Wheaton 50, Carthage College 13 · Wheaton Football History

Oct 14, 2023 · 6:00 PM · Wheaton, Ill. · CCIW game · Attendance 1,285

Head coach Jesse Scott · Official box score ↗ · Recap ↗

Line Score

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Carthage College	7	0	0	6	13
Wheaton	7	12	17	14	50

Wheaton Player Statistics

Passing

Player	Cmp	Att	Pct	Yds ▾	TD	Int	Long	Rating
Ben Thorson	24	37	64.9%	339	4	0	48	177.5
Xaviere Jones	2	3	66.7%	16	0	0	10	111.5

Rushing

Player	Att	Yds ▾	Avg	TD	Long
Giovanni Weeks	22	114	5.2	1	32
Henry Brown	4	42	10.5	0	21
Xaviere Jones	2	19	9.5	1	23
Seth Kortenhoeven	2	3	1.5	0	2
Ben Juska	1	1	1.0	0	1
Ben Thorson	2	-10	-5.0	0	0

Receiving

Player	Rec	Yds ▾	Avg	TD	Long
Ben Bonga	8	116	14.5	1	29
Ben Juska	7	82	11.7	1	23
Giovanni Weeks	2	55	27.5	1	48
Caleb Titherington	3	39	13.0	0	33
Seth Kortenhoeven	3	38	12.7	0	13
Thomas Greupner	2	16	8.0	0	10
Griffin Cropp	1	9	9.0	1	9
Jack Allen	0	0	—	0	0
Davis Reeves	0	0	—	0	0

Scoring

Player	TD	FGM	PAT	PATA	Pts ▾
Giovanni Weeks	2	0	0	0	12
Mateo Jesch	0	2	5	5	11
Xaviere Jones	1	0	0	0	6
Ben Juska	1	0	0	0	6
Ben Bonga	1	0	0	0	6
Griffin Cropp	1	0	0	0	6
Caleb Mary	0	0	1	1	1

Defense

Player	Solo	Ast	Tot ▾	TFL	Sacks	PBU	QBH
Peter Johanik	4	4	8	1.0	1.0	1	3
Johnny Eller	2	3	5	2.0	0.0	0	1
Isaac Parrish	1	4	5	0.0	0.0	0	0
Virgil Cannon	0	4	4	0.0	0.0	0	0
Max Wilson	3	1	4	1.0	0.0	0	0
Chase Smith	3	1	4	0.0	0.0	0	0
Riley Schwartz	1	2	3	0.0	0.0	1	0
Clayton Reeves	2	1	3	0.0	0.0	0	1
Caleb McClung	2	1	3	0.0	0.0	0	0
Christian Bonacquisti	1	2	3	0.0	0.0	0	0
Clay Campbell	1	1	2	0.5	0.0	0	0
Max Smith	2	0	2	0.0	0.0	0	0
Nate Tofilon	1	1	2	0.0	0.0	0	0
Dimitri Cannon	0	2	2	0.0	0.0	1	0
Peyton Bruce	1	1	2	0.0	0.0	0	0
Carson Chow	1	0	1	0.0	0.0	0	0
Jackson Eller	0	1	1	0.0	0.0	0	0
Davis Reeves	0	1	1	0.0	0.0	0	0
Grant Hayworth	0	1	1	0.0	0.0	0	0
Jaden Ferlita	0	1	1	0.5	0.0	0	1
Jordan Johnson	1	0	1	0.0	0.0	0	0
Ben Thorson	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0
Xaviere Jones	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0
Ben Bonga	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0
Ben Juska	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0
Giovanni Weeks	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0
Caleb Mary	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0
Mateo Jesch	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0
Griffin Cropp	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0

Field Goals

Player	FGM ▾	FGA	Pct	Long	Blk
Mateo Jesch	2	2	100.0%	35	0

Punting

Player	No ▾	Yds	Avg	Long	In20	TB	Blk
Nate Tofilon	3	92	30.7	41	1	0	—

Kickoffs

Player	No ▾	Yds	Avg	TB	OB
Caleb Mary	4	221	55.2	0	0
Josh Winnett	4	248	62.0	1	1
Mateo Jesch	1	55	55.0	0	0

