The North Central football team will play for its second-consecutive national championship after defeating Mount Union 26-13 on Saturday in the national semifinals of the 2021 NCAA Division III football championship. The Cardinals will play the Mary Hardin-Baylor in the championship game after they knocked off UW-Whitewater, 24-7, in Saturday’s other semifinal.
After a Mount Union touchdown on the Purple Raiders’ opening drive, North Central answered late in the first quarter when Luke Lehnen connected with DeAngelo Hardy for a four-yard touchdown pass, but the Cardinals missed the extra point to trail, 7-6, at the end of the first quarter.
Lehnen then found Matt Robinson for a 34-yard touchdown pass with 4:20 left in the first half to take a 13-7 lead. Not satisfied, the Cardinals added a 42-yard field goal by Tanner Rains as the half expired to take a 16-7 lead into the locker room. Lehnen found the end zone on a two-yard touchdown plunge in the third quarter and Rains drilled a 31-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to cap a run of 26 unanswered points by the Cardinals.
Mount Union cut into the lead late with a touchdown with 6:40 to play, but the Cardinals methodically drove the field while exhausting the clock and kneeled the win to end Mount Union’s season with a record of 13-1.
Ethan Greenfield led a dominant North Central rushing attack with 191 yards on 31 carries. Luke Lehnen added 83 yards on 14 carries and completed eight-of-11 passes for 81 yards with one rushing and one passing touchdown. Storm Simmons led an impressive showing by the North Central defense with nine tackles. Cameron Martin tallied 1.5 of the Cardinals’ three sacks on the day.
North Central improved to 13-0 on the season and will look to win their second National Championship in program history when they play in Canton, Ohio for the 2021 Stagg Bowl. It will be the first Stagg Bowl in the Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. Kickoff will be at and will be televised on ESPN.
North Central defeated UW-Whitewater, 41-14, in the 2019 Stagg Bowl in Shenandoah, Texas. No Stagg game was played in 2020 because of the virus.
—CCIW (College Conference of Illinois/Wisconsin