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| Dan Gilroy and his Cardinal defender teammates look to pounce on a loose ball in the second-round win against Carnegie Mellon. Photo by Doug Sasse, d3photography.com |
By Brian Lester
D3sports.com
North Central defensive lineman Dan Gilroy almost didn’t play football in college. After his high school career, he said he planned to hang up the cleats.
And then something changed.
“I think it was February or March when I started to get the itch again, Gilroy said. “I got bored being a regular student. I wanted to do something bigger than myself, be a part of something bigger. I decided last minute to come to North Central.”
One of his friends from high school, Matt Sutherland, was on the North Central team at the time. He figured he’d visit the campus and see how it all worked out.
‘I said if I hated it, I won’t go, or if I got to school and it was terrible, I’d transfer out. It ended up being the best decision I’ve ever made,” Gilroy said. “I’m so grateful I’ve had this opportunity.”
Fast forward to 2022 and what a decision it’s been for Gilroy, who is in his fifth season and is part of a defense that has helped fuel another deep playoff run for the top-ranked Cardinals, who were the NCAA Division III national champions in 2019 and a national runner-up a year ago.
And he and his teammates are on a mission to contend for a title again. The next step on the journey is a national quarterfinal showdown on Saturday against No. 10 Ithaca.
“Like a lot of the other fifth year guys, we wanted to come back to try to win the Stagg Bowl again. It’s been a dream come true far for our last year here,” Gilroy said.
The Cardinals are coming off a hard-fought 28-7 win over Carnegie Mellon last Saturday, shutting the Tartans out over the final three quarters of play after giving up their first touchdown since Oct. 1 against Wheaton College. They allowed only 146 yards of offense in the victory, their 12th of the season.
“We knew going in that Carnegie Mellon was fast and physical and that their coaches do a great job of putting guys in a position to succeed. We knew we were in for a battle,” North Central head coach Brad Spencer said. “We knew winning the turnover battle was going to be key, and we did that 2-0, and our offense did a good job of holding onto the football. It was a good team win.”
North Central trailed 7-0 after one quarter and was only up 14-7 at the half. But the Cardinals, who had given up just six points in their previous seven games and hadn’t really been in a pressure situation during that stretch, stayed calm and collected. Spencer loved the way his team handled it.
“The guys never got too up or too down. There was no finger pointing,” Spencer said. “To be in a close game against a strong opponent and see everyone even keep, it’s a good indicator of where this team is at right now.”
The Cardinals are in the position they are in because of the work they have put in to be ready for anything.
“It’s our work ethic,” fifth-year senior defensive back Sam Taviani said. “Our coaches come up with a fantastic game plan and we put in countless hours during the week to make sure we are ready to execute it. We trust each other and want to play hard for each other.”
Work ethic is just one piece of a puzzle that has allowed the Cardinals to record five shutouts and give up a total of just 58 points on the season while giving up only 202.1 yards per outing.
There is also the part of the equation that includes the fact that every day in practice the defense is facing one of the nation’s best offenses. North Central has rolled up 558.1 yards per game and is putting up just over 55 points per game on average.
“I give a ton of credit to our offense and going up against those guys every week,” Gilroy said. “It helps a ton. We feel like we’re prepared because we practice against one of the best, if not, the best, offense in the country.”
Teams can throw numbers around all day, though, as far as stats go. But the Cardinals are about so much more than that as they continue their march through another special season.
“You look at our stats on offense and defense, and we lead the country or are close to leading the country in a lot of categories,” Spencer said. “Stats don’t win football games, but they do tell a story, and it’s a reflection of how well we are playing on both sides of the ball. We don’t focus on winning a stat category. It’s about how we prepare to win football games each week. And you do that by blocking and tackling, taking care of the ball and taking it away. Our team is playing at a high level.”
Ithaca certainly won’t be easy, though. Of course, at this point in the postseason, there are no easy opponents.
“We have to be prepared to play 60 minutes of physical football. Every team left is good. We know it’s going to be a four-quarter battle. We have to be at our best,” Spencer said.
That includes on the defensive side of the ball.
“We have to focus on doing our job. It’s not going to take any miracles. We just have to play our game,” Taviani said. “We’ve been playing with effort and energy and have had a lot of success. We have to keep doing that.”
The Cardinals also know they must remain focused, which is second nature for this program.
“Every successful program starts with great leadership, and we have players who push the others to live up to the expectations we have here,” Spencer said. “These guys have a good sense of what we need to focus on and that they have to control the controllables. We have to worry about what we are doing every week.”
For someone like Gilroy, just to still be playing football is a bigger deal than words can say. For a player who once thought about never playing football again after high school is thankful to still have a chance to play the game he has always loved.
“It’s been awesome and it means a ton to come back for one more year," Gilroy said. "It would mean the world to help this team win another championship."