No. 24 Wheaton rolls to a 48-3 win at Carthage

Kenosha, Wis. – The Wheaton football team, ranked 24th in this week's D3football.com Top-25 poll, earned a convincing 48-3 victory at Carthage College (3-6, 3-5 CCIW) on Saturday afternoon. Wheaton closes out the regular season next Saturday at 1:00 p.m. when Elmhurst visits McCully Stadium for "Senior Day".

The Thunder offense put up 432 yards of total offense as Wheaton ran for 93 yards and threw for 339 yards. Wheaton ran 70 plays in the game, averaging 6.2 yards per play. Wheaton's defense held the Carthage offense to just 112 yards on the day, averaging 2.1 yards per play. Carthage passed for just 37 yards and the Red Men ran for 75 yards.

Thunder quarterback Curtis McWilliams completed 17 of his 26 passing attempts for 208 yards, with three touchdowns. Jesse Furrow was 6-for-6 passing, with 98 yards through the air, with a touchdown pass. Spencer Peterson was 1-for-2 passing and he gained a game-high 41 rushing yards with one touchdown run. Peterson also caught two touchdown passes.

Thunder wide receiver Phillip Nichols (PICTURED RIGHT) caught nine passes for 128 yards with two touchdown receptions. Carson Lien recorded nine receptions for 81 yards and Adam Terrini caught five passes for 51 yards.

Thunder linebacker Eric Stevenson registered seven solo tackles, including one tackle for lost yardage (-1 yards). Ryan Schwartz (PICTURED LEFT) had seven total tackles, including two tackles for lost yardage (-10 yards). Dallas McRae tallied five solo stops as Patrick O'Connell and Ryan Schwartz each made five total tackles. Schwartz and O'Connell each made two tackles for lost yardage of -10 yards. Daniel Herber and Patrick O'Connell each recorded six total tackles, with two tackles for loss (-10 yards) for O'Connell, including a five-yard quarterback sack. Dallas McRae made five total tackles and Tyler Sigler added four tackles.

Carthage quarterback Colton Klein was 4-for-11 passing, as he threw for 23 yards and was sack three times. Billy Drury was 3-for-3 passing, with 14 yards and a sack. Lafayette McGary carried the ball 14 times for 40 yards and he caught three passes for 20 yards. Albert Rogalski led the Carthage defense with seven total tackles, including six solo stops, and two passes broken-up.

Wheaton started its scoring with a touchdown on the first drive of the game. The guests marched down the field for a seven-play drive of 83 yards that culminated with a 28-yard touchdown pass from Furrow to Nichols. Nichols' touchdown gave Wheaton a 7-0 lead with 11:09 left in the first quarter.

Nichols followed that up later with a 15-yard touchdown reception on a pass from McWilliams to extend the Thunder lead to 14-0 with 14:18 left in the second quarter. Carthage reached the scoreboard on a 33-yard field goal with 9:34 remaining in the second quarter to trim the Wheaton lead to 14-3. Thunder kicker Griffin Bowes responded with a 33-yard field goal of his own to increase the Wheaton lead to 17-3 with 2:31 remaining in the first half. A Carthage miscue on a punt attempt allowed Wheaton to recover the ball at the hosts' 18-yard line with 2:02 left in the game. Three plays later, McWilliams connected with Peterson for a one-yard touchdown toss that increased the guests' lead to 24-3. Wheaton maintained the 24-3 advantage at halftime.

Carthage fumbled the opening kickoff of the second half and the recovery by Logan Miller at the Carthage 14-yard line setup Peterson's three-yard touchdown run three plays later with 14:21 left in the third quarter. Peterson's TD scamper increased Wheaton's lead to 31-3. Wheaton chewed up 7:58 on a lengthy nine-play drive later in the quarter, culminating in a 32-yard field goal by Bowes. The field goal extended the guests lead to 34-3 with 7:58 remaining in the third quarter.

McWilliams threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Peterson with 7:39 remaining in the fourth quarter to extend the Wheaton lead to 41-3. Sophomore Will Smith reached the end zone on a two-yard touchdown run with 1:10 remaining in the game to account for the 48-3 final score.