No. 6 Thunder football team rolls to a 48-13 victory at Carroll

Waukesha, Wis. - The Wheaton football team, ranked sixth in this week's D3football.com Top-25 poll, earned a 48-13 victory at Carroll University on Saturday afternoon. Wheaton has now won four games in a row and is 5-1 on the season and 4-1 in CCIW play.

The Wheaton offense totaled 404 yards today, with 246 yards on the ground and 158 passing yards. Carroll tallied 237 yards of total offense, with just seven rushing yards and 230 passing yards. The Wheaton defense recorded eight sacks today, amongst its 12 tackles for lost yardage.

Running back Giovanni Weeks (PICTURED LEFT) paced the Thunder offense with 166 rushing yards on 17 carries as he averaged an impressive 9.8 yards per carry. Weeks had two touchdown runs, and he caught three passes for 11 yards.

Luke Anthony completed 13 of his 25 passing attempts for 153 yards with two touchdown passes. Four of those completions went to Adam Terrini, with 38 receiving yards and one touchdown catch. Spencer Peterson had three catches for 40 yards with one touchdown reception.

Defensive lineman Jake Holaday led the Thunder defense with 10 total tackles, including seven solo stops. Holaday recorded three-and-a-half sacks (-14 yards). Luke Gammichia tallied seven total tackles, with six solo stops, including a tackle for lost yardage (-2 yards). Linebacker Ryan Schwartz had six total tackles, including three solos. Defensive end River Shindledecker (PICTURED RIGHT) registered six total tackles, including two-and-a-half tackles for loss (-34 yards). Among his tackles for loss was one-and-a-half quarterback sacks (-12 yards).

Holaday's first sack of the day stopped the first Carroll offensive drive of the game as his five-yard sack forced a three-and-out for the hosts. The sack at the Carroll five-yard line was followed by a 19-yard punt as Wheaton started its opening offensive drive the Pioneers' five-yard line. The first Thunder offensive play of the game was a 27-yard touchdown pass to tight end Spencer Peterson. Peterson has caught at least one touchdown in each of Wheaton's six games this season. Peterson's touchdown was followed by a Tommy Gallagher PAT kick to give Wheaton a 7-0 lead with 13:58 remaining in the first quarter.

Wheaton put together a nine-play drive of 74 yards that ran from the first quarter into the second. Matthew Tucker concluded the drive with an 18-yard run into the end zone to extend Wheaton's lead to 14-0 with 13:17 remaining in the second quarter. On its next drive, Carroll struck quickly with a 62-yard touchdown pass. The Pioneers' PAT attempt failed as the Carroll TD trimmed Wheaton's lead to 14-6 with 12:15 remaining in the second quarter. Following the Carroll touchdown, the Thunder responded with a 10-play drive of 59 yards that concluded with a seven-yard touchdown run by Sam Singleton. Singleton's TD extended Wheaton's lead to 21-6 with 8:53 remaining in the first half. Carroll closed out the first half with a three-yard touchdown pass as the Thunder led 21-13 at halftime.

Wheaton broke the game open with three Thunder touchdowns in the third quarter. Weeks carried the ball nine times for 98 yards with three touchdown runs in the third quarter.

Weeks carried the ball four times for 41 yards on the opening drive of the third quarter. His final run of the drive was a 19-yard touchdown run to give the Thunder a 28-13 lead with 11:57 left in the third. Wheaton blocked Carroll's punt attempt on the drive that followed Weeks' touchdown to register its next score. Jalen Shaffer blocked the punt and recovered it for a touchdown. The PAT kick that followed was no good as Wheaton increased its lead to 34-13. Later in the quarter, Weeks scored on a 41-yard touchdown run to extend the Thunder advantage to 41-13 with 2:27 remaining in the third quarter.

Wheaton's final touchdown of the game was a five-yard touchdown pass from Anthony to Terrini. The TD catch with 9:12 remaining in the game accounted for the 48-13 final score.

Wheaton returns home next Saturday to host Carthage College at 6:00 p.m. at McCully Stadium.