ROCK ISLAND -- The Augustana Vikings football team was defeated in the regular season finale on Saturday, falling to the No. 1 ranked North Central Cardinals by a final score of 61-17.
Augustana's defense put the pressure on early, setting the Cardinals up in a 4th-and-12 situation on their first drive. The visitors successfully converted the fourth-down attempt and eventually tallied the game's first points to make it 6-0 in their favor. The Vikings responded with a march down the field of their own, utilizing a 13-yard drive that resulted in a 25-yard field goal from
Sidney Maroon to cut the deficit in half. The Cardinals added a touchdown with a minute remaining in the opening frame to bring the score to 13-3 after 15 minutes of action.
North Central broke away in the second, using a 28-0 period to take a 41-3 lead into halftime. Augie came out of the halftime break with its first touchdown of the afternoon, securing a 10-yard pass hookup from
Cole Bhardwaj to
Jake Miller. The touchdown drive for the Vikings took 10 plays and ate up nearly five minutes of clock. After a score from the Cardinals, the Vikings added another touchdown to win the third quarter, using another 10-play march down the field. Bharwaj notched his second touchdown pass of the day after finding
Ben Ludlum from six yards out. North Central added two more touchdowns in the fourth to complete the 61-17 victory.
Bhardwaj ended his Senior Day with 15 completions for 150 yards and two scores, while
Tyler Rivelli added 56 yards on the ground. Rivelli became the 16th player in Augustana history on Saturday to eclipse 2,000 career rushing yards. Eight different Vikings caught at least one pass, led by four from Miller.
On defense,
Dakota Straight boasted a team-high 10 tackles, followed closely by
Rukkus Hunkins with nine. As a team, Augie racked up three sacks, with one apiece coming from
Tim Swaney and
Cole Romano.
With the loss, the Vikings drop to 8-2 on the season. The team will await a potential postseason spot when the NCAA DIII playoffs and bowl contests are announced on Sunday.
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