The Thunder football team scores 48-unanswered points in a 62-14 victory against Millikin

Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton Thunder football team was a 62-14 winner at home on Saturday night in a CCIW matchup against Millikin. The Thunder scored 48-unanswered points following a 14-14 tie in the first quarter. The 62 points scored by the Thunder in tonight's win is the most points for Wheaton since a 66-0 victory at home against Albion College on September 14, 2013. With the victory Wheaton improves to 6-0 overall and 3-0 in conference play. Millikin falls to 1-5 on the season and 0-3 in the CCIW. Wheaton will be in action again next Saturday when the Thunder travel to Naperville to take on North Central in the annual 'Battle for the Little Brass Bell' at 2 PM.

The Thunder passed for 239 yards and ran for 418 yards as the 657 yards of total offense amassed by the Thunder is most by the program since Wheaton tallied its regular season record of 688 yards of total offense against Millikin on October 18, 1996. Millikin totalled 235 total yards of offense with 55 yards rushing and 180 yards passing. Wheaton held the Big Blue to just 16 total yards in the second half.

Sola Olateju led a dominant ground attack by rolling up 193 yards on 13 carries and scoring three touchdowns. Adam Sandy ran for 74 yards on seven carries and one touchdown. Danny Puknaitis ran for two touchdowns and 51 yards on eight carries. Andrew Bowers was 10-for-13 passing for 166 yards and three touchdowns. Jesse Furrow completed five of his six passing attempts fof 73 yards.

Wheaton struck quickly to start the game, forcing a Millikin three and out and then striking for a 34-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Bowers to Andrew Lindquist (PICTURED RIGHT) on the second play of the ensuing drive to give Wheaton a 7-0 lead just 102 seconds into the game. Millikin answered with a 14-play, 82-yard drive that consumed seven minutes and 16 seconds and ended on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Nicco Stepina to Brady Cufaude. Cufaude totalled 90 yards on eight catches to lead all receivers in the game.

Zach Lindquist's six-yard touchdown catch capped a five-play Thunder drive that took just a minute and a half as Wheaton retook the lead 14-7. Millikin once again responded and drove 79 yards to tie the game at 14-14 near the end of the first quarter.

Olateju took over in the second quarter, scoring the first of his three touchdowns from two yards out to give Wheaton a 20-14 lead after their extra point attempt was blocked. He then broke the game open with an 85-yard touchdown run in the middle of the second quarter. His 15-yard touchdown run with 58 seconds remaining in the first half gave Wheaton a 34-14 lead it would carry into halftime.

Zach Lindquist (PICTURED LEFT) caught his second touchdown pass to cap a six-play, 73-yard drive to start the second half and put Wheaton ahead 41-14. Danny Puknaitis sandwiched touchdown runs of one yard and six yards around a 12-yard touchdown run by Adam Sandy to complete the scoring.

Wheaton scored touchdowns on nine of its ten possessions on the night and was not forced to punt.

Adam Dansdill led the Thunder defense with eight tackles. Logan McRae and Michael Stanley each recorded sacks for the Thunder. John Clark recorded an interception in the fourth quarter.

#5-ranked Wheaton (6-0, 3-0 CCIW) will travel to Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium next Saturday at 2 PM to face the #22-ranked North Central Cardinals (4-2, 3-0 CCIW) in the annual "Battle for the Little Brass Bell". Last season, Wheaton recaptured the Bell with a 34-31 victory at McCully Stadium on a Sam Cote field goal as time expired. North Central defeated Carthage on 41-17 on Saturday night.

Note Worthy: Wheaton's 657 yards of total offense is its highest output since Wheaton racked up 688 yards of total offense against Millikin on October 19, 1996...Sola Olateju's 193 yards rushing is the highest individual single game rushing total since Chaz Black ran for 205 yards on 29 carries against Carthage on October 29, 2005.