11 Thunder gridders named to All-CCIW Football team

Wheaton,

Ill. (11/13) - 11 members of the Wheaton football team have

been selected to the 2001 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin All-Conference

Team. Three Thunder players are First Team selections and eight are Second

Team honorees. Wheaton had six offensive players earn All-CCIW honors and

five defensive players. The Thunder finished the season tied for second place

in the conference with a 5-2 mark in league play and a 6-4 overall record.

Senior

captain Jon Adams (Miami, Fla./Westminster Christian) and junior wide

receiver Jon Wills (Mahomet, Ill./Mahomet Seymour) were selected to

First Team offense by the league coaches, while junior defensive tackle Dane

Lundgren (Arden Hills, Minn./Mounds View) was named to the First Team

defense. Adams, Wheaton's starting center the past two seasons, is a two-time

All-CCIW honoree after earning Second Team honors last year. Adams keyed a

Thunder offense that averaged 375.4 yards per game this season with 3,754

yards. Wheaton gained 1,601 yards on the ground and passed for another 2,153

yards. Wheaton led the CCIW in passing and scoring this season, largely in

part to a solid offensive line led by Adams as the only senior on the unit.

Wills led the CCIW in receptions and receiving yards this season as the top

receiver on the top passing team in the league. In ten games this season he

had a team-best 39 catches for 638 yards, averaging 16.4 yards per catch and

63.8 yards per game with two touchdowns. This is the second consecutive season

that Lundgren has earned First Team All-CCIW honors for his efforts on the

defensive line. He tallied 48 total tackles this season (24 solo) with eight

tackles for lost yardage (-20 yards) and one quarterback sack (-5 yards).

He forced two fumbles this season with eight quarterback hurries and three

passes broke up.

Wheaton

placed four players on the Second Team offensive unit: quarterback Josh

Anderson (Claremont, Calif./Claremont), running back Mike Whalen

(Wimberley, Texas/Wimberley), wide receiver Brad Musso (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale

Central) and guard James Hoxworth (Bridgeport, Neb./Bridgeport). Anderson

led the CCIW in passing yards per game and total offense. The junior completed

127 passes on 230 attempts with 13 interceptions. He threw for a league-best

1,810 yards with 15 touchdowns and averaged 201.1 passing yards per game.

Whalen is a two-time CCIW "Offensive Player of the Week" this season. The

junior tailback rushed for a team-best 768 yards on 165 carries with 15 touchdowns,

averaging 4.7 yards per carry and 76.8 yards per game. Musso grabbed 23 receptions

with 467 yards and six touchdowns, averaging 46.7 yards per game and 20.3

yards per catch. Hoxworth, a 6-3, 270-pound, sophomore was a member of a solid

Thunder offensive line that led an offense that tallied 3,754 yards on the

season.

Four

members of the Thunder defense were selected to the All-CCIW Defensive Second

Team: defensive linemen Jamie Busch (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) and Eliot

Thomasma (Stevensville, Mich./Lakeshore) join linebacker Justin Knapp

(Ames, Iowa/Ames) and defensive back Bryan Ittersagen (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton

North). Busch, a senior, led the team in tackles for lost yardage with 13

(-54 yards) and two sacks (-18 yards). The defensive end tallied 46 total

tackles (31 solo) with nine quarterback hurries, three passes broken-up and

one recovered fumble. Thomasma, a senior defensive end, led Wheaton's defensive

linemen with 52 total tackles (29 solo). He had seven tackles for lost yardage

(-28 yards) with two quarterback sacks (-10 yards), three quarterback hurries

and two passes broken-up. Junior middle linebacker Justin Knapp led the Thunder

defense with 116 total tackles (72 solo) this season. Knapp recorded four

tackles for lost yardage (-15 yards) with one interception, one fumble recovery,

three quarterback hurries and three passes broken-up. Ittersagen grabbed three

interceptions this season and a team-best 12 passes broken-up. Ittersagen

made 50 total tackles (38 solo) with two tackles for lost yardgage (-3 yards)

and one sack (-1 yards).