Wheaton gridders down Wabash 17-14 in home opener --- Boxscore

Wheaton,

Ill. The

Wheaton College (2-0) football team opened the home portion of its schedule

this afternoon with a 17-14 win at McCully Field over Wabash College (1-1))

in non-conference action. The two squads battled throughout the day as neither

team held an advantage greater than three points throughout the struggle.

With seven-seconds left in the game and Wheaton owning a 17-14 advantage Wabash

missed a 38-yard field goal attempt that would have tied the contest.

Wabash

tallied 25 first downs, including 16 on passing plays. Wheaton recorded 16

first downs on the afternoon. Both teams put the ball in the air frequently

as Wheaton posted 189 passing yards and Wabash recorded 266 passing yards.

Wheaton ran the ball 34 times for 72 net yards on the afternoon, while Wabash

had 36 rushing attempts for 87 total yards. Wabash's offense recorded 353

total yards on 93 plays for an average of 3.8 yards per play. The Wheaton

offense amassed 261 yards of total offense on 63 plays for 4.1 yards per play.

For

the second consecutive game senior wide receiver Jeremy

Amos (Austin, Texas/Westlake) sparked the Wheaton offense with 141 receiving

yards on seven receptions with a touchdown reception for 25-yards and a long

reception of 40-yards. Sophomore quarterback

Neil Anderson (Clear Lake, Texas/Clear Lake) completed 17 passes on 29

attempts for 189 yards with two touchdown tosses, two interceptions and five

sacks. Senior running back Brian Pastermack

(Merritt Island, Fla./Merritt Island) tallied 56 rushing yards on 15 attempts.

The

Wheaton defense made a number of big plays on the afternoon. Sophomore defensive

tackle Jeff Darnauer (Goodland,

Kan./Goodland) made a big plays with eight total tackles (six solo), three

tackles for lost yardage (minus-four yards) and four pass deflections. Two

of Darnauer's deflections came on Wabash's second to last drive of the game,

helping stall the Little Giants' drive. Darnauer then went on to make two

tackles, including one for lost yardage, in Wabash's final drive. Junior cornerback

Bryan Ittersagen (Wheaton, Ill./North)

made a team-high 13 total tackles (11 solo) with two tackles for lost yardage

(minus-two yards), one quarterback sack (minus-one yard) and a pass deflection.

Senior linebacker Greg McMillin (Nampa, Idaho/Nampa) tallied 11 total tackles (four

solo) with a tackle for loss (minus-one yards). Junior strong safety Bob Bollweg (Wheaton, Ill./North) made

eight total tackles (three solo) with two tackles for lost yardage (minus-four

yards) and a forced fumble. Sophomore free safety Shawn Wildt (Victoria, Texas/Victoria) made seven total tackles (four

solo) with his second interception of the season and a pass deflection. Junior

Ryan McCaffrey (Wheaton, Ill./North)

made six total tackles (four solo) with his second interception of the year.

Wabash

quarterback Jake Knott (Lafayette, Ind./Jefferson) passed for 266 yards on 32

completions with 57 attempts. He threw two touchdowns and was intercepted

twice on the day. His leading receiver was sophomore Ryan Short (Indianapolis, Ind./Perry Meridian) with 84 receiving yards

on 13 attempts and two touchdown receptions. Sophomore linebacker Nathan Boulais (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben

Davis) led the Little Giant defense with 13 tackles (11 solo), and two tackles

for lost yardage (minus-two yards). Senior middle linebacker Treven Upkes (Springfield, Ore./Springfield)

had eight total tackles (two solo) with an interception, a pass deflection

and a sack (minus-four yards).

Wheaton

took a 3-0 advantage with 8:52 left in the first quarter thanks to a 28-yard

field goal by All-American kicker Chris Baughman (Fort Morgan, Colo./Fort

Morgan). Wabash took a 7-3 lead with 13:36 left in the first half when Short

grabbed a five yard pass from Knott. The touchdown capped an eight-play drive

that went 53 yards. Shortly after that Wheaton regained the lead at 10-7 when

Amos had a 25-yard touchdown catch from Anderson that saw Amos break through

several Wabash tacklers as he marched into the end zone. The touchdown capped

a five-play drive of 80 yards that saw Amos make two catches for 62 yards.

Shortly

after halftime Wheaton took a 17-7 lead When Anderson found Chris Boddy for

a 10-yard touchdown toss with 13:04 left in the third quarter. Wheaton gained

the ball on the Wabash 20-yard line as Wabash fumbled the ball on a punt attempt

giving Wheaton the ball on the Wabash 20-yard line. With 9:06 left in the

third quarter Wabash cut the Wheaton lead to 17-14 thanks to a 14-yard touchdown

pass by Knott to Short. The touchdown toss capped a four-play drive of 54-yards.

Wabash went on to miss two field goal attempts in the fourth quarter. The

Little Giants missed a 30-yard field goal attempt with 10:30 left in the game

and missed the 38-yard attempt with seven second left in the contest.

Wheaton

travels to Holland, Michigan for a contest with the Flying Dutch of Hope College

next Saturday. The game is slated to begin at 1 PM Central Time. That game can be heard on WETN-radio 88.1 FM and on the Internet

at http://www.wheaton.edu/wetn.

Wabash will play Wittenberg next Saturday in its home opener in Crawfordsville,