CHICAGO, IL (October 29, 2011) – The North Park football team moved one step closer to earning its first College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin victory Saturday.

Although the Vikings came out on the losing end of a 31-28 decision to visiting Carthage College on Senior Day, they made teams around the league see why they're a team to be reckoned with.

North Park opened the first half racing out to a 14-0 advantage after botched field goal attempt turned out to be a Tony Kebede touchdown and a 55-yard drive, ending in a Tyler Krebs' four-yard TD scamper, gave the hosts the lead. Carthage did however erase the deficit by scoring 14 unanswered points, but every step the Red Men made from there on out, North Park had an answer for it.

After Carthage knotted the score at 14-14, NP drove down 74 yards and pulled ahead 21-14 on a Matt Hassan16-yard score. When the Red Men tied it again at 21-21, North Park didn't back down, coming up with the equalizer on a 72-yard drive, ending in a Krebs' seven-yard run. It wasn't until a crucial NP turnover late in the fourth quarter after a Carthage field goal that things were decided.

Hassan had a career day, carrying the ball 19 times for a blistering 157 yards. Krebs was also solid in the ground game as he added 76 yards on 21 carries as North Park out-gained Carthage 367-174 and 394-335 in total offense yards.

Defensively,  junior Andrew Saltzman also had strong game as he recorded 12 tackles, 10 solo, in the effort, and Kebede was perfect in point-after-touchdown attempts with four.

North Park (3-5, 0-5) returns to action Saturday when it travels to Decatur to take on Millikin University at 1 p.m.

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