Buffalo Grove HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.) was credited with 14 tackles, equaling a season high.
On Saturday, October 8, the Vikings travel to Bloomington, Illinois to take on Illinois Wesleyan at 1:00 p.m.
2016 AUGUSTANA VIKINGS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE/RESULTS
| DATE |
OPPONENT |
SITE |
TIME/SCORE |
| September 3 |
Mount St. Joseph (Austin E. Knowlton Kickoff Classic) |
Cincinnati, Ohio |
W, 21-10 |
| September 10 |
Central (Austin E. Knowlton Kickoff Classic) |
HOME |
L, 17-45 |
| September 17 |
*Carroll |
HOME |
W, 41-14 |
| September 24 |
*Carthage |
Kenosha, Wis. |
L, 24-27 |
| October 1 |
*Elmhurst (Homecoming) |
HOME |
L, 3-14 |
| October 8 |
*Illinois Wesleyan |
Bloomington, Ill. |
1:00 pm |
| October 15 |
*Milikin |
Decatur, Ill |
6:00 pm |
| October 22 |
*North Central |
HOME |
1:00 pm |
| October 29 |
*North Park |
Chicago, Ill. |
1:00 pm |
| November 5 |
*Wheaton (Senior Day) |
HOME |
1:00 pm |
* - College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin game
2016 CCIW STANDINGS
| School |
CCIW |
Overall |
| Wheaton |
3-0 |
5-0 |
| North Central |
2-0 |
4-0 |
| Carthage |
2-1 |
4-1 |
| Elmhurst |
2-1 |
3-2 |
| Millikin |
1-1 |
2-2 |
| Illinois Wesleyan |
1-2 |
2-2 |
| AUGUSTANA |
1-2 |
2-3 |
| Carroll |
0-2 |
0-4 |
| North Park |
0-3 |
1-4 |
was introduced as the 19th head coach in the storied history of Augustana football on January 9, 2015. In 15 seasons as the head football coach at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois, Bell fashioned a 112-44 (.718) overall record. During his tenure at Monmouth, his teams won four Midwest Conference championships (2005, 2008, 2009, 2011) and finished second six times. Augustana finished 4-6 in his first season. Bell is a 1992 graduate of Bemidji State University with a degree in physical education.
