Seventh-ranked Thunder football team defeats UW-Platteville 23-14

Platteville, Wis. – The Thunder football team rallied from a first-half deficit to beat UW-Platteville (2-1) on Saturday night under the lights at Pioneer Stadium. Wheaton, ranked seventh in this week's D3football.com Top-25 poll, is now 2-0 on the season. Wheaton will conclude its non-conference schedule next Saturday at 1 PM when Olivet College visits McCully Stadium.

UW-Platteville scored on its opening drive of the game, a lengthy 13-play drive of 65 yards that culminated with a four-yard touchdown run by Nick Anderson to give the hosts a 7-0 lead. Thunder placekicker Scott Roche cut the Pioneers' lead to 7-3 when he booted a 49-yard field goal with 10:28 left in the first half. The Pioneers missed a 29-yard field goal at the end of the second quarter as the hosts held a 7-3 lead at halftime.

The Wheaton defense for the Pioneers to a three-and-out on the opening drive of the second half and the Wheaton offense took the lead for good on the next drive. Wheaton had the ball on its own 38-yard line on third-and-14 when quarterback Garrett Meador connected with Morgan Cook on a 62-yard touchdown pass with 11:36 remaining in the third quarter to give the Thunder a 10-7. Roche (PICTURED RIGHT) extended Wheaton's lead to 13-7 when he booted a 37-yard field with 5:17 left in the third quarter.

Roche increased the Thunder lead to 16-7 with 9:07 left in the fourth quarter when he connected on a 29-yard field goal. The field goal was the 32nd of Roche's career and it tied him with former Thunder kicker Andrew Day for the school-record for field goals in a career.

Less than one minute later, the Pioneers scored on a 30-yard touchdown pass to cut Wheaton's lead to 16-14 with 8:18 left in regulation. Late in the fourth quarter the Thunder forced a UW-Platteville fumble and Wheaton recovered it on the Pioneers' 16-yard line. Three plays after the fumble Meador threw the ball into the end zone and it deflected off a Pioneer defender and was caught for a touchdown by Thunder senior Justin Zeller (VIEW TOUCHDOWN HERE). Zeller's touchdown with 3:33 left in the game gave Wheaton a 23-14 lead that would become the final score.

Wheaton recorded 380 yards of offense, with 266 passing yards and 114 rushing yards. The Pioneers tallied 307 yards, with 187 passing yards and 120 rushing yards.

Meador completed 23 of his 37 passing attempts for 266 yards, with the two touchdown tosses. Morgan Cook caught three passes for 99 yards, with the 62-yard touchdown catch. Tailback Peter Jarrett ran for 69 yards on 18 carries and he caught four passes for 30 yards.

Linebacker Jordan Chapman (PICTURED LEFT) led the Thunder defense with seven total tackles, including two tackles for lost yardage. Senior defensive end JD East made six tackles. Senior safety Jordan Langs had an interception for the guests.

Pioneer quarterback Nick Anderson completed 17 of his 32 passing attempts for 187 yards, with one touchdown. Anderson was also the leading rusher for the hosts with 79 yards on 11 carries with the first-quarter touchdown run.