The Thunder football team opens 2016 with a 26-7 victory against Benedictine

Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton Thunder football team opened its season on Saturday afternoon with a 26-7 victory at home against Benedictine University. Wheaton, ranked eighth in the d3football.con Preseason Top-25 poll, will return to action next Saturday at 1:00 p.m. when Kalamazoo College visits McCully Stadium.

Wheaton scored a pair of first-half touchdowns to lead the Eagles 12-0 at halftime and the Thunder broke the game open with two third-quarter scores that extended the hosts' lead to 26-0. Benedictine added a fourth-quarter touchdown to account for the 26-7 victory.

The balanced Wheaton offense tallied 471 yards of total offense as the hosts passed for 261 yards and ran for 210. The Thunder defense held Benedictine to 22 rushing yards in the game and the Eagles passed for 276 yards.

Sophomore running back Stone Watson (PICTURED ABOVE) carried the ball 10 times today, rushing for 120 yards with one touchdown. Jaelin Goldsmith ran for 48 yards on nine carries. Freshman Phillip Nichols had a strong collegiate debut with 105 receiving yards on four catches with one touchdown catch. Chase White caught six passes 97 yards with two trips to the end zone.

Thunder quarterback Andrew Bowers (PICTURED LEFT) completed 19 of his 29 passing attempts for 261 yards. The senior threw three touchdown passes in the game.

Luke Sahly led the Wheaton defense with 11 total tackles, making two quarterback sacks (12-yards) and a forced fumble. Marcus Smith (PICTURED RIGHT) made nine tackles, registering two interceptions and a forced fumble. Caleb Ashby, Chase Greenlee and Kyle Fox each made seven total tackles. Greenlee registered three tackles for lost yardage (-12 yards), including two quarterback sacks (-7 yards).

Benedictine quarterback Ryan Sample was 27-for-45 through the air with 276 passing yards, one touchdown pass and two interceptions. Jake Valas caught nine passes for 82 yards and Elijah Walker had six receptions for 81 yards. Maison Bittner and Jarrett Lecas each led the Eagles' defense with eight total tackles.

The Thunder defense forced Benedictine's offense to just three plays on the opening drive of the game. Wheaton then started its first drive of the season on its own 39-yard line and methodically moved the ball down the field. The Thunder opened the contest with a lengthy 12-play drive of 61 yards that lasted 7:32. The drive culminated with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Bowers to Nichols and the PAT was unsuccessful to give the Thunder a 6-0 lead.

Wheaton's third drive of the game started late in the first quarter and the hosts again chewed up significant time on a nine-play drive of 86 yards that lasted 6:21. The longest play of the drive was a 25-yard touchdown toss from Bowers to White that increased Wheaton's advantage to 12-0 with 12:06 remaining in the second quarter. The Thunder maintained the 12-0 lead at halftime.

Watson broke free on the first play of Wheaton's second drive of the third quarter for a 71-yard touchdown run that extended the Thunder advantage to 19-0 with 8:56 remaining in the third quarter. On the second play of the ensuing Benedictine drive Sahly (PICTURED LEFT) forced a fumble that was recovered by Wheaton's Dmarte Arafiles at the Benedictine 37-yard line. Bowers connected with White for a 37-yard touchdown pass on the first play after the fumble recovery. White's touchdown reception increased Wheaton's lead to 26-0 with 8:04 remaining in the first quarter.

Benedictine's lone touchdown came with 10:30 remaining in the fourth quarter on a 32-yard touchdown pass from Semple to Walker.