Wheaton 43, Benedictine University 14 · Wheaton Football History

Nov 22, 2014 · 12:00 PM · Wheaton, Ill. · Attendance 1,016 · First Round

Head coach Mike Swider · Official box score ↗ · Recap ↗

Line Score

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Benedictine University	0	7	7	0	14
Wheaton	14	14	3	12	43

Wheaton Player Statistics

Passing

Player	Cmp	Att	Pct	Yds ▾	TD	Int	Long	Rating
Johnny Peltz	21	29	72.4%	217	2	0	28	158.0

Rushing

Player	Att	Yds ▾	Avg	TD	Long
Danny Puknaitis	18	121	6.7	2	33
Johnny Peltz	20	90	4.5	1	12
Jesse Geary	12	74	6.2	1	24
Andrew Torok	1	15	15.0	0	15
Andrew Bowers	2	13	6.5	0	9
Matt Mitchell	1	7	7.0	0	7
Keegan Kemp	2	5	2.5	0	5
Jackson Fain	1	1	1.0	0	1

Receiving

Player	Rec	Yds ▾	Avg	TD	Long
Luke Thorson	7	111	15.9	2	28
Keegan Kemp	8	76	9.5	0	19
Matt Mitchell	2	15	7.5	0	11
Danny Puknaitis	2	7	3.5	0	9
Zach Lindquist	1	6	6.0	0	6
Andrew Bowers	1	2	2.0	0	2

Scoring

Player	TD	FGM	PAT	PATA	Pts ▾
Danny Puknaitis	2	0	0	0	12
Luke Thorson	2	0	0	0	12
Sam Cote	0	1	4	6	7
Johnny Peltz	1	0	0	0	6
Jesse Geary	1	0	0	0	6

Defense

Player	Solo	Ast	Tot ▾	TFL	Sacks	Int	PBU	QBH
Adam Dansdill	5	3	8	1.5	0.0	0	2	1
Michael Risher	4	3	7	0.0	0.0	1	1	0
Caleb Ashby	2	5	7	0.5	0.0	0	0	0
Jordan Dornbush	2	4	6	0.0	0.0	1	2	0
Alex Mendez	3	2	5	0.0	0.0	0	2	0
Josh Aldrin	2	3	5	1.5	1.0	0	0	0
Mikey Swider	2	2	4	0.5	0.0	0	0	0
Wes Cannonier	2	1	3	0.0	0.0	0	0	0
Grayson McComb	1	1	2	0.0	0.0	0	0	0
Mitch Warren	0	2	2	0.0	0.0	0	0	0
Logan McRae	2	0	2	1.0	0.0	0	1	0
Bobby Pugsley	0	2	2	0.0	0.0	0	0	0
Marcus Smith	1	0	1	0.0	0.0	0	0	0
Danny Puknaitis	1	0	1	0.0	0.0	0	0	0
Andrew Haines	0	1	1	0.0	0.0	0	0	0
John Clark	0	1	1	0.0	0.0	0	0	0
Ben Shaw	0	1	1	0.0	0.0	0	0	0
Chris Jenkins	0	1	1	0.0	0.0	0	0	0
Jared Todd	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	1	1

Interceptions

Player	No ▾	Yds	Avg	TD	Long
Michael Risher	1	0	0.0	0	0
Jordan Dornbush	1	12	12.0	0	12

Field Goals

Player	FGM ▾	FGA	Pct	Long	Blk
Sam Cote	1	1	100.0%	21	0

Punting

Player	No ▾	Yds	Avg	Long	In20	TB	Blk
Sam Cote	2	37	18.5	20	0	0	—

Kickoffs

Player	No ▾	Yds	Avg	TB	OB
Andrew Haines	8	434	54.2	0	0

Kick Returns

Player	No	Yds ▾	Avg	TD	Long
Tyler Sigler	1	34	34.0	0	34

Scoring Summary

1st 10:18	WHEATON - Puknaitis 3 yd run (Cote kick), 6 plays, 48 yards, TOP 2:43
1st 07:36	WHEATON - Thorson 12 yd pass from Peltz (Cote kick) 6 plays, 57 yards, TOP 2:11
2nd 12:16	WHEATON - Geary 4 yd run (Cote kick), 16 plays, 79 yards, TOP 6:28
2nd 01:02	BENU - German, Greg 12 yd pass from Keener, Ryan (Keil, Drew kick) 7 plays, 49 yards, TOP 2:22
2nd 00:12	WHEATON - Thorson 16 yd pass from Peltz (Cote kick) 5 plays, 65 yards, TOP 0:50
3rd 08:36	WHEATON - Cote 21 yd field goal 10 plays, 76 yards, TOP 4:30
3rd 03:47	BENU - Valas, Jake 58 yd pass from Keener, Ryan (Keil, Drew kick) 2 plays, 59 yards, TOP 0:44
4th 10:54	WHEATON - Peltz 2 yd run (Cote kick blocked), 10 plays, 69 yards, TOP 3:55
4th 01:04	WHEATON - Puknaitis 2 yd run (Cote kick blocked), 14 plays, 63 yards, TOP 8:48

