Following a 30-27 loss in double overtime against North Park, Augustana football quickly switched its focus to the momentum-building Elmhurst Bluejays. At 1-2 in the CCIW, Augustana was looking to avoid dropping any more unnecessary games.
Augustana entered Saturday’s contest in a two-way tie at seventh in the conference, while Elmhurst sat in a four-way tie for second. While well aware of the Vikings’ early-season struggles, Fifth-Year Cole Bhardwaj wasn’t so concerned about their current conference standing.
“North Central and Wheaton seem to be doing what they typically do, and everyone else is scrapping out wins against one another,” Bhardwaj said. “That keeps me hopeful, knowing it’s not just that we’re struggling. It’s kind of a struggling conference as a whole.”
Senior Mike DiGioia helped ensure this squad left the game in high spirits. Digioia ran for a career-high 216 yards and three touchdowns and kickstarted an Augustana offense that has seen a difficult start to the season. While Mike Digioia may be the focal point of their rushing attack, Augustana head coach Stephen Bell sees the talent his running back room holds.
“Our run game has been pretty consistent,” Bell said. “I think with Mike Digioia especially, but you know, with Ben Ludlum and Josh Lim in that first game, the running game has been there all year.”
With a running back room full of playmakers, freeing up the run game can be tough if the defense is keyed in on your strength. Sophomore Josh Lim knew this, and he knew that to open up the run game, other aspects of the Viking offense likely needed to be firing and making the Bluejays defense think.
“What I’m seeing is they’re an excellent team. They like to load the box defensively, making the run game quite hard, which will open up the passing game,” Lim said. “But, if the passing game is working, the run game will be able to work. It’s like the yin and yang, and it’ll work vice versa.”
While having a run game was a primary factor in the Vikings’ 14-point win, it wasn’t the only reason they could secure a substantial early-season victory. Part of that credit goes to an outstanding defense, a unit that only allowed 7 points in the closing minutes of an all-but-sealed game.
Augustana now looks ahead to Carroll this Saturday to face a Pioneers squad trying to find their footing in a scrappy CCIW. Carroll walks into this matchup at 2-3, but Bhardwaj understands that this team is challenging, especially on their turf. He also understands how important it is for this Augustana team to build momentum heading into the ever-looming matchup that #1 North Central poses.
“We’re 3-2 now, and let’s try and be 4-2 heading into North Central and try and have the best record we could possibly have, but Carroll is a good team,” Bhardwaj said. “They always have a decent team.”