2024 North Central Cardinals football team

The 2024 North Central Cardinals football team was an American football team that represented North Central College of Naperville, Illinois, as a member of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) during the 2024 NCAA Division III football season. In their second year under head coach Brad Spencer, the Cardinals compiled a 15–0 record (9–0 in conference games), won the CCIW championship, and were ranked No. 1 in Division III at the end of the regular season.

2024 North Central Cardinals football
NCAA Division III national champion CCIW champion
Stagg Bowl, W 41–25 vs. Mount Union
Conference	College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin
Record	15–0 (9–0 CCIW)
Head coach	Brad Spencer (3rd season)
Offensive coordinator	Eric Stuedemann (3rd season)
Offensive scheme	West Coast spread
Defensive coordinator	Shane Dierking (6th season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Benedetti–Wehrli Stadium
Seasons ← 2023 2025 →

2024 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 1 North Central (IL) $^		9	–	0					15	–	0
No. 20 Wheaton (IL)		8	–	1					9	–	2
Washington University		7	–	2					8	–	2
Illinois Wesleyan		5	–	4					5	–	5
Carroll (WI)		4	–	5					5	–	5
North Park		4	–	5					5	–	5
Augustana (IL)		3	–	6					4	–	6
Elmhurst		3	–	6					3	–	7
Carthage		2	–	7					2	–	8
Millikin		0	–	9					0	–	10
$ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division III playoff participant Rankings from D3Football.com

The team advanced to the Division III playoffs where they defeated Whitworth in the second round, Hope in the third round, and Springfield in the national quarterfinal.

CCIW preseason poll

The CCIW released its preseason coaches' prediction poll on August 19, 2024. The Cardinals were predicted to finish first in the conference, receiving 8 of the possible 10 first place votes.^[1]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 14	6:00 p.m.	at No. 14 Aurora*	No. 1	Spartan Athletic Park Montgomery, AL	W 48–21	3,743
September 21	1:00 p.m.	at Carthage	No. 1	Art Keller Field Kenosha, WI	W 63–0	1,553
September 28	12:00 p.m.	Washington University	No. 1	Benedetti–Wehrli Stadium Naperville, IL	W 49–9	4,000
October 5	1:00 p.m.	at No. 18 Wheaton (IL)	No. 1	McCully Stadium Wheaton, IL	W 55–27	5,337
October 12	1:00 p.m.	at Millikin	No. 1	Frank M. Lindsay Field Decatur, IL	W 70–14	475
October 19	6:00 p.m.	North Park	No. 1	Benedetti–Wehrli Stadium Naperville, IL	W 69–0	4,500
October 26	1:00 p.m.	at Augustana (IL)	No. 1	Lindberg Stadium Rock Island, IL	W 49–10	875
November 2	12:00 p.m.	Carroll (WI)	No. 1	Benedetti–Wehrli Stadium Naperville, IL	W 56–3	3,500
November 9	12:00 p.m.	Elmhurst	No. 1	Benedetti–Wehrli Stadium Naperville, IL	W 70–7	2,000
November 16	1:00 p.m.	at Illinois Wesleyan	No. 1	Tucci Stadium Bloomington, IL	W 42–20	2,238	[2]
November 30	12:00 p.m.	No. 22 Whitworth*	No. 1	Benedetti–Wehrli Stadium Naperville, IL (NCAA Division III Second Round)	W 42–17	761	[3]
December 7	12:00 p.m.	No. 16 Hope*	No. 1	Benedetti–Wehrli Stadium Naperville, IL (NCAA Division III Third Round)	W 41–21	1,491	[4]
December 14	12:00 p.m.	No. 23 Springfield*	No. 1	Benedetti–Wehrli Stadium Naperville, IL (NCAA Division III Quarterfinal)	W 27–3	942
December 21	2:30 p.m.	No. 6 Susquehanna*	No. 1	Benedetti–Wehrli Stadium Naperville, IL (NCAA Division III Semifinal)	W 66–0	1,206
January 5, 2025	7:00 p.m.	vs. No. 5 Mount Union*	No. 1	Shell Energy Stadium Houston, TX (Stagg Bowl)	W 41–25	1,938
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from D3Football.com Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

^[5]

