By Hannah Bartlebaugh, Staff Writer, and Orli Strickman, Senior Managing Editor
At 6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 10, Wheaton football beat North Central 13-10 in one of the longest-running rivalries to win the most anticipated Division III matchup of the year.
Saturday’s game was played in front of a packed crowd at North Central’s Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium. The Cardinals debuted their new all-black uniforms for the anticipated rivalry matchup. The game got off to an unusual start when North Central had a failed snap on their punt attempt, sending the ball into the end zone, resulting in a safety for Wheaton. The score remained 2-0 for the rest of the first half.
Much of the second half remained a defensive slugfest. The only score of the third quarter was a field goal by North Central kicker Sean Ryniec, to bring the score to 3-2. The momentum seemed to be shifting in the Cardinals’ favor early in the fourth quarter, when they intercepted Wheaton quarterback Mark Forcucci’s pass, which led to a North Central touchdown to bring the score to 10-2 with six minutes remaining.
Wheaton responded by driving the ball down the field, but again stalled in North Central territory and turned the ball over on downs. On North Central’s first play of the ensuing drive, Wheaton linebacker Zeke Harris, a junior engineering major, intercepted North Central quarterback Garret Wilson’s pass to give the ball back to Wheaton. Harris said that as soon as he saw the ball and caught it, he knew his team would win.
“I had no doubt in my mind that we were going to get a stop, and either get a chance to send our offense in to win the game, or go win in overtime,” he said.
The Thunder offense was able to drive down the field, setting up an 18-yard field goal by senior kicker Caleb Ryan, to bring the score to 13-10. The Cardinals got the ball back with five seconds left in regulation, but Wheaton’s defense held them in check to secure the victory.
As the clock hit zero, the Wheaton team immediately ran to the sideline to grab the bell, and many of the Thunder fans in attendance began to rush the field in celebration. The team posed for pictures with the bell at midfield, a symbol of a victory seven years in the making.
“It’s the craziest thing in the world,” said junior running back Malachi Jones of the win. “I don’t even know how to explain it.”
Harris said that this win is special because none of the current Wheaton players have ever seen the bell.
“I think the best thing is that we showed everyone who we are as a team,” he said. “We put the nation on notice, and it’s going to be awesome to have to prove ourselves every week. There isn’t a group of guys I’d rather do it with.”
Senior running back Malachi Williams agreed. “We’ll win every game, take it week by week, and that’s all,” he said.
This year’s game featured the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in Division III for the first time in the rivalry’s history. The rivalry is symbolized by “The Little Brass Bell,” a 4-inch-tall trophy that, according to legend, settled in DuPage County in 1839 after a New England family transported it from New York.
Though the bell is currently a symbol of the campus rivalry between Wheaton and North Central, it was originally a symbol of the political debate between Wheaton and Naperville over the location of the DuPage County Courthouse. After Wheaton gained leadership of DuPage County in 1967, the city of Naperville refused to hand over county records. Early one morning, Wheaton removed the records and the Little Brass Bell from the Naperville courthouse during a raid.
A Daily Herald article from Nov. 15, 1997, reported that the bell had been in the middle of DuPage County’s biggest events for over 150 years. “From DuPage’s founding, to its shift of county seats to its evolution from a quiet, rural area to a bustling, suburban center,” the article reads.
Several years later, the bell wound up with a farmer who lived between Naperville and Wheaton. He had one son who attended Wheaton and one who attended North Central, and after his death, the bell was inherited by the son who had attended North Central. The bell then came to represent school spirit, being traded through pranks until it was hidden in a Naperville attic.
After the bell was rediscovered in the early 1940s, it became the trophy awarded to the winner of the annual conference matchup between Wheaton and North Central in 1946, a game Wheaton won 15-14.
Wheaton currently holds the longest winning streak in the rivalry, with 11 wins between 1948 and 1958, while North Central holds the record for most points scored in a game with 94 points in 1914. Wheaton’s highest score was 56 points in 1993.
Prior to the game, the Cardinals held a five-year winning streak, including a 35-0 win last season, marking the first time Wheaton had been shut out since 1964. The last time Wheaton had beat North Central was in 2019.
The Thunder entered the game undefeated at 5-0 (3-0 in the CCIW), while the Cardinals were undefeated at 4-0 (2-0 in the CCIW). North Central had won 53 straight conference matchups and gone 2877 days without losing a home game prior to Saturday night.
Following Saturday’s win, Wheaton is now ranked #1 in the country for the first time in program history. North Central, who has held the top spot up until this point, has now fallen to No. 2. The Thunder will play again on Saturday, Oct. 17, vs. Carroll University at McCully Stadium. If they remain undefeated through the rest of the regular season, they will be on track to win the CCIW and have home-field advantage for the playoffs.
