#5-Thunder remains undefeated with a convincing 63-14 win at Carthage (Boxscore)

Kenosha, Wis. (10/18) - The Wheaton football team, ranked

fifth in this week's D3Football.com Top 25, gave an impressive performance

today in a 63-14 win at Carthage College. The Thunder improves to 6-0 on the

season and 3-0 in the CCIW to remain tied atop the CCIW standings with Augustana

(4-2/3-0), while Carthage is now 2-4 overall and 0-3 in the league. The Thunder

will host Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon at 1 PM.

The Thunder looked strong on both sides of the ball as Wheaton amassed a season-high

508 yards of offense with 250 rushing yards and 258 passing yards, racking up

6.3 yards per play and 31 first downs. The Wheaton defense held Carthage to

just 14 points and the Redmen tallied 294 of offense with 151 passing yards

and 143 rushing yards.

Wheaton

got on the scoreboard with 7:21 to play in the first quarter when junior fullback

Drew Thornfeldt reached the endzone on a one-yard run to cap a 10-play

drive of 48 yards. The drive was setup on a 32-yard punt return by junior Brad

Musso. Thornfeldt scored again to conclude an 11-play drive of 52 yards

to score on another one-yard touchdown run to give the guests a 14-0 lead with

0:52 left in the opening quarter.

Carthage's Dante Washington, the second-leading rusher in Division III,

put Carthage on the scoreboard with a 23-yard touchdown run with 14:30 to play

in the second quarter to cut the Wheaton lead to 14-7. With 11:35 to play in

the first half quarterback Chad Bradley (PICTURED RIGHT) hit Musso on

an eight-yard touchdown pass to give the Thunder a 21-7 lead, capping a seven-play

drive of 69 yards. On the first play of the next drive Wheaton linebacker Jason

McDearmon sacked Carthage quarterback Chris Smith and knocked the

ball loose. Smith's fumble was recovered by Wheaton lineman Nate Lee

at the Carthage 12-yard line. On the next play tailback Garrett Granberg

ran 11 yards to the Redmen one-yard line and Thunder fullback Matt Davis

scored on a one-yard run to give the Thunder a 28-7 lead with 10:59 to play

in the second quarter. Two minutes later Carthage cut the Wheaton lead to 28-14

when Washington scored on an 11-yard run with 8:58 left in the first half. Musso

expanded the Wheaton lead to 35-14 with 3:00 left in the first half when he

returned a punt 47-yards down the Thunder sideline and into the endzone.

On the first drive of the second half Thunder tailback Dan Price scored

on a two-yard touchdown run with 13:06 to play in the third quarter, capping

a six-play drive of 72 yards. With 8:03 to play in the third quarter Granberg

scored on a 26-yard touchdown run to cap a seven-play drive of 82 yards and

give Wheaton a 49-14 lead with 8:03 to play in the third quarter.

Price

gave Wheaton a 56-14 lead with 14:54 to play in the game on a one-yard touchdown

run that concluded a 14-play drive of 54 yards. The final Thunder touchdown

came when Brad Thornton scored on a 13-yard touchdown run with 9:32 to play

in the game, capping a three-play drive of 44 yards.

Bradley had an efficient effort today, completing 16 of his 22 passing attempts

for 231 yards with the touchdown pass to Musso (PICTURED LEFT). Musso caught

five passes for 90 yards with one touchdown and he returned three punts for

97 yards with a touchdown return. Bradley moved into eighth place on Wheaton's

career passing list with 3,747 yards in three seasons, while Musso elevated

himself into sixth place on the all-time receiving list with 2,199 yards in

three seasons. Senior receiver Andrew King caught six passes for 87 yards.

Price carried the ball 22 times for 113 yards with two touchdown runs. Granberg

had 12 carries for 55 yards with one touchdown.

Senior defensive back Ty Gose led the Thunder with six total tackles

and a pass deflection. Linebacker Jason McDearmon (PICTURED RIGHT) made

five total tackles with three tackles for lost yardage (-11 yards), a sack (-5

yards) and a forced fumble. Senior defensive back Shawn Wildt made five

tackles with a quarterback sack (-11 yards). Sophomore defensive back Muhammad

Weusi made five total tackles for Wheaton.

Washington carried the ball 24 times for 116 yards with two touchdown runs.

Washington came into the game as the number-two rusher in Division III and the

leading rusher in the CCIW with an average of 202 yards per game. Redmen quarterback

Chris Smith completed eight of his 18 passing attempts for 99 yards.

John Warnecke was Carthage's top receiver with five catches for 75 yards.

Carthage's Randy Wood was the leading tackler in the game with 10 tackles

and a tackle for lost yardage. Glen Eaton added eight tackles with two

tackles for loss (-6 yards) and linebacker Mike Pelkowski also added

eight total tackles.