Fourth-ranked Wheaton tops Rose-Hulman 29-10 (Boxscore)

Terre Haute, Ind. (9/20) - The Thunder football team,

ranked fourth in this week's D3Football.com Top 25, improved to 2-0 on the young

season with a 29-10 win at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (2-1) this afternoon.

The Thunder will return home for the next game when Hope College (1-1) will

be at McCully Field for next Saturday's Homecoming game at 1 PM. Next week's

game will be broadcast in the Wheaton area at 88.1 FM and on television at cable

channel 72, along with live streaming audio and video at www.wetn.org.

Wheaton

received the opening kickoff at the two yard-line and returned it to the Thunder

20-yard line. The guests marched downfield until a Wheaton fumble that was recovered

by the Engineers on the Rose-Hulman 14-yard line stalled the Thunder drive.

The Engineers' next drive ended after six plays and Wheaton senior Michael

Drach returned a punt 41 yards to the Rose-Hulman 20-yard line to give the

guests tremendous field position. Junior Garrett Granberg opened the

Thunder drive with a 15-yard run to the Rose-Hulman five-yard line and he followed

it up with a four yard run to the one-yard line. Wheaton took a 7-0 lead on

the next play when fullback Skip As t crossed the end zone on a one-yard

run with 7:16 to play in the first quarter. The Engineers cut into the Wheaton

lead with a 39-yard field goal as 13:01 remained in the first half to make it

a 7-3 Thunder advantage. On the following drive Wheaton marched down the field

to the Rose-Hulman 30-yard line on 10 plays, but the Engineers recovered a Wheaton

fumble to end the Thunder drive. Senior linebacker Jason McDearmon stalled

the following Rose-Hulman drive when he intercepted an Engineers' pass at the

Wheaton 36-yard line. As the first half neared conclusion Thunder quarterback

Chad Bradley found senior receiver Brad Musso (PICTURED RIGHT) with

25-seconds left in the second quarter to cap a seven-play drive of 43 yards.

Bradley ran the ball into the end zone for a two-point conversion to give the

guests a 15-3 lead. The Thunder touchdown drive was sparked by a 20-yard punt

return from Drach to start the drive at the Rose-Hulman 43-yard line.

Granberg

gave Wheaton a 22-3 lead with 9:46 to play in the third quarter on a nine-yard

touchdown run that concluded an eight-play drive of 52 yards. The key play of

the drive was a 29-yard pass from Bradley to receiver Andrew King that

put Wheaton into Engineers' territory. Rose-Hulman blocked a Thunder punt that

was recovered at the Wheaton 20-yard line and six plays later the Engineers

scored with 2:06 left in the third quarter to cut the Thunder lead to 22-10.

On the next drive Wheaton used its grueling ground game with five carries, as

the fifth carry resulted in a 54-yard touchdown run by senior tailback Dan

Price (PICTURED LEFT) with 14:52 to play in the game. Price's touchdown

capped a five-play drive of 74 yards and gave the guests a 29-10 lead that would

become the final score.

Wheaton recorded 441 yards of total offense, averaging 5.7 yards per play with

258 rushing yards and 183 passing yards. Rose-Hulman had 212 yards of total

offense, rushing for 146 yards and throwing for just 66 yards with three interceptions.

Bradley

completed 16 of his 27 passing attempts for 183 yards with one touchdown and

an interception. Musso was Bradley's top receiver with seven catches for 90

yards and a touchdown, all of which came in the first half. King caught six

passes for 66 yards. Price was Wheaton's leading rusher with 16 carries for

111 yards, including the 54-yard touchdown run. Granberg ran for 68 yards on

17 carries with one touchdown. Junior fullback Drew Thornfeldt carried

the ball seven times for 41 yards, with a long run of 15 yards and an average

of 5.9 yards per carry. Drach recorded 63 yards on three punt returns and sophomore

Muhammad Weusi returned two kickoffs for 45 yards.

Senior linebacker Tom McAndrews made 11 total tackles with nine solos,

a tackle for lost yardage (-3 yards) and a forced fumble. Senior outside linebacker

Jeff Mumm (PICTURED RIGHT) had eight total tackles with a pass breakup

and a 16-yard quarterback sack. Senior defensive back Shawn Wildt also

had eight tackles with two tackles for loss (-9 yards), a quarterback sack (-8

yards), and an interception. Defensive linemen Tim Cryer and Marcos

Gutierrez each made four tackles, with Cryer recording an 11-yard sack.

McDearmon broke-up two passes with the first half interception and Drach also

had two passes broken-up with a 13-yard touchdown return.