ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Senior
Jacob Stytz (Minooka HS, Channahon, Ill.) tied Barry Reade's school record with four field goals Saturday, including a 52-yarder which is second-longest in school history, but Augustana dropped its CCIW opener 28-25 at Carroll. Now 0-3 overall, the Vikings host Carthage at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 23. That contest will be part of Family Weekend at Augustana.
Stytz, who has converted 67 consecutive extra point attempts, is now six-for-six on field goals this year and 21 of 28 for his career. Only Mike Clark (31-46 from 2001-04) and Reade (26-44 from 1987-90) have kicked more field goals for the Vikings.
Junior
Ryan Pitra (Geneseo HS, Geneseo, Ill.) has been Augustana's top ground gainer through three games with 286 yards and four touchdowns on 60 carries. Junior quarterback
Zachary Fuller (St. Patrick HS, Glen Ellyn, Ill.), who was injured in the Carroll game, has completed 48 of 83 passes (57.8%) for 517 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. Classmate
Luke Bleyer (Williamsville HS, Springfield, Ill.) came off the bench Saturday to connect on 12 of 19 throws for 150 yards and a touchdown. The Vikings' leading receivers are senior
Riley Donald (Morton HS, Morton, Ill.) with 16 catches for 157 yards and sophomore
Ethan Jennings (Notre Dame HS, Chicago, Ill.) with 212 yards and a touchdown on 12 receptions.
Sophomore safey
Devin Haxby (Geneseo HS, Colona, Ill.) leads Augustana in tackles with 28, including a team-best 21 solo stops. Junior linebacker
Cassin Wolfe (Bettendorf HS, Bettendorf, Iowa) is next with 24 tackles. Senior defensive end
Grant Burke (Hersey HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.) leads in tackles for loss with four.
Carthage will bring a 2-1 overall record and an 0-1 CCIW mark to Lindberg Stadium on Saturday. After posting consecutive shutouts over Aurora (24-0) and Bethel (31-0) in their first two games, Coach Mike Yeager's Red Men are coming off a 37-14 loss at fourth-ranked Wheaton this past Saturday.
Yeager returns five players who received All-CCIW recognition last year. On offense, wide receiver James Cobbs and tackle Isaiah Trussell were first team selections. Defensively, end Pete Laughlin was named to the first team and tackle Cedrick Fry and cornerback Connor Calvert were second team picks.
Cobbs has been the favorite target for Red Men quarterback Kyle Friberg this year, with 11 catches for 224 yards and two touchdowns. Friberg has completed 43 of 70 pass attempts (61.4%) for 613 yards and five touchdowns with just one interception. Lafayette McGary and Jamel Davis have rushed for 158 and 103 yards, respectively, to lead the Carthage ground game.
The Red Men defense has recorded seven interceptions and nine sacks through three games. Laughlin has five tackles for loss and three sacks among his 13 stops and safety Shawntrel Garner has returned two interceptions for 112 yards and a touchdown. Emmet Trost leads the team with 19 total tackles and linebacking mate Nick Ganzke has a team-high 15 solo stops. Carthage is allowing an average of just 204.0 total yards per game.
09/16/17—CARROLL 28, AUGUSTANA 25
Vikings drop CCIW opener at Carroll
WAUKESHA, Wis. – Quarterback Colton Bahling guided Carroll on a 75-yard drive in the final five minutes Saturday, finishing it off with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Parke Zitzke that lifted the Pioneers to a 28-25 win over Augustana at Schneider Stadium. The contest was the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin opener for both teams as Carroll moved to 1-1 overall and the Vikings fell to 0-3.
Augustana had taken a 25-21 lead with 4:59 remaining when junior quarterback
Luke Bleyer (Williamsville HS, Springfield, Ill.) hit sophomore
Ethan Jennings (Notre Dame HS, Chicago, Ill.) with a 55-yard scoring strike. Off a play fake, Bleyer lofted a throw toward Jennings, who outfought a Pioneer defender for the ball and raced the final 20 yards for the score. Senior
Jacob Stytz (Minooka HS, Channahon, Ill.) added his 67th consecutive successful point after try.