Team Statistics

Statistic	Wheaton	Benedictine University
Total	33	16
Rushing	18	4
Passing	13	12
Penalty	2	0
Total (Net)	325	56
Attempts	58	17
Avg. Per Rush	5.6	3.3
Rushing TDs	4	0
Yds. Gained	328	70
Yds. Lost	3	14
Total (Net)	217	259
Comp.-Att.-Int.	21 - 29 - 0	22 - 41 - 2
Att.	7.5	6.3
Comp.	10.3	11.8
TDs	2	2
Yards	542	315
Plays	87	58
Play	6.2	5.4
Fumbles - Lost	2 - 2	0 - 0
Penalties - Yds.	2 - 15	2 - 19
Punts - Yds.	2 - 37	6 - 203
Punt	18.5	33.8
Inside 20	0	0
50+ Yds.	0	1
Touchbacks	0	2
Fair Catch	1	3
Total - Yds.	8 - 434	2 - 96
Kickoff	54.3	48.0
Touchbacks	0	0
Punt: Total - Yds. - TDs	0-0-0	0-0-0
Return	0	0
Kickoff: Total - Yds. - TDs	1 - 34 - 0	8 - 140 - 0
Return	34.0	17.5
INT: Total - Yds. - TDs	2-12-0	0-0-0
Fumble: Total - Yds. - TDs	0-0-0	0-0-0
Misc. Yards	0	0
Poss. Time	37:48	22:12
3rd. Down Conv.	10 of 15	1 of 10
4th. Down Conversions	2 of 2	1 of 3
Red-Zone: Scores - Chances	7 - 7	1 - 2
Sacks: Total - Yds.	1 - 7	0 - 0
PAT: Total - Made	4 - 6	2 - 2
2PT Conversion: Total - Made	0 - 0	0 - 0
Field Goals: Total - Made	1-1	0-0

Game Recap

Wheaton College Athletics

The Wheaton football team wins its NCAA Playoff opener against Benedictine, 43-14

Wheaton, Ill. - The Wheaton football team earned a 43-14 victory against Benedictine University on Saturday in the opening round of the 2014 NCAA Division III Football Playoffs. Wheaton has never lost in the First Round of the football playoffs, with an 8-0 record all-time in the tournament's opening game. The Thunder improves to 11-0 on the year and will face John Carroll next Saturday in a Second Round game. John Carroll advanced to the Second Round on Saturday with a 63-28 First-Round win against Centre College.

The Thunder racked up 542 yards of total offense against Benedictine on Saturday, passing for 217 yards with 325 rushing yards. The Eagles accumulated 315 yards of offense, with just 56 rushing yards and 259 passing yards.

Veteran Wheaton head Coach Mike Swider noted of his team's performance, "I've always said that when you win your opening round, it gives you great credibility. I've been there many times in my 30 years here and we've never lost a first round game. I think that says a lot about our conference and it's a step in the right direction."

Danny Puknaitis led the Thunder ground game with 121 yards on 18 carries, with a pair of TD runs. Fellow tailback Jesse Geary ran for 74 yards on 12 carries with one touchdown. Quarterback Johnny Peltz completed 21 of his 29 passing attempts for 217 yards, with two touchdown passes. Peltz also ran for 90 yards on 20 carries, with one TD run. Keegan Kemp caught eight passes for 76 yards and Luke Thorson (PICTURED ABOVE RIGHT) added seven receptions for 111 yards, with two touchdown catches.

Adam Dansdill led the Thunder defense with eight total tackles, including 1-1/2 tackles for loss (-2 yards) Michael Risher (PICTURED LEFT) and Caleb Ashby each collected seven total tackles on the day. Josh Aldrin made five tackles, including a sack of -7 yards. Risher and Jordan Dornbush (PICTURED RIGHT) each picked off Benedictine passes in the win.

Benedictine quarterback Ryan Keener completed 22 of his 41 passes for 259 yards, with two TD tosses. Artie Monaco carried the ball 11 times for 38 yards. Max Seibert caught seven passes for 67 yards and Jake Valas collected five receptions for 92 yards, with one TD catch. Jarrett Lecas led the Eagles' defense with 16 total tackles and Drew Keil made 12 stops.

Swider said of the Eagles, "Benedictine is a great football team. I've known (coach) Jon Cooper for a long time. He's a good man who does things right. His team played hard and there's several times they could have quit, but they didn't quit. They kept competing."

The Thunder took a 14-0 lead with a pair of first-quarter touchdowns. Danny Puknaitis reached the end zone on a three-yard run and Peltz connected with Luke Thorson on a 12-yard TD pass.

Geary scored on a four-yard touchdown run with 12:16 remaining in the second quarter to increase the Thunder lead to 21-0. Benedictine's Greg German scored on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Keener to cut Wheaton's lead to 21-7 with 1:02 remaining in the first half, however, Wheaton countered with a touchdown drive that ended on a 16-yard pass from Peltz to Thorson to give the hosts a 28-7 lead at halftime.

Sam Cote kicked a 21-yard field goal for the Thunder to extend Wheaton's lead to 31-7 with 8:36 left in the third quarter. Keener connected with Valas on a 58-yard touchdown pass as the Eagles cut

Wheaton's lead to 31-14 with 3:47 left in the third quarter. Wheaton tallied a pair of two-yard touchdown runs in the fourth quarter as Peltz and Puknaitis both scored for the hosts to account for the 43-14 final score.

Swider said of facing John Carroll next Saturday, "I know John Carroll's good, but so are we. I told the guys on the field that they've got good players, but we also have good players. They've got good coaches and we've got good coaches. In games like this, you don't want to beat yourselves and that's what it's going to come down to next week."