Official recap · Wheaton College Athletics, wheaton.edu
Thunder rallies to earn a 41-35 overtime victory against Millikin
Wheaton, Ill. (10/8) The Wheaton football team rallied from a 21-7 deficit late in the fourth quarter to earn a dramatic 41-35 victory (Boxscore) against Millikin in three overtimes today at McCully Field in front of a Thunder Homecoming crowd. Today's game was only the second time Wheaton had ever played overtime, the first was a 34-32 win in two overtimes at Augustana on Nov. 11, 2000. With the victory Wheaton improves to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the CCIW and stretches its home winning streak to 24 games. Millikin is now 3-2 overall and 0-2 in conference play.
Millikin led the Thunder 21-7 with 6:00 remaining in regulation, but Wheaton scored two touchdowns in that period, including a TD with four-seconds left in regulation. Each team scored touchdowns and converted PAT kicks in the first two overtime periods. Wheaton possessed the ball to open the third overtime and on the fifth play of the drive quarterback Jeremy Chupp scored on a seven-yard touchdown run to give Wheaton a 41-35 lead. According to NCAA overtime rules teams must attempt a two point conversion following every touchdown after the second overtime and Wheaton 's two-point PAT attempt fell short as the score remained 41-35.
On the ensuing Millikin drive the Big Blue ran for one yard on first down, followed by an eight yard pass on second down to give the visitors third down with a yard to go at Wheaton's 16-yard line. Millikin quarterback Joe Albin was stopped for no gain on the third down forcing a fourth down and one yard to go at the Thunder 16-yard line. Big Blue running back Nathan Wallick was stopped for no gain on a strong Wheaton defensive effort led by linebacker Jeff Grandy (LEFT) and defensive tackle Kirk Swanson, to win the game for the hosts.
The dramatic overtime scenario was setup by a Wheaton rally late in the fourth quarter. Wheaton trailed 21-7 with 5:46 left in when Wheaton had a third down and needed 14 yards for a first down at its own 39-yard line when Jeremy Chupp threw a 61-yard yard touchdown pass to his twin brother Joe Chupp (RIGHT) to cut the lead to 21-14. On the next drive Millikin had a lengthy drive of 11 plays and 47 yards that took 4:16 off of the clock, but was shut down when Wheaton blocked a 44-yard field goal attempt by the Big Blue. Wheaton had an opportunity to tie the game with only 1:25 left in regulation and no timeouts left in a drive that started at the Thunder 32-yard line. Jeremy Chupp threw a 21-yard pass to tailback Luke Bazacas, followed by a 35-yard pass to Joe Chupp to give the Thunder first and goal at the Millikin eight-yard line. The Thunder threw two incomplete passes and had a rush of no gain, but capitalized when junior fullback Brad Thornton scored on a one-yard run with four-seconds remaining in regulation to set up the overtime.
Jeremy Chupp completed 18 of his 36 passing attempts for 311 yards, with one touchdown pass and two touchdown runs. Joe Chupp caught career-high 11 passes for a career-best 217 yards with one touchdown catch. Bazacas carried the ball 27 times for 124 yards with one touchdown run and Thornton carried the ball into the endzone twice.
Grandy made a team-high 17 total tackles, with an interception and a fumble recovery, but no play was bigger than his part on the stop of the fourth down play to end the game. Senior Todd Travis (LEFT) made 11 tackles and defensive end Andrew Studebaker made 10 total tackles, with 1-1/2 tackles for lost yardage. Senior Jason Isaacson made 10 total tackles on the day, and linebacker Jonathan Toal was in on nine total tackles, with three quarterback hurries.
Wallick carried the ball 47 times for 213 yards, with two touchdown runs to lead the Big Blue offense. Albin completed 13 of his 25 passing attempts for 239 yards with three touchdown passes and also carried the ball five times for 49 rushing yards. Nathan Chandler caught four passes for 123 yard with one touchdown reception. Big Blue receivers Chris Katzmark and Chris Ratajczyk each caught touchdown passes for the guests. Dortanian Blount led the Millikin defense with 16 tackles and a forced fumble. Sam Jordan added 14 total tackles, with two tackles for lost yardage of 11 yards.
Wheaton collected 473 yards of total offense with 311 passing yards and 162 yards on the ground. Millikin amassed 517 yards of offense, with 239 passing yards and 278 rushing yards.
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