Thunder football falls at Illinois Wesleyan, 24-14
Bloomington, Ill. – The Thunder football team, ranked 12th in this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll, suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday night in a 24-14 defeat at Illinois Wesleyan (1-1, 1-0 CCIW). Wheaton is now 1-1 on the season and 0-1 in CCIW play.
The Titans scored 17 unanswered points in the first half to take a substantial lead early tonight. Illinois Wesleyan's Patrick Tata kicked a 25-yard field goal with 1:24 left in the first quarter to give the hosts a 3-0 lead.
Illinois Wesleyan's Trevor Staley intercepted a Wheaton pass six plays into the Thunder drive that followed Tata's kick and returned 62 yards for a touchdown. Staley's touchdown gave the hosts a 10-0 lead with 13:39 left in the first half. Both teams exchanged drives for much of the remainder of the first half. IWU put together a nine-play drive of 62 yards near the end of the first half. The nine-play drive culminated with a one-yard touchdown run for Morgan Alexander with 47-seconds remaining in the second quarter.
Wheaton responded following the halftime break. Thunder junior Adam Terrini returned the opening kickoff of the second half 91 yards to the Titan five-yard line. Jaelin Goldsmith (PICTURED LEFT) scored on the next play, a five-yard touchdown run that trimmed the IWU lead 17-7 with 14:44 left in the third quarter. On the second play of the IWU drive that followed, Kyle Fox picked up a Titan fumble that was forced by Daniel Herber. Fox scampered 32 yards into the end zone a defensive touchdown that cut the Titans' lead to 17-14 with 13:42 remaining in the third quarter.
The Titans and Thunder exchanged four drives after Fox's touchdown. The hosts put together a lengthy nine-play drive of 91 yards that was capped off by a 15-yard Titan TD pass to Zach Walsh. Walsh's touchdown reception extended the IWU lead to 24-14 with 14:55 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Illinois Wesleyan defense held firm in the fourth quarter as the Thunder offense was unable to enter IWU territory in the final quarter.
Illinois Wesleyan registered 411 yards of total offense with 323 passing yards and 88 rushing yards. The Thunder offense tallied 188 yards offense, passing for 11 yards, with 77 rushing yards.
Thunder quarterback Curtis McWilliams completed 10 of his 19 passing attempts, throwing for 111 yards. Terrini was the top receiver for the Thunder with three catches for 51 yards and Goldsmith ran the ball 10 times for 52 yards, with one touchdown.
Linebacker Eric Stevenson recorded 12 total tackles, including seven solo stops. Herber made eight tackles, including seven solos. Among his tackles was a tackle for loss (-2 yards), with the forced fumble. Tyler Sigler made seven total tackles, with Jack Bates and Corey Kennedy each making six tackles. Ryan Schwartz had a team-high two tackles for loss (-10 yards), including an eight-yard quarterback sack.
Alexander led the Illinois Wesleyan rushing game with 25 carries for 80 yards and the second-quarter touchdown run. Quarterback Brandon Bauer completed 26 of his 40 passing attempts for 303 yards, with one touchdown toss. Titan receiver Zach Walsh caught nine receptions for 138 yards, with one touchdown catch. Trevor Staley and Mike Murphy each made five tackles to lead the IWU defense.
Wheaton hosts Millikin on next Saturday at 6:00 p.m. at McCully Stadium.
