Wheaton at University of St. Francis (Ill.)

Wheaton beat University of St. Francis (Ill.) 17–9 on the road in Joliet, IL on Saturday, September 9, 2000. It was the 2000 season opener, and it left Wheaton at 1-0. It was the first of two meetings with University of St. Francis (Ill.) in the archive. Mike Swider was in his fifth season as head coach.

Football opens season with 17-9 win at St. Xavier (Boxscore)

Chicago,

Ill. (9/9) - The Wheaton College (1-0) football team opened its season

with a hard-fought 17-9 win at St. Xavier University (0-1) this afternoon

on Chicago's South Side. Wheaton amassed 478 yards of total offense on the

afternoon and held the Cougars to 245 yards of offense. The Wheaton defense

held down the St. Xavier running game, the main component to the team's offense,

allowing the Cougars just 48 rushing yards on 28 attempts.

Senior

wide receiver Jeremy Amos (Austin, Texas/Westlake) recorded career-high's

of 173 receiving yards and 12 receptions on the afternoon with one touchdown.

Amos is one of Wheaton's four senior team captain's, along with running back

Brian Pastermack (Merritt Island, Fla./Merritt Island) who ran for

140 yards on 17 carries for an average of 8.2 yards per carry, including a

52-yard touchdown. Sophomore quarterback Neil Anderson (Clear Lake,

Texas/Clear Lake) handled himself with composure this afternoon in his first

collegiate start throwing for 245 yards with 20 completions on 35 attempts.

Anderson connected with Amos on one touchdown pass and threw two interceptions,

but added a scrambling element to Wheaton's quarterback spot as he ran for

61 yards on 20 attempts.

Amos gave

Wheaton a 7-0 advantage with 7:28 left in the first quarter when he made a

25-yard yard touchdown reception from Anderson. St. Xavier closed the gap

with a 39-yard field goal by Brad Zientara with 0:33 left in the first

quarter. Wheaton made it a 10-3 contest thanks to a 22-yard field goal by

All-American kicker Chris Baughman (Fort Morgan, Colo./Fort Morgan)

with 9:45 left in the second quarter. St. Xavier made the game a nail-biter

immediately after halftime as Jason Markowicz made a three-yard touchdown

run for a 10-9 Wheaton advantage with 13:07 left in the third quarter. Pastermack

blocked the ensuing extra point attempt as the guests held on to their 10-9

lead. Pastermack put the game away for good with 4:57 left in the contest

with a 52-yard touchdown run for the final 17-9 advantage.

Senior linebacker

Brett Wyss (Monument, Colo./Lewis-Palmer) led Wheaton with seven total

tackles (six solo). Wyss also had a tackle for lost yardage (minus-3 yards)

and blocked a Cougar field goal attempt with 3:37 left in the third quarter

that would have given the hosts the lead. Sophomore free safety Shawn Wildt

(Victoria, Texas/Victoria) made five total tackles (four solo) with an interception,

while junior cornerback Ryan McCaffrey (Wheaton, Ill./North) also made

an interception. Sophomore defensive tackle John Diggs (San Antonio,

Texas/Alamo Heights) made five total tackles (four solo) in his first collegiate

start. Senior linebacker JD Leman (Champaign, Ill./Central) had three

solo tackles with two sacks (minus-17 yards).

Wheaton head

coach Mike Swider said of his team's effort, "I was impressed with

our composure today." He continued, "We shot ourselves in the foot a couple

of times, but we never lost our focus and we never panicked. I think that

the way we carried ourselves had a lot to do with our off season programs."

Swider remarked on the effort by the Wheaton defense, "Our front seven played

really well and those guys are as physical as they get. We forced a team that

wants to run the ball into throwing the football." Wheaton will host Wabash

College next Saturday in its home opener, scheduled for a 1:00 PM kickoff

at McCully Field. Wabash opened its season this afternoon at Manchester College.

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