Rankings

See also: 2024 NCAA Division III football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ( ) = First-place votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Final
D3football.com	1 (14)	1 (17)	1 (17)	1 (16)	1 (16)	1 (18)	1 (18)	1 (18)	1 (18)	1 (18)	1 (22)	1 (22)	1 (25)
AFCA	1 (26)	1 (28)	1 (33)	1 (33)	1 (36)	1 (36)	1 (36)	1 (36)	1 (37)	1 (36)	1 (38)	1 (38)	1 (43)

Game summaries

At No. 14 Aurora

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Cardinals	17	17	7	7	48
No. 14 Spartans	0	7	14	0	21

Statistics	NCC	AUR
First downs	25	18
Total yards	463	372
Rushing yards	222	83
Passing yards	241	289
Turnovers	0	1
Time of possession	33:00	27:00

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
North Central	Passing	Luke Lehnen	21/31, 241 yards, 3 TD
	Rushing	Joe Sacco	19 rushes, 146 yards, 3 TD
	Receiving	Trey Madsen	6 receptions, 63 yards, TD
Aurora	Passing	Tyler Adkins	22/40, 289 yards, TD, INT
	Rushing	Tyler Adkins	8 rushes, 55 yards
	Receiving	Ty Pruett	4 receptions, 122 yards, TD

At Carthage

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Cardinals	7	21	14	21	63
Firebirds	0	0	0	0	0

Statistics	NCC	CAR
First downs	31	9
Total yards	629	146
Rushing yards	300	29
Passing yards	329	117
Turnovers	1	2
Time of possession	29:34	30:26

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
North Central	Passing	Luke Lehnen	16/25, 294 yards, 2 TD, INT
	Rushing	Joe Sacco	16 rushes, 96 yards, 2 TD
	Receiving	Thomas Skokna	2 receptions, 67 yards
Carthage	Passing	Bryce Lowe	21/33, 117 yards, 2 INT
	Rushing	Bryce Frank	10 rushes, 17 yards
	Receiving	Gavin Betts	4 receptions, 42 yards

Washington University

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears					0
No. 1 Cardinals					0

Statistics	WASHU	NCC
First downs
Total yards
Rushing yards
Passing yards
Turnovers
Time of possession

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Washington University	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
North Central	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

At No. 18 Wheaton (IL)

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Cardinals					0
No. 18 Thunder					0

Statistics	NCC	WHE
First downs
Total yards
Rushing yards
Passing yards
Turnovers
Time of possession

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
North Central	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
Wheaton	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

At Millikin

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Cardinals					0
Big Blue					0

Statistics	NCC	MIL
First downs
Total yards
Rushing yards
Passing yards
Turnovers
Time of possession

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
North Central	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
Millikin	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

North Park

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vikings					0
No. 1 Cardinals					0

Statistics	NPU	NCC
First downs
Total yards
Rushing yards
Passing yards
Turnovers
Time of possession

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
North Park	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
North Central	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

At Augustana (IL)

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Cardinals					0
Vikings					0

Statistics	NCC	AUG
First downs
Total yards
Rushing yards
Passing yards
Turnovers
Time of possession

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
North Central	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
Augustana	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

Carroll (WI)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Pioneers					0
No. 1 Cardinals					0

Statistics	CAR	NCC
First downs
Total yards
Rushing yards
Passing yards
Turnovers
Time of possession

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Carroll	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
North Central	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

Elmhurst

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bluejays					0
No. 1 Cardinals					0

Statistics	ELM	NCC
First downs
Total yards
Rushing yards
Passing yards
Turnovers
Time of possession

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Elmhurst	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
North Central	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

At Illinois Wesleyan

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Cardinals					0
Titans					0

Statistics	NCC	IWU
First downs
Total yards
Rushing yards
Passing yards
Turnovers
Time of possession

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
North Central	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
Illinois Wesleyan	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

No. 22 Whitworth (NCAA Division III Second Round)

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 22 Pirates	0	3	0	14	17
No. 1 Cardinals	21	7	7	7	42

Statistics	WTW	NCC
First downs	16	20
Total yards	329	493
Rushing yards	99	350
Passing yards	230	143
Turnovers	1	0
Time of possession	31:01	28:59

