No. 43 Carthage Football Falls to North Central, 63-48, on Oct. 17

Evan Jones completes 47-of-84 for 562 yards vs. North CentralThe Carthage College football team (4-2, 1-2 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 43rd in the Oct. 12 “D3football.com” poll, lost to CCIW-opponent and No. 14 North Central College (5-1, 3-0 CCIW), 63-48. on Saturday, Oct. 17 at Art Keller Field in Kenosha, Wis.

The two teams combined for 1,152 total offensive yards and 63 first downs.  North Central collected 571 yards, 337 rushing and 234 passing, while Carthage had 581 yards, just 19 on the ground and 562 in the air.  Evan Jones completed 47-of-84 passes for a 562 yards (all three CCIW records), six touchdowns and four interceptions.  Jeff Koeneman caught a school and Art Keller-record 15 passes for 140 yards and three touchdowns, while Nick Merchut caught 12 passes for 210 yards.  Aaron Fanthorpe completed 20-of-37 passes for 234 yards and four touchdowns.  Steve Hlavac caught nine passes for 117 yards.  Pat Malek rushed for 120 yards on 16 carries, while Phillip Rossberg ran for 113 yards on 17 carries.  Carthage travels to Rock Island, Ill., on Saturday, Oct. 25 to take on CCIW-opponent Augustana College (Ill., 3-3, 1-2 CCIW) in a 6 p.m. game at Ericson Field.

CCIW Footballo Coaches Pick Carthage to Finish Sixth in 2009

The CCIW football coaches picked North Central College (6 first-place votes, 48 points) to repeat as conference champions in 2009, followed by Wheaton College (Ill., 1 first-place vote, 42 points) second, Augustana College (Ill., 1 first-place vote, 36 points) third, Illinois Wesleyan University (30 points) fourth, Elmhurst College (28 points) fifth, Carthage College (20 points) sixth, Millikin University (13 points) seventh and North Park University (seven points) eighth.