ROCK ISLAND, ILL.- After a successful 41-3 win against Coe College last Saturday, the Augustana Vikings kept it rolling with a 55-13 victory against Elmhurst College in their first CCIW game of the season Saturday night.
The game was off to a quick start with Augie scoring the first touchdown with a little over ten minutes on the clock and then a second one with 4:44 remaining in the first quarter. Elmhurst had a moment of revival and managed to score but the Vikings took advantage and had five more touchdowns in the first half, bringing the score to 45-6 at half time. 
“The guys are very focused, they’ve been here for a long time; playing for a long time, like a lot of snaps and they are tired of what it was before so know they are older and they are ready to kind of take that next step so they are very motivated,” Head Coach Steve Bell said.
Things slowed down a bit in the second half but the Vikings were still able to increase their lead. Augustana scored another touchdown five minutes into the third quarter bringing their lead to 52-6. 
The Augie defense was spearheaded by safety John Kappel who intercepted an Elmhurst pass in the second half, “You know it’s just technique that we practice all week, it’s just going back to your technique and playing how you’re supposed to play relying on the guys around you. It’s not just me, it’s everyone doing their job and getting their job done,” Kappel said. 
The third quarter ended with the Vikings leading 55-6. First-year Chase Tatum had two sacks and  Junior Zach Stewart added an interception to the defensive totals. 
Coach Bell is very satisfied with the success the team has had in the beginning of their season. He says the goals for the season are to, “Just be the best that we can be. You know we can’t control certain things out there so just let us walk off the field every game win lose draw whatever it is and just say ‘you know what we played the best that we could have played today’ and in that [the scoreboard will] tell what it’s supposed to tell in the end. Today was great because I thought we played really well in the first half, maybe not so much in the second but we played really good in the first half.”
The Vikings ended the game with a victorious 55-13 win. The Augustana Vikings now 2-0 are set to play away at Illinois Wesleyan on Sat. 21 at 1pm.