Wheaton wins convincingly over Hope, 49-30 (Boxscore)

Holland, Mich. (9/28) - The Wheaton Thunder (2-1)

played well on both sides of the ball today in a 49-30 win at Hope College

(1-3) this afternoon. Wheaton dominated the Flying Dutchmen in the first

half as the guests held an impressive 42-14 lead at halftime. Wheaton will

return to action next Saturday when they host Elmhurst at 1 PM in the annual

homecoming game that will be broadcast on WETN radio at 88.1 FM and www.wetn.org.

The Thunder offense amassed 568 yards of total offense in 88 plays as the

guests averaged 6.5 yards per play. The Thunder tallied 371 of their 568

offensive yards in the first half of the game. Wheaton used a balanced offensive

attack as the Thunder passed for 311 yards and ran for another 257 yards.

Wheaton dominated time of possession as the Thunder held the ball 39:36

of the game and Hope had it for 20:24. Hope had 318 yards of total offense

with 275 passing yards and 43 rushing yards. The Hope offense amassed 135

yards of total offense in the first half.

Junior

quarterback Chad Bradley (Wheaton, Ill./North) played well as he

completed 24 of his 34 pass attempts for 311 yards with four touchdowns

and two interceptions. Sophomore Brad Musso (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale

Central) caught six of Bradley's passes for 143 yards with two touchdowns.

Musso also returned five Hope punts for 57 yards, including a long return

of 27 yards. Junior Andrew King (Vista, Calif.) also caught six passes

for 42 yards, senior Jonathan Wills (Mahomet, Ill./Mahomet-Seymour)

caught five passes for 51 yards and senior Randy Rosen (Satellite

Beach, Fla./Satellite) caught three passes for 57 yards with one touchdown.

Sophomore running back Garrett Granberg (Blanco, Texas/Blanco) played

very well in his first collegiate start at tailback with 152 yards on 22

carries and two touchdowns. Granberg (PICTURED LEFT) also had four kickoff

returns for 86 yards, including a long return of 26 yards.

Senior Shawn Wildt (Victoria, Texas/Victoria) recorded five total

tackles with two solos, three pass deflections and one interception. Junior

linebacker Jeff Mumm (Grapevine, Texas) tallied five total tackles

with one tackle for lost yardage. Sophomore defensive back Caleb Walters

(The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands) also recorded five total tackles and

senior defensive tackle John Diggs (San Antonio, Texas) made four

total tackles with on quarterback sack. Senior linebacker Justin Knapp

(Ames, Iowa) recorded four total tackles with an interception.

Hope quarterback Phil Butler completed 22 of his 41 pass attempts

for 275 yards with two interceptions and four touchdowns. Hope's leading

receiver was Joel Solomon with six catches for 134 yards and one

touchdown and Jeff Eldersveld caught eight passes for 98 yards with

one touchdown. Josh Bambach led the Hope defense with 15 total tackles

and Matt Beaver added 14 tackles with an interception and a fumble

recovery.

Hope started the game's scoring with an impressive three-play drive of

72 yards that concluded on a 31-yard pass from Butler to Solomon. On the

next drive Wheaton took control of the game as the Thunder would begin a

stretch of 35 unanswered points as the guests quickly countered with a strange

twist. The Thunder ball carrier fumbled the ball, the pigskin bounced about

10 yards out to the open field and into the waiting arms of Granberg who

ran the ball 55 yards into the end zone to tie the game at 7-7 with 12:28

to play in the first quarter. Wheaton made it 14-7 when senior fullback

Corey Noonan (Phoenix, Ariz.) caught a five-yard touchdown pass from

Bradley with 10:07 to play in the first quarter. Noonan's catch capped a

two-play drive of eight yards that was setup by a 27-yard punt return by

Musso. Less than two minutes later Bradley found sophomore Musso on the

first play of a drive for a 53-yard touchdown toss to give Wheaton a 21-7

lead with 8:27 to play in the first quarter.

Bradley and Musso connected again on a 24-yard touchdown pass with 8:30

to play in the first half for a 28-7 Thunder lead. The touchdown capped

a 25-yard drive of three plays that was setup by a stellar 19-yard punt

return by Musso. Granberg gave Wheaton a 35-7 lead with a four-yard touchdown

run with 5:02 to play in the second quarter. Granberg's run capped an eight-play

drive of 71 yards. Hope cut the Thunder lead to 35-14 when Devon Quinn

caught a two-yard touchdown pass from Butler with 2:26 to play. Wheaton

made it 42-14 with 0:14 to play before halftime when a 23-yard touchdown

pass from Bradley to Randy Rosen capped an impressive eight-play drive of

71 yards.

Hope scored the lone touchdown of the third quarter with a 52-yard pass

from Butler to Solomon for a 42-22 Thunder advantage with 8:59 to play in

the third quarter. Noonan scored his second touchdown of the day on a one-yard

run into the end zone to give the guests a 49-22 lead with 8:42 to play

in the game. Noonan's touchdown capped a 10-play drive of 65 yards. Butler

found Eldersveld on a 27-yard touchdown pass to cut the Thunder lead to

49-30 with 5:52 to play in the game.