Sep 18, 2010

Strong second half rolls Wheaton to a 51-20 win against UW-Platteville

Wheaton, Ill. - The Wheaton Thunder football team improved to 2-0 on Saturday night with a 51-20 victory at home against UW-Platteville. Wheaton scored 35 second-half points en route to the victory. UW-Platteville falls to 2-1 on the season.

Tonight's victory extended Wheaton's non-conference winning streak in the regular season to 25 games, dating back to the second game of the 2002 season. Wheaton will close out its non-conference schedule next Saturday at Olivet College (Mich.) with a 6 PM (EST) kickoff against the Comets. Next Saturday's game will be broadcast on WETN radio at 88.1 FM in the Wheaton area and on the internet www.wetn.org.

Wheaton recorded 398 yards of total offense on 65 plays, with 228 passing yards and 161 rushing yards. Sophomore quarterback Jordan Roberts completed 12 of his 17 passing attempts for 141 yards and junior Garrett Meador completed nine of 13 passing attempts for 87 yards with one touchdown pass. Teddy Watkins caught five passes for 49 yards with one touchdown catch. Tailback Peter Jarrett carried the ball nine times for 61 yards, averaging 6.8 yards per carry. Senior Rocky Gingg carried the ball 15 times for 52 yards, with three trips into the end zone.

Richard Jacobson and Brian McMullen each led the Thunder defense with seven total tackles. Sophomore linebacker Pat Dansdill contributed six solo tackles, with a quarterback sack and an interception return of 33 yards. Tim Shaw made six total tackles, with three pass break-ups. Linebacker Jordan Chapman made five total tackles, including 1-1/2 quarterback sacks for 12 yards.

UW-Platteville tallied 412 yards of offense on 88 plays, with 301 passing yards and 111 rushing yards. Hank McIvor led the Pioneers' rushing game with 77 yards on 13 carries and one touchdown run. Quarterback Nick Anderson completed 20 of his 48 passing attempts for 268 yards for UW-Platteville. Paul Pridemore caught seven passes for 76 yards and Lee Vlasak made five catches for 99 yards. Brian Snyder led the Pioneers' defense with 10 tackles.

Junior kicker Scott Roche gave Wheaton a 3-0 lead with a 39-yard field goal with 4:22 remaining in the first quarter. With 2:46 left in the first quarter Hank McIvor reached the end zone for the guests on a 26-yard run that gave the Pioneers a 7-3 lead.

Kicker Zach Litchfield extended the guests' lead to 10-3 with a 30-yard field goal with 14:19 remaining in the first half. Roche booted a 28-yard field goal with 5:21 left in the second quarter to cap an eight-play drive of 69 yards and cut the guests' lead to 10-6. Two plays in the drive that helped to set up the field goal were a 26-yard pass reception by JJ Clark on the opening play of the drive and a 35-yard run to the Pioneers' 15-yardline by Joey Skogen. Wheaton took 13-10 lead when Gingg scored on a one-yard run with 1:55 remaining in the first half to cap a six-play drive of 56 yards. UW-Platteville countered with a 36-yard field goal by Litchfield with 42-seconds left in the first half to tie the game at 13-13. Wheaton got the ball to the Pioneers'20-yard line with seven seconds left in the first half and had a miscue on the second-down kick, so Wheaton got another attempt and Roche booted a 40-yard field goal as time expired to give the hosts the 16-13 lead at halftime.

The UW-Platteville offense opened the second half and the Wheaton defense held them to a three-play drive. On the next Thunder drive, Gingg reached the end zone six plays into the drive to give Wheaton a 23-13 lead with 11:38 remaining in the third quarter. Wheaton extended its lead to 30-13 when Watkins reached the end zone on a 33-yard connection with Meador. Senior cornerback Bryan McBroom returned an interception 78 yards for a touchdown to increase the Thunder advantage to 37-17 with 2:17 left in the third quarter.

UW-Platteville's lone score of the second half came with 13:34 remaining in the game when Nick Anderson scored on a nine-yard run to make it a 37-20 Wheaton lead. Senior Tyler Langs returned a punt 80 yards for a touchdown with 8:32 remaining in the game to increase the hosts' lead to 44-20. The last Thunder score of the night was a one-yard run by Gingg with 6:29 left in the game to account for the final score of 51-20. Gingg's touchdown was setup two plays earlier when Dansdill intercepted a pass at the UW-Platteville 37-yard line and returned it 34 yards to the four-yard line.

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