10th-Ranked Thunder football team opens 2007 with a 28-10 win at Albion

Albion, Mich. - The Wheaton College football team, ranked 10th in this week's D3Football.com Top 25, opened its 2007 campaign with a 28-10 win at Albion College. Wheaton scored 14 first-quarter points and led the Britons 21-0 at halftime.

Wheaton took a 7-0 lead with 12:28 to play in the first quarter when senior quarterback Zach Ullrich scampered into the end zone, during the first drive of the game, on a 13-yard touchdown run. Ullrich's touchdown capped a seven-play drive of 55 yards. Preseason All-American Pete Ittersagen eluded the Britons' special teams unit on a 78-yard punt return for a touchdown to give Wheaton a 14-0 lead with 2:46 left in the first quarter. Ullrich threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to senior Chris Fossum with 2:33 left in the second quarter to extend Wheaton's lead to 21-0. Fossum touchdown reception capped a three-play drive of 18 yards that was setup by 17-yard interception return by Ittersagen to give the Thunder the ball at the Britons' 18-yard line.

Albion quarterback Blake Evans scored on a 10-yard touchdown run with 11:40 left in the third quarter to cut the Wheaton lead to 28-7. Albion's Mychal Galla kicked a 44-yard field goal with 5:34 left in the third quarter to cut the Wheaton lead to 21-10. Wheaton secured a 28-10 lead that would become the final score, with a 40-yard touchdown pass from Ullrich to junior Alex Pokorny with 11:00 left in the game.

Wheaton tallied 406 yards of total offense, with 248 passing yards and 158 rushing yards. Albion had 230 yards of offense, passing for 178 yards, with just 52 rushing yards.

Ullrich (RIGHT) completed 23 of his 37 passing attempts for 248 yards, with two touchdowns. Senior Noah Dreyer caught eight passes for 60 yards. Fossum caught six passes for 73 yards, with one touchdown catch. Pokorny caught three passes for 60 yards with one touchdown. Senior Brett Jackson was the leading rusher for the Thunder with 14 carries for 74 yards.

Ittersagen led the Thunder defense with 10 tackles, including eight solos, and the 17-yard interception return that setup the Fossum touchdown. Ittersagen also amassed 118 yards on four punt returns, including the 78-yard return for the touchdown. Linebacker Jesse Laizure made eight total tackles, with two tackles for lost yardage (-7 yards). Defensive end Ben Kunzle made three tackles for lost yardage for -17 yards and two passes broken-up. Linebacker Jonathan Toal made six total tackles, including 2-1/2 tackles for lost yardage of -12 yards.

Evans completed 11 of his 27 passing attempts for 178 yards. Josh Silvernail caught seven passes for 83 yards. Robbie Moffett, Tommy Lefere, Chris Haines and Ryan Donahue each tallied eight total tackles. Lefere added a 44-yard interception return and Haines returned an interception three yards.

Wheaton will continue its season on the road next Saturday at Washington University (Mo.). The Bears earned improved to 2-0 on Saturday with a 34-3 win at Westminster (Mo.). Next Saturday's game is a noon kickoff in St. Louis. Saturday's game will be broadcast on WETN at 88.1 FM in the Wheaton area and on the internet at www.wetn.org.