Punt Returns

Player	No	Yds ▾	Avg	TD	Long
Seth Kortenhoeven	5	67	13.4	0	32

Kick Returns

Player	No	Yds ▾	Avg	TD	Long
Jack Allen	1	20	20.0	0	20

Scoring Summary

1st 11:57	WHE - Cropp,Griffin 9 yd pass from Thorson,Ben (Jesch,Mateo kick) 8 plays, 75 yards, TOP 03:03
1st 06:54	CAR - Wiles,Jordan 3 yd pass from Lowe,Bryce (Antkiewicz,Eric kick) 11 plays, 77 yards, TOP 04:58
2nd 12:27	WHE - 0 yd safety
2nd 10:17	WHE - Jesch,Mateo 29 yd field goal 7 plays, 38 yards, TOP 02:10
2nd 06:36	WHE - Weeks,Giovanni 21 yd run (Jesch,Mateo kick), 5 plays, 45 yards, TOP 02:07
3rd 09:41	WHE - Jesch,Mateo 35 yd field goal 7 plays, 43 yards, TOP 03:29
3rd 08:09	WHE - Bonga,Ben 16 yd pass from Thorson,Ben (Jesch,Mateo kick) 3 plays, 22 yards, TOP 01:25
3rd 03:32	WHE - Juska,Ben 1 yd pass from Thorson,Ben (Jesch,Mateo kick) 6 plays, 40 yards, TOP 02:52
4th 09:18	WHE - Weeks,Giovanni 48 yd pass from Thorson,Ben (Jesch,Mateo kick) 2 plays, 55 yards, TOP 00:23
4th 02:49	CAR - Westmoreland,Jackson 3 yd pass from Lowe,Bryce ( ) 5 plays, 45 yards, TOP 02:34
4th 00:22	WHE - Jones,Xaviere 23 yd run (Mary,Caleb kick), 6 plays, 75 yards, TOP 02:27

Team Statistics

Statistic	Wheaton	Carthage College
Total	26	11
Rushing	8	2
Passing	17	8
Penalty	1	1
Total (Net)	169	16
Attempts	33	17
Avg. Per Rush	5.1	0.9
Rushing TDs	2	0
Yds. Gained	197	48
Yds. Lost	28	32
Total (Net)	355	213
Comp.-Att.-Int.	26 - 40 - 0	27 - 39 - 0
Att.	8.9	5.5
Comp.	13.7	7.9
TDs	4	2
Yards	524	229
Plays	73	56
Play	7.2	4.1
Fumbles - Lost	1 - 0	3 - 1
Penalties - Yds.	6 - 57	6 - 65
Punts - Yds.	3 - 92	8 - 264
Punt	30.7	33
Inside 20	1	0
50+ Yds.	0	0
Touchbacks	0	0
Fair Catch	1	0
Total - Yds.	9 - 524	4 - 211
Kickoff	58.2	52.8
Touchbacks	1	1
Punt: Total - Yds. - TDs	5 - 67 - 0	1 - 7 - 0
Return	13.4	7.0
Kickoff: Total - Yds. - TDs	1 - 20 - 0	6 - 91 - 0
Return	20.0	15.2
INT: Total - Yds. - TDs	0 - 0 - 0	0 - 0 - 0
Fumble: Total - Yds. - TDs	0 - 0 - 0	0 - 0 - 0
Misc. Yards	0	0
Poss. Time	31:55	28:05
3rd. Down Conv.	5 of 12	2 of 12
4th. Down Conversions	0 of 2	1 of 2
Red-Zone: Scores - Chances	5 - 6	2 - 2
Sacks: Total - Yds.	1 - 5	0 - 0
PAT: Total - Made	6 - 6	1 - 1
2PT Conversion: Total - Made	0 - 0	0 - 1
Field Goals: Total - Made	2 - 2	0 - 0

Game Recap

Wheaton College Athletics

No. 13 Thunder football team cruises to a 50-13 victory at home against Carthage

Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton football team returned home on Saturday evening for a CCIW matchup against Carthage at McCully Stadium. The Thunder scored in every quarter tonight in earning a 50-13 victory against the Firebirds (5-1, 4-1).

Tonight's win improves Wheaton to 5-1 this season, including a 4-1 record in CCIW play. Tonight's effort marks Wheaton's 13th-consecutive victory against Carthage, a win streak that dates back to 2010.

