Giovanni Weeks sets career touchdown record as #11-Wheaton cruises to 47-16 rout at Illinois Wesleyan

Bloomington, Ill. - The 11th-ranked Thunder football improved to 2-0 on the young season with a 47-16 victory at Illinois Wesleyan University on Saturday afternoon. The victory is Wheaton's fourth-straight over the Titans and its first in Bloomington since 2016. The Titans fall to 0-2 on the season. Wheaton will return to McCully Stadium next week for a 6 pm kickoff against the Augustana Vikings.

Wheaton rolled up an impressive 553 total yards of offense balanced between 289 yards on the ground and 254 yards through the air. The Thunder held the Titans to 295 yards of offense with only 50 yards coming on the ground. Giovanni Weeks tallied an impressive week en route to cementing his name atop the Wheaton record Books. The All-American running back carried the ball 21 times for 181 yards and one touchdown, averaging 8.6 yards per carry. Weeks' touchdown was the 47th of his illustrious Wheaton career, breaking a tie for career touchdowns with Mark Loeffler (1993-96).

Ben Thorson completed 20 of his 28 pass attempts for 217 yards and touchdowns. Seth Kortenhoven set team highs with eight catches and 105 yards with one touchdown grab. Ben Bonga caught five balls for 81 yards and a touchdown. Reigning CCIW Offensive Player of the Week Cristian Carstens carried 12 times for 69 yards and a touchdown. Johnny Eller (PICTURED LEFT WITH CLAYTON REEVES) led the Thunder defense with eight tackles followed by Caleb McClung's seven stops. Eller and Robby Schwartz each tallied an interception for the Thunder.

Illinois Wesleyan found the scoreboard first on Saturday, capping the opening drive with a 30-yard field goal near the midway point of the first quarter to go up 3-0. Wheaton answered IWU's 13-play drive with a seven-play, 83-yard drive that ended with Ben Thorson's one-yard scoring drive to go up 7-3 and start the first of 23 unanswered points for the Thunder. The Titans would drive to the Wheaton 31-yard line on the following drive but a fourth down stop prevented a Titan score.

Wheaton added to its lead early in the second quarter when the guests traveled 64 yards on just three plays to take a 14-3 lead on Cristian Carstens' 23-yard scoring run. Two plays later Eller intercepted Jay Lemenager's pass to set the Thunder up at the Titan 40, a drive that would result in a 33-yard field goal by Mateo Jesch to push the lead to 17-3. On the next Thunder drive, Thorson found Ben Bonga from 12 yards out to make it 23-3 with 7:07 left in the first half. The Titans responded with two minutes to play before halftime to cut the lead to 23-10, but Thorson drove the Thunder offense down the field again to set up Jesch for a 20-yard field goal in the final seconds of the half to make it 26-10 at halftime.

Receiving the second half kickoff, the Thunder offense put together a dominant 16-play, 78-yard scoring drive that ate up 8:51 of the clock and ended with Giovanni Weeks' record-setting scoring run from three-yards out to push the lead to 33-10. A 20-yard touchdown pass from Thorson to Kortenhoven (PICTURED RIGHT) early in the fourth quarter made it 40-10 and the Thunder scoring wrapped up with a four-yard touchdown run by Henry Brown midway through the final quarter. The Titans would find the end zone one final time late in the game to account for the 47-16 final score.