CHICAGO, Ill. -- The North Park Vikings fell to the Vikings of Augustana College by a score of 34-56 on Saturday afternoon, with the 34 points matching North Park's season-high which was set against IWU.
North Park held Augie to 14 points in the 2nd half, and outscored them across that span as well, but the Augustana lead built in the 1st half was too vast to overcome. The score at one point reached 21-0 in favor of the visitors, though from there North Park scored 34 to Augustana's 35 and generally kept the deficit within a workable two scores.
Both of the Viking offenses were spurred by chunk gains. While Augustana's mostly came on the ground, North Park QB Matt Eck completed two 60+ yard passing touchdowns on his way to a 378-yard, 4 TD performance. The first of which initially putNorth Park on the board, going to Wesley McCloud who finished with 3 catches for 74 yards. The second was a catch and run by Caleb Jones who spun through and avoided multiple would-be tacklers on his way to the endzone. Jones led all Vikings receivers with 104 yards in addition to the TD.
Marcel Love added a receiving TD of his own, and while the Vikings ground game was mostly bottled up, Love was also able to break through for a rushing TD. Elsewhere in the run game, P Carson Blatchford picked up a crucial 4th down conversion with a 24-yard rush on a trick play late in the game. Blatchford got himself involved on the defensive end as well, marking 2 tackles.
The NPU defense was no stranger to the big play either, as Jaydin Miller intercepted a pass and returned it 33 yards to the Augustana 2-yard line which led to an eventual score. Jeffery Fisher led North Park defensive players with 7 total tackles and 2 PBUs, while Theo Smith, Juan Nieves, and Jeremy Hanlon all recorded 5+ tackles and a PBU as well. North Park's defense managed one more TO on an unprovoked Augustana fumble that was recovered by Jonathon Thomas.
North Park next takes on the #1 team in the nation—CCIW foe North Central—on Saturday, October 29th in Naperville.
