Thunder continues to roll in sixth straight win, 35-21 at Illinois Wesleyan Boxscore

Bloomington, Ill. (10/26) - The Wheaton

Thunder picked up a key conference win this afternoon with a 35-21 victory

at Illinois Wesleyan. Wheaton has won five of the last six meetings with the

Titans and has also won five of the last six meetings in Bloomington. Wheaton

is now 24-22-2 in the all-time series with the Titans. The Thunder are now

6-1 overall and 4-0 in the CCIW, while Illinois Wesleyan is 5-2 and 2-2 in

league action. Wheaton is now tied atop the CCIW standings with Augustana

after Augustana's 44-14 win over Millikin this afternoon. Wheaton and Augustana

are each 4-0 and have a two-game lead over Millikin, North Central and Illinois

Wesleyan at 2-2. The Thunder will host North Central next Saturday at 1 PM

on McCully Field.

The Thunder, currently fourth in Division III in total offense,

totaled 525 yards of total offense, for 6.1 yards per play with 381 passing

yards and 144 rushing yards. Illinois Wesleyan amassed 320 yards of offense,

for 4.2 yards per play with 248 passing yards and 72 rushing yards.

Senior quarterback Josh Anderson (Claremont, Calif./Claremont)

completed 26 of his 51 attempts for 381 yards with four touchdowns. Sophomore

wide receiver Brad Musso (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale Central) caught five

of Anderson's passes for 106 yards with two touchdowns, including a 60-yard

TD reception. Senior Jonathan Wills (Mahomet, Ill./Mahomet-Seymour)

caught five receptions for 60 yards. Junior Andrew King (Vista, Calif./Rancho

Buena Vista) caught six passes for 47 yards with a touchdown grab. Senior

fullback Corey Noonan (Phoenix, Ariz./Desert Vista) caught four passes

for 106 yards with a 58-yard touchdown reception and carried the ball eight

times for 33 yards with one touchdown. Sophomore tailback Garrett Granberg

(Blanco, Texas/Blanco) was Wheaton's leading rusher with 64 yards on 13 carries.

Senior linebacker Justin Knapp (Ames, Iowa/Ames) led

a strong effort by the Thunder defense with 12 total tackles, a quarterback

sack, a fumble recovery and two passes-broken-up. Junior Michael Drach

(Marshfield, Wis./Marshfield) had nine total tackles with six solos and senior

defensive end Jeff Darnauer (Goodland, Kan./Goodland) made eight total

tackles John Diggs (San Antonio, Texas/Alamo Heights) and Ty

Gose (San Antonio, Texas/Alamo Heights) each recorded seven total tackles.

Titan

quarterback Josh Akin completed 22 passes on 43 attempts with one interception

on one touchdown. Akin was also the Titans' leading rusher with 35 yards on

16 carries with a 14-yard touchdown run. Eric White caught 11 passes

for 153 yards and Tim Snyder collected five receptions for 57 yards with a

touchdown catch. Titan running back Chris Ross carried the ball 16

times for 34 yards. Illinois Wesleyan's Vince Heaton made 10 total

tackles, with two passes broken up and an interception. John Butler

and Solomon Jones each made 10 total tackles with a pass break-up.

Illinois Wesleyan was first to score with a 41-yard punt return

for a touchdown by Kaplan with 12:58 to play in the first quarter. The Thunder

put points on the scoreboard with a 60-yard touchdown pass from Anderson (PICTURED

RIGHT) to Musso, but missed the extra point to lead for a 7-6 Titan lead.

With 3:34 to play in the second quarter Anderson found King on a 14-yard touchdown

toss to give Wheaton a 14-7 advantage that carried into halftime. King's touchdown

catch was setup by a key fumble recovery by Knapp.

With 3:31 to play in the third quarter Anderson found Musso

on a nine-yard touchdown pass to give Wheaton a 21-7 lead. Musso's catch capped

a lengthy 16-play drive of 85 yards that ate a lot of time off the clock.

Wheaton took a 28-7 lead with 13:13 to play on the game when Noonan capped

a 10-play drive of 58 yards with a one-yard touchdown run. The Titans cut

Wheaton's lead to 28-14 with 10:00 play when Akin found Tim Snyder in the

end zone for a 15-yard touchdown catch. With 5:53 to play in the game Anderson

found Noonan on a short pass that saw the Thunder fullback scamper down the

sideline for a 58-yard touchdown reception to give Wheaton a 35-14 lead. The

Titans cut the Wheaton lead to 35-21 when Akin reached the end zone on a 14-yard

scramble into the end zone to cap a 10-play drive of 83 yards.