Wheaton defeats Wartburg, 28-24 in NCAA Division III Playoffs under wintery conditions

Waverly, Iowa – Wheaton defeated Wartburg College 28-24 on Saturday in the Second Round of the NCAA Division Football Playoffs, under snowy and cold conditions. The Wheaton defense swatted away (PICTURED LEFT) a potential game-winning TD pass as time expired to emerge with the win.

Wheaton will face DePauw University next Saturday to continue in the playoffs. Next Saturday's game will likely be on the DePauw campus in Greencastle, Indiana, however the official announcement from the NCAA will not be made until Sunday.

Wartburg took the opening kickoff and put together a seven-play drive of 78 yards that concluded with an eight yard-touchdown run that gave the hosts a 7-0 lead with 12:15 remaining in the first quarter. The highlight of the Knights' opening drive was a 55-yard rush by Dawson Rud on the second play of the game. Wheaton responded on its first drive of the game with a methodical 15-play drive that went 75 yards. The drive ended with a two-yard touchdown rush by running back Matt Crider and a PAT by Mateo Jesch as the Thunder tied the game at 7-7 with 3:34 left in the first quarter. A Thunder fumble late in the opening quarter was recovered in the end zone by the hosts for a Wartburg touchdown. The ensuing PAT attempt by Wartburg was blocked by Aidan Kingsbury as the Knights took a 13-7 lead with 52-seconds left in the first quarter.

The lone score of the second quarter was a Wartburg field goal to end the first half. The 33-yard field goal capped an 11-play drive that went for 54 yards and resulted in a 16-7 lead for the hosts at halftime.

Quarterback Mark Forcucci marched the Thunder down the field on Wheaton's first drive of the second half. All but one play on the eight-play drive of 66 yards was a passing attempt. The one rush on the drive was a two-yard touchdown run by Riley Howard. Jesch converted the PAT attempt as Wheaton cut the Knights' lead to 16-14 with 11:09 left in the third quarter.

The Thunder special teams unit blocked a Wartburg field goal attempt with 3:42 left in the third quarter as David Nussbaum blocked the kick and Maison Haas recovered the ball. Wheaton followed the blocked field goal with an impressive 15-play drive of 74 yards. The drive culminated with a one-yard touchdown run by Crider. Jesch followed the TD with a PAT kick to give Wheaton a 21-16 lead with 10:25 remaining in the game, the first Thunder advantage of the game. The Knights responded on their next drive with a nine-play drive of 76 yards that culminated a 10-yard touchdown run to give the Knights a 22-21 lead with 5:01 left in the game. Wartburg converted a pass completion in the end zone for a two-point conversion that extended the hosts' lead to 24-21.

Wheaton's next offensive drive was a beautiful 14-play march down the field that started with 5:01 left in the game and concluded with 24-seconds left. The Thunder moved 77 yards on the drive that concluded with Crider's (PICTURED RIGHT) third touchdown run of the game, a four-yard run with outstanding blocking from Howard in front of the Thunder running back.

Following Crider's touchdown, the Knights got five plays off in the final 20 seconds of the game. The hosts started at their own 36-yard line and a 13-yard completion moved the ball to the Wartburg 49-yard line. The hosts' fourth pass attempt was a 22-yard completion to the Wheaton 29-yard line and Wartburg called timeout with one-second remaining. The Wartburg pass that ended the game was in the area of multiple Knights receivers and Thunder defenders. The pass first found the hands of Wheaton's Collin Moore who batted the ball away to Caleb Coburn who pushed the ball out of bounds to secure the Thunder win.

Forcucci completed 19 of his 32 passing attempts for 228 yards and he ran for 21 yards on five carries today. Crider carried the ball 21 times for 67 yards, with three touchdown runs. Whit Jewett set career highs today with nine receptions on nine targets with 113 receiving yards. Seth Kortenhoeven caught four passes for 47 yards and Caleb Titherington collected two receptions for 39 yards.

Moore led the Wheaton defense with 11 total tackles, including six solo stops. He broke up two passes and had a tackle for lost yardage (-2 yards). Haas had nine tackles (six solos), while Zeke Harris (PICTURED LEFT) and Peter Johanik each had six tackles.

Wheaton had 340 yards of offense in the winter storm conditions as the Thunder offense averaged 5.2 yards per play. The Thunder passed for 228 yards and ran for 112. Wartburg had 348 yards of total offense with 180 rushing yards and 168 passing yards. The Thunder offense got the job done when needed today as Wheaton was 8-for-12 on third down conversions and 2-for-2 on fourth down conversions.

Wheaton is now 3-1 all-time against the American Rivers Conference (ARC) in the Division III Playoffs. The Thunder now have a 1-0 postseason record against Wartburg with today's win and are 1-0 in the postseason against Coe College, thanks to a 31-21 Wheaton win at McCully Stadium in the 2010 playoffs. Wheaton is 1-1 all-time against Central College in the postseason as the Thunder earned a 49-13 win at home in 2019 and lost at Central, 30-28 in 2021, both times in the second round.