Top 10 national semifinals of the expanded playoff era |
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The game started with a temperature right around freezing, and it definitely did not get better for two teams and more than 3,500 fans who came out to watch North Central and Wartburg square off in the 2023 national semifinals in Waverly, Iowa.
The home fans were disappointed in the way the game started, as North Central rolled out to a 20-0 lead, then led 26-7 late in the second quarter. But Nile McLaughlin and the Wartburg offense began to master the crosswind. After starting the day with six consecutive incomplete passes, McLaughlin started to move the chains. He hit Carter Henry for a completion to the 33, then found Hunter Clasen on a pass for a first down, and hit tight end Thomas Butters down the left side for a 17-yard gain, setting up first-and-goal from the 8. McLaughlin went back to the left side for a ball Thor Maakestad came down with in the end zone to make it 26-13 with 21 seconds left in the half.
Wartburg came out with new life in the second half and scored the next two touchdowns as well, the last coming on a hard run by Clasen for an 11-yard score, giving Wartburg its first lead of the game, at 27-26.
But North Central found a little offensive life, and finally hit its first big play of the second half. Luke Lehnen found Joey Lombardi deep down the right sideline for a 54-yard catch, and Lehnen and Joe Sacco ran it in the final 9 yards to take the lead. DeAngelo Hardy added a two-point conversion to make it 34-27 with 5:40 to play.
Wartburg had two shots to tie the game. The Knights completed a crazy double-deflected pass (below) to Clasen for 20 yards to get down to the Cardinals 14. He added a 6-yard run to get to the 8, then went 3 yards on third-and-4, but was stuffed on a fourth-and-1 and the Knights (13-1) turned the ball over at the 5.
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The Knights still had all of their timeouts and got the ball back, with McLaughlin hitting Henry over the middle for a big gain, but the Cardinals defense got the stop with Wartburg at the North Central 21. Lombardi finished with four catches for 161 yards and two TDs while Joe Sacco had two TD runs for North Central.