Wheaton 28, North Central College 24 · Wheaton Football History

Oct 6, 2007 · 7:00 PM · Naperville, Ill. · CCIW game · Attendance 1,450

Head coach Mike Swider · Recap ↗

Line Score

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Wheaton	0	0	14	14	28

Wheaton Player Statistics

Passing

Player	Cmp	Att	Pct	Yds ▾	TD	Int	Long	Rating
Sean Norris	13	24	54.2%	204	3	2	43	150.2

Rushing

Player	Att	Yds ▾	Avg	TD	Long
Andrew Hershey	14	61	4.4	1	15
Brett Jackson	6	11	1.8	0	8
Sean Norris	9	8	0.9	0	11

Receiving

Player	Rec	Yds ▾	Avg	TD	Long
Jordan Kemper	2	49	24.5	1	35
Chris Fossum	4	48	12.0	0	15
Noah Dreyer	1	43	43.0	1	43
Alex Pokorny	2	37	18.5	0	22
Brett Jackson	2	16	8.0	0	16
Dan Newman	1	7	7.0	0	7
Kirk Sundberg	1	4	4.0	1	4

Scoring

Player	TD	PAT	PATA	Pts ▾
Andrew Hershey	1	0	0	6
Jordan Kemper	1	0	0	6
Noah Dreyer	1	0	0	6
Kirk Sundberg	1	0	0	6
Tim Ellingsen	0	4	4	4

Defense

Player	Solo	Ast	Tot ▾	TFL	Sacks	Int	PBU	FF	FR
Jesse Laizure	6	6	12	0.5	0.0	0	0	0	0
Javier Almanza	5	6	11	0.5	0.5	0	0	0	0
Stephen Pagh	6	4	10	0.5	0.0	1	0	0	0
Jonathan Toal	3	5	8	1.5	1.0	0	0	0	0
Kirk McKenney	4	3	7	0.0	0.0	0	2	0	0
Ben Kuenzle	4	2	6	0.0	0.0	0	1	0	1
Tyler Langs	5	0	5	0.0	0.0	1	0	0	0
Shane Woodward	4	1	5	1.5	0.0	0	0	0	0
Pete Ittersagen	4	0	4	0.0	0.0	0	1	0	0
Eric Theisen	3	1	4	1.5	1.5	0	0	0	0
Lance Martin	2	2	4	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	0
Nick Theobald	2	0	2	1.0	0.0	0	0	1	0
Dan Dipzinksi	1	1	2	0.0	0.0	0	1	0	0
Jon Ryan	1	1	2	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	0
Kirk Sundberg	1	1	2	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	0
Dave Lindberg	1	0	1	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	0
Zach Bratkovich	1	0	1	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	0
Andy McClain	1	0	1	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	0
Brett Latsha	0	1	1	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	0
David Harper	0	1	1	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	0
Josh Bishop	0	1	1	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	0
Andy Studebaker	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	1	0	0
Rocky Gingg	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	0

Interceptions

Player	No ▾	Yds	Avg	TD	Long
Tyler Langs	1	24	24.0	0	24
Rocky Gingg	1	1	1.0	0	1

Punting

Player	No ▾	Yds	Avg	Long	In20	TB	Blk
Sean Norris	7	257	36.7	49	2	0	—

Kickoffs

Player	No ▾	Yds	Avg	TB	OB
Tim Ellingsen	5	315	63.0	0	0

Punt Returns

Player	No	Yds ▾	Avg	TD	Long
Pete Ittersagen	3	45	15.0	0	26

Kick Returns

Player	No	Yds ▾	Avg	TD	Long
Shane Woodward	3	61	20.3	0	22
Alex Pokorny	2	37	18.5	0	21

Scoring Summary

1st 14:01	NCC - Weil, Josh 42 yd interception return (Bognanno, Antho kick)
1st 05:43	NCC - Aguilar, Ben 27 yd field goal
2nd 00:15	NCC - Welch, Perry 9 yd pass from Fanthorpe, Aaro (Bognanno, Antho kick)
3rd 06:18	WHEATON - Kemper, Jordan 35 yd pass from Norris, Sean (Ellingsen, Tim kick)
3rd 04:43	WHEATON - Hershey, Andrew 8 yd run (Ellingsen, Tim kick)
3rd 04:15	NCC - MacIntosh, Mich 61 yd pass from Fanthorpe, Aaro (Bognanno, Antho kick)
4th 07:04	WHEATON - Sundberg, Kirk 4 yd pass from Norris, Sean (Ellingsen, Tim kick)
4th 01:41	WHEATON - Dreyer, Noah 43 yd pass from Norris, Sean (Ellingsen, Tim kick)

