Wheaton Blows 20-0 Lead in Season-Opening Loss at Kalamazoo

(Kalamazoo, Mich./Sept. 13) -- The Wheaton College football team, ranked 15th in this week's Don Hansen National Weekly Football Gazette poll, and 14th in the Columbus Multimedia Team Efficiency Ratings, opened the 1997 season, losing to Kalamazoo College, 21-20, after blowing a 20-0 lead, Saturday, Sept. 13, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Wheaton plays another road game, Saturday, Sept. 20, at Aurora University at 1:30 PM. As always, the Aurora game will be broadcast live on WETN-88.1 FM.

It was the first time Kalamazoo has managed to eke out a win over Wheaton in 9 tries. The teams tied 13-13 in 1947.

The Crusaders began the day by consuming the first 6 minutes and 31 seconds with a 13-play; 74-yard scoring drive that included an 11-yard run by sophomore fullback Jeff Ford, a 21-yard pass completion from junior quarterback Tim Hardy to sophomore receiver Jay Westra, and ended with a 7-yard touchdown run by junior halfback Bjorn Johnson and an extra point kicked by senior Paul Boehms.

After Kalamazoo's punt, Wheaton took just 11 seconds to score again when Hardy connected on a first- down pass play with sophomore receiver Ben Peays for an 81-yard touchdown catch and sprint, and Boehms missed the extra point, giving Wheaton a 13-0 lead with 4:18 left in the first quarter.

After Wheaton's defense batted down 2 Hornet passes, one in the backfield by junior defensive end Kris McGee and the other deep in the secondary by sophomore cornerback John Peays, and forced Kalamazoo to punt, Wheaton took the ball back at its own 45 and had to punt on its fourth down. Reserve running back Ryan Freeland separated Kalamazoo punt returner Wade Thomsen from the ball, and sophomore free safety Ben Wilson recovered the fumble at the Kalamazoo 15.

Taking advantage of the turnover, Hardy hit Ben Peays with a third-down pass down to the 2-yard line, Johnson ran the ball to the 1, and Hardy scored on the quarterback sneak. Boehms' extra point made the score, 20-0, with 4:18 left in the first half.

John Peays intercepted a pass with 40 seconds left in the first half but fumbled the ball back to Kalamazoo at Wheaton's 39-yard line. With 17.5 seconds left, back-up quarterback Auric Hall connected with starting quarterback Brian Alexander for a 39-yard touchdown pass which bounced off the hands of 2 Wheaton defenders. The extra point cut the Wheaton lead to 20-7 just before halftime.

In the second half, Kalamazoo receiver Wade Thomsen returned the opening kick-off 50 yards to the 50-yard line, and raced 27 yards on a reverse, plus 10 yards against Wheaton for a face-mask penalty, giving the Hornets the ball at the Wheaton 9-yard line. After a loss of 2 yards on first down, Thomsen caught a 9-yard pass on second down, and Jason Barnett scored from 2 yards out on third down. The extra point made the score 20-14 with 12:50 left in the third quarter.

After Hardy was intercepted by Hornet linebacker Doug Ruckman at the Kalamazoo 30-yard line, Wheaton's defense pushed Kalamazoo back to the 17, forcing the Hornets to punt, and Wheaton took the ball over at the Kalamazoo 45-yard line. However, Wheaton lost control of a pitch, and the Hornets took over again at its own 37 on Wheaton's fourth turnover of the game.

Kalamazoo drove the ball 63 yards for the touchdown with Hall racing the last 26 yards to the end zone after appearing to be hemmed in by the defense. The extra point by Mike Nishizawa put Kalamazoo ahead, 21-20, with 3:23 left in the third quarter.

Wheaton turned the ball over a fifth time with 7:52 left in the fourth quarter, on an interception by Kalamazoo free safety David Hanna, but Wheaton strong safety Jerry Hawkes intercepted Hall's pass and returned it to the Kalamazoo 47-yard line with 6:29 left. However, Wheaton's drive netted just 3 yards and ended with Kalamazoo's defense knocking down Hardy's fourth-down pass with 17 yards to go for the first down. Kalamazoo ran out the final 2:40 off the clock, moving the ball down the field to the Wheaton 12 on a 33-yard run by Barnett with 1:13 left.

Wheaton totalled 94 yards rushing and 177 yards passing, but committed 5 turnovers. Kalamazoo totalled 200 rushing and 129 passing. Tim Hardy was 12 of 24 passing for 177 yards with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions, and Johnson led Wheaton's rushers with 11 carries for 50 yards and 1 touchdown.

Defensively, sophomore free safety Ben Wilson made a career-high 12 tackles, 10 solos, and intercepted a pass while filling in for senior starter Blake Stevens (Wimberly, Texas/Wimberly H.S.). Freshman middle linebacker Mark Ritzman (Norton, Ohio/Norton H.S.) was thrust into a starting position in his first college game, and responded with 6 solo and 8 assisted tackles, including a sack for 8 yards lost. The two players ahead of Ritzman on the depth chart were unable to play -- senior Jamie Heinold (Wayne, NJ/Wayne Hills H.S.) missed the game along with four other defensive starters, including Stevens, and one offensive starter due to violation of team rules, and back-up Jeremy Clark (Papua New Guinea/Ukarumpa H.S.) suffered a sprained ankle during practice a week ago.

Sophomore John Peays started at cornerback and made 6 tackles, broke up 2 passes, and intercepted his first college pass, and returned it for 34 yards. Peays also joined his brother, Ben, as twin punt and kick returners, and returned a kick-off for 25 yards.