Football | 10/10/2015 11:06:00 PM

Box Score - North Park v. North Central

Faced with their third nationally-ranked opponent in the last four weeks, the Vikings didn't let the pressures of outside detractors deter their drive Saturday in Naperville.

Although North Park lost to host North Central in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin contest at Benedetti-Wehrli stadium, they produced their strongest performance amongst elite teams this season and showed sheer fortitude of improvement.

A 269-yard, two-touchdown pass performance from junior quarterback T.D. Conway led the Viking offense. After North Central seemingly took control of the contest at 10-0 in the first quarter, it was North Park that was the aggressor. The Vikings pieced together two scoring drives – a 49-yard drive that ended in a James Herron two-yard touchdown and a Conway 33-yard TD pass to sophomore Devin Childress that ended a 72-yard march – that put them right in the contest at 17-13 with just under two minutes to play in the first half.

Defensively, sophomore Chaun Maiava had another productive day as he accumulated 13 tackles, nine solo, and one tackle for a loss of four yards. Matt DiFecchio was just as strong as he recorded seven solo tackles for 13 total and both Uati Pati and Mike Harris each forced a fumble to go along with nine and six tackles, respectively.

Childress finished the afternoon with four catches for 122 yards and Matthew Chapp caught his first collegiate touchdown, a 59-yard Conway bomb at the 4:51 mark of the fourth quarter. Anthony Burton added five catches for 57 yards and Chapp finished the day with 153 all-purpose yards, 96 yards on the kick return.

North Park (1-4, 0-2) returns to action this Saturday when it hosts Elmhurst College for Homecoming at 1 p.m.