North Central college receiver Ryan Kuhl, shown in a game earlier this season, had six receptions for 83 yards in last Saturday’s 31-14 NCAA playoff loss to CCIW rival Wheaton. (North Central College photo).

North Central College saw the 2016 football season come to a close on Saturday, losing a 31-14 decision to College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin rival Wheaton College at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium.

The Cardinals (11-1) led a closely-contested encounter early before Wheaton scored on its final five possessions to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III Football Championship.

“They’re a really good football team,” North Central head coach Jeff Thorne said of the Thunder. “We knew that going in. We told our team that the keys were going to be controlling the line of scrimmage and protecting the football, and that was the difference today. The credit goes to them.

“Our guys played hard. I’m proud of our team. This doesn’t change anything in terms of how I feel about the season we’ve had, and about the young men that I’ve had the opportunity to coach. They’re a great group of young men.”

Both teams’ offenses found the going rough in the first period as neither defense gave much ground. Pat Cravens intercepted a pass on the Thunder’s first play from scrimmage, but North Central wound up having to punt. Wheaton’s Eric Stevenson picked off a pass near the goal line, but the visitors were also unable to capitalize.

The Cardinals got on board first with an eight-play, 87-yard drive in the second quarter which was jumpstarted by a 27-yard run by Austin Breunig and Broc Rutter’s 18-yard pass to Ryan Kuhl. Six plays later, Rutter called his own number for a two-yard touchdown run, putting North Central up, 7-0, with 6:03 left in the first half.

The Cardinals were driving in Wheaton’s half of the field before a fumble ended their progress at the Thunder 16-yard line. Wheaton running back Sola Olateju ran for 52 yards on the ensuing drive before Andrew Bowers threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Chase White, leveling the score at 7-7 with just 17 seconds on the clock.

“It was a big momentum swing,” Thorne said, “but I hate to look at one play and say, ‘that’s the play that changed the game.’ At the end of the day, they ran the football and they pressured the quarterback. It was at the line of scrimmage where they won today.”

Wheaton took their first lead of the day on the initial possession of the second half with another run-heavy drive which culminated in a second TD pass to White, this time from seven yards out. The Cardinals countered with an 11-play, 79-yard possession, as Breunig put the hosts in striking distance with a 25-yard run before Rutter ran six yards for another score with 5:40 to go in the third period.

The Thunder moved in front once again, 17-14, on Stefan Knoerr’s 32-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, then scored on runs of 15 and six yards by Olateju on their next two drives to put the contest out of reach.

Breunig ran for 115 yards on 13 carries, while Rutter was 20 of 35 passing for 222 yards and Kuhl caught six passes for 83 yards. Justin Stuursma led the Cardinal defense with nine tackles and DJ Warkenthien added 2.5 tackles for loss. As a team, the Cardinals set single-season school records for tackles for loss (107) and quarterback sacks (51) this season.