Bahling brought his team right back, however, as Carroll overcame a 15-yard sideline infraction and a 10-yard holding penalty to march 75 yards for the winning touchdown. The biggest play came when Bahling found Brandon Ehrke behind the Viking defense for 43 yards to the Augustana 15-yard line. Two plays later, he connected with Zitzke in the left corner of the end zone with 49 seconds left. Griffin Idelman added the extra point. The Vikings got to their own 40 on the ensuing drive before running out of time.
After two empty possessions for each team, the Pioneers took a 7-0 lead with 5:40 left in the first quarter on a 53-yard Bahling-to-Ehrke touchdown pass.
A career-long 52-yard field goal by Stytz cut the deficit to 7-3 after one period and he added another from 31 yards on the first possession of the second quarter to make it 7-6. Stytz capped Augustana's next drive with a 23-yarder and the Vikings led 9-7 with 8:49 left in the half.
Bahling's eight-yard touchdown run capped a 10-play, 75-yard drive as Carroll retook the lead 14-9 with 4:58 before halftime. On Augustana's next possession, starting quarterback
Zachary Fuller (St. Patrick HS, Glen Ellyn, Ill.) went out with an injury. Bleyer came on an led the Vikings to the Pioneer three-yard line with eight seconds left, but his fourth-down pass fell incomplete and Augustana came away empty.
Stytz tied Barry Reade's school single-game record with his fourth field goal—a 45-yarder—on the opening drive of the second half. On the Vikings' next possession, junior
Ryan Pitra (Geneseo HS, Geneseo, Ill.) scored from a yard out as Augustana regained the lead. The two-point conversion attempt failed and Coach
Steve Bell's club led 18-14 with 3:17 left in the third.
Carroll went back up 21-18 on a nine-yard touchdown run by J.J. Keels midway through the fourth quarter, setting the stage for the final two scoring drives.
Bleyer finished 12 of 19 for 150 yards and a touchdown in a little more than two quarters of action. Fuller was eight of 14 for 88 yards before leaving. Pitra led the ground game with 91 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. Sophomore
Tom Dolis (Notre Dame HS, Chicago, Ill.) and senior
Riley Donald (Morton HS, Morton, Ill.) each had five receptions for 50 and 45 yards, respectively.
Bahling completed 17 of 27 passes for 261 yards with no interceptions and two touchdowns. He ran for 86 yards and another score on 15 carries. Zitzke had eight receptions for 101 yards and a touchdown.
Augustana will play its 2017 home opener on Saturday, September 23, hosting Carthage in a 6:00 p.m. Family Weekend contest at Lindberg Stadium.
2016 AUGUSTANA VIKINGS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE/RESULTS
DATE |
OPPONENT |
|
SITE |
TIME/SCORE |
September 2 |
Cortland State |
|
Cortland, N.Y. |
L, 32-34 |
September 9 |
Central |
|
Pella, Iowa |
L, 22-33 |
September 16 |
Carroll |
|
Waukesha, Wis. |
L, 25-28 |
September 23 |
Carthage |
Family Weekend |
HOME |
6:00 p.m. |
September 30 |
Elmhurst |
|
Elmhurst, Ill. |
1:00 p.m. |
October 7 |
Illinois Wesleyan |
|
HOME |
1:00 p.m. |
October 14 |
Millikin |
Homecoming |
HOME |
1:00 p.m. |
October 21 |
North Central |
|
Naperville, Ill. |
2:00 p.m. |
October 28 |
North Park |
Senior Day |
HOME |
1:00 p.m. |
November 4 |
Wheaton |
|
Wheaton, Ill. |
1:00 p.m. |
* - College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin game
2017 CCIW STANDINGS
School |
CCIW |
Overall |
Wheaton |
1-0 |
3-0 |
North Central |
1-0 |
2-0 |
Carroll |
1-0 |
1-1 |
Elmhurst |
1-0 |
1-2 |
Millikin |
0-0 |
2-0 |
Carthage |
0-1 |
2-1 |
Illinois Wesleyan |
0-1 |
2-1 |
North Park |
0-1 |
1-2 |
Augustana |
0-1 |
0-3 |
Carthage at Augustana, 6:00 p.m.
North Central at Millikin, 1:00 p.m.
Wheaton at Elmhurst, 1:00 p.m.
Carroll at UW-La Crosse, 3:00 p.m.
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 has gone 7-13 during Bell's first two seasons. He is a 1992 graduate of Bemidji State University with a degree in physical education.