The Thunder football team defeats Carthage 51-24

Head coach mike Swider is now tied for the most wins ever by a Wheaton football coach

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Kenosha, Wis. – The Thunder football team closed out its regular season on Saturday with a 51-24 win at Carthage College. Wheaton improves to 8-2 overall and 5-2 in league play, while Carthage ends its season with a record of 5-5 and 3-4 in CCIW play.

Today's win marked the 104th career victory for Wheaton head coach Mike Swider (PICTURED LEFT) as he has now tied Harve Chrouser for the most career wins by a Wheaton head coach. Swider has compiled a record of 104 wins, against 31 losses in his 12 seasons at the helm of the program. Chrouser posted a 104-34-8 record in 17 seasons in charge of Wheaton football.

Wheaton jumped out to an early lead against the Red Men and never looked back as the Thunder threw four first-half touchdown passes to hold a 27-3 lead at halftime. Thunder quarterback Sean Norris (RIGHT) threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to tight end Mike Berttucci to give Wheaton a 6-0 lead with 8:17 left in the first quarter. Norris threw two more touchdowns in the first quarter, both to senior Alex Pokorny with a 30-yard score and a 46-yard connection for a 20-0 Wheaton lead at the conclusion of the first quarter.

Norris threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Berttucci with 6:53 remaining in the first half to extend the Thunder advantage to 27-0. Carthage's first points of the game came with 3:00 left in the first half when Tim Merchut booted a 27-yard field goal cut the Thunder lead to 27-3.

Wheaton opened the second-half scoring when tailback Rocky Gingg (PICTURED LEFT) scored on a one-yard touchdown run with 11:20 left in the third quarter to extend his team's lead to 34-3. Carthage's first touchdown of the day was a five-yard pass from Evan Jones to Nick Merchut with 9:22 left in the third quarter to cut Wheaton's lead to 34-10. Gingg's second touchdown of the day came on a one-yard run with 6:38 left in the third quarter to put Wheaton up 41-10. Carthage scored on a 12-yard pass by Jones with 20-seconds left in the third quarter to cut the Thunder edge to 41-17.

Wheaton safety Shane Woodward intercepted a Carthage pass with 12:03 left in the game and returned it 32 yards yards for a touchdown and a 48-17 Wheaton lead. Thunder kicker Tim Ellingsen booted a 31-yard field goal with 5:57 remaining in the game for a 51-17 Wheaton edge. Carthage scored on a one-yard touchdown run with 3:02 left in the game to account for the final score of 51-24.

Wheaton tallied a season-high 547 yards of total offense with a balanced attack that included 305 passing yards and 242 rushing yards. Carthage recorded 484 yards of offense, with 465 passing yards and just 19 rushing yards.

Norris completed 12 of his 16 passes for 284 yards, with four touchdowns to lead the Thunder offense. Pokorny (PICTURED RIGHT) caught six passes for 183 yards, with two touchdown catches. Berttucci caught three passes, with two touchdowns for 72 yards. Andrew Hershey ran for 110 yards on 13 carries and Gingg carried the ball 21 times for 98 yards, with two touchdowns.

Jordan Schirman (PICTURED LEFT) led the Thunder with a team-high 11 total tackles. Cornerback Tyler Langs made nine tackles. Linebacker Stephen Pagh tallied seven tackles, with an interception, while Woodward also contributed an interception.

Carthage quarterback Evan Jones completed 26 of his 29 passes for 318 yard, with two touchdowns. Jeff Koenenman led the Red Men receivers with 13 catches for 170 yards and Merchut caught nine passes for 141 yards, with a touchdown catch.