NAPERVILLE, Ill.  – Bethel’s hopes of advancing to the national semifinals might have turned in the closing seconds of the first half.

The Royals were denied a potential tying touchdown on the final play of the half ,and defending champion North Central took control with a pair of third-quarter scores en route to a 35-21 victory over Bethel in a matchup of undefeated teams in the NCAA Division III quarterfinals Saturday.

Bethel (12-1) went into the half trailing 14-7 following an unusual sequence in the closing seconds. On fourth-and-6 at the North Central 14, Cooper Drews hit Albert Rundell with a pass near the first-down line, but center Jaeger Ash grabbed the ball from Rundell and carried the final eight yards for an apparent touchdown.

The score was overturned after a lengthy review, but Bethel was awarded a first down at the 8-yard line with 13.8 seconds left. Drews hit Rundell with a pass to the 1-yard line. Drews was then stopped short on a keeper on the final play.

“Those are huge plays,” Bethel coach Mike McElroy said. “It was called a touchdown. It was taken off the board. It has to be indisputable video evidence. I don’t want to whine about some of that stuff, but we’ve got to be better as a division. We’re kind of half in on this stuff (replay).

“And then it has a huge impact on the game,” he said. “It affected a big part of the game. So, I think that’s the frustration. Again, not to take anything away from them, it’s just like that was a turning point of the game that I thought was handled poorly.”

Bethel running back Taye Manns runs through the defense during the Royals’ 35-21 loss to North Central in the NCAA Division-III quarterfinals in Naperville, Ill. on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (Nathan Klok / Bethel Athletics)

A 28-yard punt set up the Cardinals touchdown on their first possession of the third quarter. Jordan Williams’ 5-yard touchdown run capped the 40-yard drive to make it 21-7.

North Central pushed the lead to 28-7 on its next possession on Zeb Rashid’s 3-yard touchdown run with 5:51 left in the third quarter.

Donovan McNeal’s 3-yard touchdown run, his third score of the game, put the Cardinals up 35-7 early in the fourth quarter.

Drews scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 4:22 left to make it 35-14, and then hit Tyler Terry with a 20-yard scoring strike with just over a minute remaining.

“We’ve had times where we’ve gone into half with some momentum and then you come out and you’ve lost it,” North Central coach Brad Spencer said. “I thought this week we did a great job of holding on to it. … We came out and won the third quarter in a big way which helped us put the game away.

It was the second consecutive national quarterfinal loss for Bethel, which lost to Susquehanna 24-21 last season.

North Central (13-0), which is looking for its sixth consecutive title game appearance, won national titles in 2019 and 2022, while finishing runner-up in 2021 and 2023.

Drews completed 24 of 43 passes for 260 yards. Rundell had 10 catches for 46 yards.

North Central capitalized on a costly penalty for a 14-7 lead at the break. On 4th-and-3, the Royals jumped offside, giving the Cardinals a first down at the Bethel 33 yard line.

On the next play, McNeal skirted left end for a 33-yard touchdown with 3:10 left in the half.

After being outgained 148 yards to 3 in the opening quarter, the Royals got on tracked in the second quarter. Drews hit Rundell with a 4-yard touchdown pass in the right corner of the end zone to bring Bethel even at 7-all with 7:38 left in the half.

David Geebli kept the 12-play, 65-yard drive alive with a 2-yard gain on 4th-and-1 at the North Central 20 yard line.

The Royals went three-and-out on their opening possession and North Central responded with a 17-play, 81-yard drive that chewed up more than nine minutes. McNeal’s 1-yard plunge off the left side put the Cardinals up 7-0.

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