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Whitworth	Passing	Ryan Blair	29/48, 230 yards, TD, INT
	Rushing	Nathan Owens	3 rushes, 56 yards, TD
	Receiving	Dawson Tobeck	6 receptions, 54 yards
North Central	Passing	Luke Lehnen	10/13, 137 yards, 2 TD
	Rushing	Joe Sacco	10 rushes, 198 yards, 2 TD
	Receiving	Isaac Banker	1 reception, 54 yards

No. 16 Hope (NCAA Division III Third Round)

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 16 Flying Dutchmen	0	7	7	7	21
No. 1 Cardinals	0	21	13	7	41

Statistics	HOPE	NCC
First downs	17	21
Total yards	334	486
Rushing yards	167	234
Passing yards	167	252
Turnovers	3	1
Time of possession	27:05	32:55

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Hope	Passing	Ben Wellman	13/27, 167 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT
	Rushing	Ben Wellman	11 rushes, 83 yards, TD
	Receiving	Grant Holtzer	5 receptions, 103 yards, 2 TD
North Central	Passing	Luke Lehnen	13/18, 234 yards, 2 TD, INT
	Rushing	Joe Sacco	19 rushes, 120 yards, TD
	Receiving	Thomas Skokna	4 receptions, 119 yards, TD

No. 23 Springfield (NCAA Division III Quarterfinal)

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 23 Pride	0	3	0	0	3
No. 1 Cardinals	7	10	3	7	27

Statistics	SPR	NCC
First downs	17	18
Total yards	260	328
Rushing yards	227	232
Passing yards	33	96
Turnovers	2	1
Time of possession	34:41	25:19

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Springfield	Passing	Drew Heenan	3/10, 33 yards
	Rushing	Arsen Shtefan	20 rushes, 92 yards
	Receiving	Logan Schenk	1 reception, 20 yards
North Central	Passing	Luke Lehnen	10/20, 96 yards, 2 TD
	Rushing	Sean Allen	15 rushes, 94 yards, TD
	Receiving	Jack Rummell	2 receptions, 46 yards, TD

No. 6 Susquehanna (NCAA Division III Semifinal)

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 6 River Hawks	0	0	0	0	0
No. 1 Cardinals	21	28	14	3	66

Statistics	SQH	NCC
First downs	5	32
Total yards	135	638
Rushing yards	60	352
Passing yards	75	286
Turnovers	3	1
Time of possession	23:59	36:01

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Susquehanna	Passing	Bobby Croyle	4/9, 55 yards
	Rushing	Rahshan La Mons	14 rushes, 72 yards
	Receiving	Chris Bookter	1 reception, 25 yards
North Central	Passing	Luke Lehnen	16/17, 275 yards, 4 TD
	Rushing	Jordan Williams	16 rushes, 106 yards, TD
	Receiving	Jacob Paradee	3 receptions, 86 yards, 2 TD

Vs. No. 5 Mount Union (Stagg Bowl)

See also: 2025 Stagg Bowl

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Purple Raiders	7	3	7	8	25
No. 1 Cardinals	7	7	7	20	41

Statistics	UMU	NCC
First downs	23	25
Total yards	426	495
Rushing yards	112	197
Passing yards	314	298
Turnovers	0	1
Time of possession	29:32	30:28

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Mount Union	Passing	T. J. Deshields	21/36, 314 yards, 2 TD
	Rushing	Tyler Echeverry	20 rushes, 83 yards, TD
	Receiving	Nick Turner	7 receptions, 104 yards, TD
North Central	Passing	Luke Lehnen	18/26, 298 yards, 4 TD
	Rushing	Charles Coleman	2 rushes, 68 yards, TD
	Receiving	Thomas Skokna	3 receptions, 94 yards

References

1. "North Central Earns Top Spot in Preseason CCIW Football Poll". CCIW. August 19, 2024. Retrieved January 15, 2025.
2. "Cardinals Overpower Titans for Tenth Win". North Central Cardinals. November 16, 2024.
3. Geoffrey Clark (November 30, 2024). "North Central pounces on Whitworth, ending Pirates' season with 42-17 rout in Division III playoffs". The Spokesman-Review.
4. Mike McGraw (December 7, 2024). "North Central beats Hope, gets help in Division III playoff bracket". Daily Herald.
5. "2024 Football Schedule". North Central College. Retrieved December 9, 2024.