North Central College eyes another Division III championship as season begins
CHICAGO (CBS) — North Central College starts a new season, hoping to finish in the same place their previous four journeys have finished — in the Division III national championship game.
"That is one of the goals. It's not the only goal. I mean, yeah, when you've been four in a row, if you're not aiming for that, you probably got the wrong group of coaches and players," head coach Brad Spencer said.
The Cardinals fell short in the 2023 Stagg Bowl, losing to Cortland in a hard-fought battle, 38-37, their second loss in the championship game in the last three years, a taste that hasn't left their mouths.
"It's always there. It's been there every day, you know, getting through spring workout, spring ball, off-season, finally getting back to football and camp, it's something that we harp on every day, so it's a pretty big motivator for us," linebacker BJ Adamchik said.
Having quarterback Luke Lehnen back for a fifth year will certainly help the cause. The reigning national D-III player of the year had a message for the team as they started fall camp.
"Kinda talked about why I came back, and that was a big focus, Just coming back and trying to rewrite the script from last year and come out on top again," quarterback Luke Lehnen said. "I felt like in the championship game, I wasn't, I didn't show up in the first half like I should have. I feel like second-half I played well, but obviously you need to play a full game to win, especially in a big game like that."
If Lehnen needed another extra push, D3Football.com released their preseason all-American team, and the reigning national player of the year didn't get first-team honors at QB. That went to Zac Boyes of Cortland, who beat the Cardinals in last year's Stagg Bowl.
"Uh, yeah, I definitely noticed it. Kind of felt it as disrespect a little bit, but then again, it's just guys going on their opinion, what they vote, their opinon doesn't matter too much to me, especially when we just want to see who comes out on top, In the end, that's what I'm really focused about," Lehnen said.
And this group is confident they'll have what it takes to be on top at the end again.
"I think the fact that we've done it past few years with different groups, I mean, I think, you know, outside there's always been a little bit of, well, how are you going to replace guys that they've lost?" Adamchik said. "We've done a decent job in the past few years. I think looking at team last year compared to this year, I think we've been able to shore up a lot of spots that, you know, people might of said that we didn't have a ton of depth and strength at."
Coach Spencer added, "Fortunately, this year, we do have a number of players coming back that were starters, all-conference, all-Americans for us. So you feel like you got a great core, and it's just putting the pieces together, staying healthy, and figuring out what motivates this group."
Luke Lehnen has also been playing baseball for the Cardinals at a high level. He was tied for the team lead in hits last year. he isn't sure if he'll play again this spring, or just focus on playing football at a high level.