The Wheaton offense put up 524 total yards tonight, with 355 passing yards and 166 rushing yards. The Thunder defense held Carthage to 229 yards of total offense with 213 passing yards and a mere 16 yards on the ground.

Thunder quarterback Ben Thorson completed 24 of his 37 passing attempts tonight for 339 yards, with four touchdown runs. Receiver Ben Bonga caught eight of Thorson's passes for 116 receiving yards, with one touchdown catch. Tight end Ben Juska (PICTURED LEFT) caught seven passes for 82 yards, with one touchdown reception.

Thunder running back Giovanni Weeks carried the ball 22 times for 114 yards, as he averaged 5.2 yards per carry with one touchdown run. Weeks also caught both passes thrown his way for 55 receiving yards, with one touchdown reception.

Thunder defensive lineman Peter Johanik (PICTURED RIGHT) recorded eight total tackles, including one tackle for loss (-5 yards), with a pass broken up. Linebacker Johnny Eller and defensive lineman Isaac Parrish each had five total tackles. Chase Smith, Max Wilson, and Virgil Cannon each recorded four total tackles. Eller had two tackles for loss (-4 yards), and Wilson had one tackle for loss (-4 yards).

Both teams scored on their respective opening drives of the game. The Thunder concluded a game-opening eight-play drive of 75 yards with a nine-yard touchdown pass from Thorson to tight end Griffin Cropp. The nine-yard touchdown catch was the freshman's first career reception. Thunder kicker Mateo Jesch converted the PAT kick to give Wheaton a 7-0 lead with 11:57 left in the first quarter. Carthage responded with an 11-play drive of 77 yards that concluded with a three-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 7-7 with 6:54 remaining in the second quarter.

Wheaton concluded a drive in the opening minutes of the second quarter turning the ball over on downs at the Carthage seven-yard line. The Firebirds' first play on the ensuing drive was mishandled and went out of the back of the end zone for a Wheaton safety as Wheaton regained the lead with a 9-7 edge with 12:27 left in the second quarter.

Carthage's free kick that followed the safety went out of bounds for a penalty as Wheaton started its drive at the 50-yard line. Jesch booted a 29-yard field goal conclude the drive to extend Wheaton's lead to 12-7 with 10:17 left in the second quarter. The Wheaton defense forced the Firebirds' offense into a three-and-out on their next drive as the drive ended with a five-yard QB sack by Johanik. The Thunder quickly made it downfield with a five-play drive of 45 yards that culminated with a 21-yard touchdown run by Weeks. Jesch made the PAT to increase the hosts' lead to 19-7 with 6:36 left in the first half. The Thunder held a 19-7 lead at halftime.

The Wheaton defense forced the Carthage offense into a three-and-out on the guests' opening offensive drive of the third quarter. The Wheaton drive that followed ended with a 35-yard field goal by Jesch that increased the hosts' lead to 22-7. Carthage muffed the kickoff that followed Jesch's field goal and Virgil Cannon recovered the fumble for the Thunder at the Firebirds' 22-yard line. Three plays later, Thorson connected with Bonga on a 16-yard touchdown pass as Wheaton extended the lead to 29-7 with 8:09 left in the third quarter. Wheaton scored on its next offensive drive as Thorson connected with Juska on two-consecutive passes to conclude a six-play drive of 40 yards. The duo had a 19-yard pass that was just short of the end zone and the next play was a one-yard touchdown pass from Thorson to Juska as the Wheaton advantage improved to 36-7 with 3:32 left in the third quarter.

Wheaton started its second drive of the fourth quarter with 9:41 left in the game. The first play of the drive was a seven-yard run by Weeks and on the second play of the drive, Thorson connected with Weeks (PICTURED LEFT) on a pass and the All-American running back scampered into the end zone for a 48-yard touchdown pass. Weeks' touchdown catch and the Jesch PAT that followed increased Wheaton's edge to 43-7 with 9:18 left in the fourth quarter. The Firebirds scored on a three-yard touchdown pass with 2:49 left in the game to cut Wheaton's lead to 43-13. On Wheaton's final offensive drive, quarterback Xaviere Jones scrambled for a 23-yard touchdown run to account for the 50-13 final score.

Wheaton takes to the road next Saturday for the first of two conference tests away from McCully Stadium. The Thunder will face the Pioneers of Carroll University in a 1:00 p.m. kickoff in Waukesha, Wisconsin.