#19-Wheaton tops North Park 68-12 to setup battle with Augustana for CCIW Title (Boxscore)

Chicago, Ill. (11/9) - The Wheaton Thunder

football team (8-1/6-0 CCIW) picked up its eighth straight victory with a

68-12 win at North Park (1-8/0-6 CCIW) today. Wheaton entered today's game

ranked 19th in this week's American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division

III Coaches Poll. Wheaton's flawless 6-0 CCIW record sets up a showdown with

tenth-ranked Augustana next Saturday. Augustana is also 8-1 and 6-0 in league

play. Next Saturday's game between the Vikings and Thunder at McCully Field

is the regular season finale for both teams and will determine the CCIW Champion

and the conference's representative to the NCAA Division III Football Playoffs.

Wheaton

amassed 625 yards of total offense on 92 plays for an average of 6.8 yards

per play. The Thunder rolled up 471 rushing yards and 160 passing yards. North

Park had 234 yards of offense with 92 rushing yards and 142 passing yards.

Wheaton had four running backs with more than 50 yards on the

ground, led by sophomore running back Mark Hamstra with 131 yards on

the ground, all in the second half, on 20 carries with one touchdown. Junior

tailback Dan Price (PICTURED LEFT) carried the ball 13 times for 124

yards with two touchdowns and sophomore tailback Garrett Granberg carried

the ball 15 times for 99 yards with three trips into the end zone. Senior

fullback Corey Noonan carried the ball four times for 57 yards with

two touchdown runs. Most of Noonan's 57 yards came on a 49-yard touchdown

run in the first quarter on a beautifully executed fake punt. Junior quarterback

Chad Bradley completed 13 of his 19 passing attempts for 134 yards

with two interceptions. Sophomore Brad Musso caught four passes for

65 yards and junior Andrew King caught five passes for 32 yards. Musso

returned three punts for 75 yards, including a 58-yard return for a touchdown

midway through the second quarter.

Senior linebacker Kevin Sellers led the Thunder defense

with seven total tackles and senior defensive tackle Dane Lundgren added

six total tackles with two quarterback hurries. Senior Justin Knapp and

John Diggs each made five total tackles. Junior linebacker Jeff

Mumm made four total tackles with two tackles for lost yardage (-7 yards),

including a quarterback sack (-5 yards).