By Clyde Hughes
D3sports.com
The Little Brass Bell could almost take a back seat to all the implications riding Saturday when No. 7-ranked North Central takes its short bus ride to No. 4-ranked Wheaton in possibly the top game in Division III this week.
On the line are the possible College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin title, a high seed and home field advantage in the playoffs and putting the winner in the best position in a long time for a shot at a trip to Salem.
Wheaton's Mike Swider said, though, that's getting a little bit ahead of things. He said the game between the two longtime suburban Chicago rivals is big enough without talking playoff and the future yet to happen. If fact, he doesn't even want to take about it -- with his players at least.
"We don't get into that all with them" said Swider, whose Thunder has won nine of the last 10 meetings against North Central, despite the Cardinals winning at least a share of the CCIW the last two years in a row. "When you look at the entire season, it's just the next game on the schedule. It's no bigger than the next one and you've still got to beat somebody. For all of those things to happen, we still have to win next week and the week after that. As far as season goes, they're all big."
That's not to say Swider doesn't think this game is special. He said it is, but on into itself without all the hype of national rankings, regional rankings and playoff implications.
"The rivalry is a strong rivalry because of the proximity of the school, the trophy we play for and the years we've been playing each other. Those three things make it a big game. Both teams are highly ranked and this is what college football is all about. It'll be a great game."
In that respect, Swider would get no argument from North Central coach John Thorne, whose team is still trying to find that magic ingredient to beat Wheaton.
"We've got to play four quarters," said Thorne, whose Cardinals lost 28-24 at home in 2007. "We did really well for a full half last year, actually until the last two minutes of the game.
"We did beat them in 2005 but we played really bad in the first half and had to rally to win that one. The last two years it's been the other way around where they had a bad first half and came on to play a strong second half. Whatever team plays a full four quarters without any mistakes will win."
North Central will try to change its fortunes against Wheaton with tailback Dominic Sulo, who is averaging 98.3 yards a game and 6.3 yards a carry. Quarterback Aaron Fanthrope has completed 59.3 percent of his passes this season (64-108, 4 interceptions) while throwing for 11 touchdowns.
"Dominic is one of those guys who can change direction and get up to full speed in two steps," Thorne said. "We've got to find ways to get him up to the second level so he can do his special things.
"Aaron took tremendous punishment from Wheaton last year. They did a lot of zero coverage and blitzing. We had some injuries on the offensive line and didn't pick up nearly enough of their stunts so he got hit a ton. If we can do a better job of protecting him I'll be much happier."
Wheaton will counter with tailback Rocky Gingg, who is also averaging 98.3 yards a game and 4.6 yards a carry. Quarterback Sean Norris has thrown for 11 touchdowns while completing 58.5 percent of his passes (72-124, 5 interceptions). Receiver Alex Pokorny has caught eight of Norris' 11 touchdown passes and is averaging 86.8 yards per game.
Wheaton defensive back and special teams player Pete Ittersagen may be the X-factor in this game. Ittersagen, who has already returned one punt for a touchdown this season and a kickoff return for 53, has the ability in special teams to turn a game around.
"Ittersaagen is just one of those special athletes who can contribute in so many ways," Swider said.
Thorne said he would like to avoid kicking to Ittersagen if at all possible.
"He's like lightning in a bottle," Thorne said. "If there is an opportunity to punt the ball out of bounds we'll probably do that."
The teams will be looking into a mirror on Saturday, with North Central averaging 33.8 points a game and giving up 11.8, while Wheaton is averaging 37.3 and giving up 12.3. But if North Central wants a share of the CCIW title for the third year in a row it will have to figure out a way to beat Wheaton for only the second time in 11 years.