Team Statistics

Statistic	Wheaton	North Central College
FIRST DOWNS	14	24
Rushing	3	12
Passing	9	12
Penalty	2	0
NET YARDS RUSHING	75	150
Rushing Attempts	31	51
Average Per Rush	2.4	2.9
Rushing Touchdowns	1	0
Yards Gained Rushing	102	175
Yards Lost Rushing	27	25
NET YARDS PASSING	204	267
Completions-Attempts-Int	13-24-2	18-35-2
Average Per Attempt	8.5	7.6
Average Per Completion	15.7	14.8
Passing Touchdowns	3	2
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS	279	417
Total offense plays	55	86
Average Gain Per Play	5.1	4.8
Fumbles: Number-Lost	0-0	1-1
Penalties: Number-Yards	1-5	7-55
PUNTS-YARDS	7-257	6-237
Average Yards Per Punt	36.7	39.5
Net Yards Per Punt	30.4	25.3
Inside 20	2	1
Touchbacks	0	2
Fair catch	2	0
KICKOFFS-YARDS	5-315	5-305
Average Yards Per Kickoff	63.0	61.0
Net Yards Per Kickoff	36.8	41.4
Touchbacks	0	0
Average Per Return	19.6	26.2
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD	2-25-0	2-36-1
Miscellaneous Yards	0	0
Possession Time	23:17	36:32
Red-Zone Scores-Chances	2-2	2-4
Sacks By: Number-Yards	3-15	5-19
PAT Kicks	4-4	3-3
Field Goals	0-0	1-1

Game Recap

Wheaton College Athletics

#4-Ranked Thunder rallies to defeat North Central 28-24

Naperville, Ill. - The Fourth-ranked Thunder football team rallied from a 17-0 halftime deficit to earn a 28-24 win at North Central on Saturday night. Head coach Mike Swider said following the victory, “I believe in this football team.” He added “This game was big because we came from behind, but also because we have dealt with a lot of adversity with injuries.” Swider, among the winningest active head coaches in Division III concluded, “Not only are we a good football team, but we are a family, and family doesn't quit on each other. That is what we showed tonight. This team never quit.”

North Central used a 42-yard interception return for a touchdown, a 27-yard field goal and a nine-yard touchdown pass to jump out to a 17-0 lead in the first half. Wheaton reached the scoreboard with 6:18 left in the third quarter when sophomore quarterback Sean Norris (RIGHT) connected with senior tight end Jordan Kemper on a 35-yard touchdown pass to cut the Cardinals' lead to 17-7. Wheaton intercepted a Cardinal pass with 4:53 left in the third quarter and returned it 24 yards to the Cardinals' eight-yard line. Thunder tailback Andrew Hershey reached the end zone on an eight-yard touchdown run on the next play to cut North Central's lead to 17-14, with 4:43 left in the third quarter. The Cardinals' lead increased to 24-14, two plays later on a 61-yard touchdown toss with 4:15 left in the third quarter.

Wheaton again cut North Central's lead to three when senior Kirk Sundberg caught a four-yard touchdown toss on a play-action pass from Norris with 7:04 left in the game for a 24-21 Cardinals' lead. A North Central punt with 2:00 left in the game was returned 19 yards by Pete Ittersagen to the Cardinals' 43-yard line. On the next play, Norris threw a 43-yard touchdown pass over the middle to Noah Dreyer with 1:41 left in the game to give Wheaton its first lead of the game, at 28-24. On the final drive of the game the Cardinals made it to the Wheaton 24-yard line, however, the Thunder defense stopped the hosts on fourth down, with seven yards to go for a first down. Wheaton's defensive stop gave the Thunder the ball and the opportunity to run out the clock for the victory.

Wheaton recorded 279 yards of total offense, with 204 passing yards and 75 rushing yards. North Central amassed 417 yards of offense, with 267 rushing yards and 150 rushing yards.

Norris completed 13 of his 24 passing attempts, for 204 yards and three touchdown tosses. Senior captain Chris Fossum caught a team-high four passes, for 48 yards. Kemper added two receptions for 49 yards, with the 35-yard touchdown reception. Hershey carried the ball 14 times, for 61 yards with one touchdown run.

Thunder linebacker Jesse Laizure (LEFT) recorded a game-high 12 total tackles. Defensive tackle Javier Almanza added 11 tackles, with an assisted tackle for lost yardage. Linebacker Steve Pagh added 10 tackles and senior Jonathan Toal tallied eight tackles, with 1-1/2 tackles for lost yardage (-5 yards).

North Central quarterback Aaron Fanthorpe completed 18 of his 34 passing attempts for 267 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Fanthorpe also ran for 60 yards on 20 carries. Perry Welch caught a game-high eight passes for 86 yards with one touchdown. Michael Macintosh caught five passes for a game-high 120 yards, with one touchdown. Running back Dominic Sulo carried the ball 27 times for 76 yards. Nick Hammers and Matt Wenger each led the North Central defense, with 11 total tackles.

Wheaton, ranked fourth in the most recent American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division III Coaches Poll, is now 5-0 overall and 2-0 in CCIW play. The Thunder will host Augustana next Saturday in a 6 PM at McCully Stadium. Saturday's game will be broadcast on WETN radio at 88.1 FM in the Wheaton area and on WETN-TV, channel-72 on Wheaton-area cable outlets. The game will also be streamed with video and audio broadcasts on the internet at http://www.wheaton.edu/wetn and live statistics will be available on the Wheaton website (LINK). North Central is now 3-2 overall and 1-1 in league play. The Cardinals will travel to Elmhurst next Saturday afternoon.