#3-ranked Thunder improve to 2-0 in CCIW with 45-35 victory over Millikin (Boxscore)

Decatur, Ill. (10/9) The Wheaton Thunder football team, ranked third in this week's American Football Coaches Association Division III Top 25, was a 45-35 victor over Millikin University. Wheaton is now 5-0 on the season and 2-0 in the CCIW, as the Thunder improved its school-record regular season winning streak to 24 games, in addition to a 19-game winning streak against CCIW opponents.

Millikin is 1-4 overall and 0-2 in the CCIW. Today's win is the third Thunder victory in a row over the Big Blue. Wheaton hosts Elmhurst next Saturday at McCully Field, while Millikin travels to North Park.

The Big Blue jumped out to an early 7-0 lead when Nathan Wallick scrambled 17 yards for a touchdown with 8:33 to play in the first quarter. Junior Andrew Day nailed a 32-yard field goal to narrow the score to 7-3, but with 5:43 left in the half Wallick stretched the lead back to 14-3 with a 7-yard run, capping a 12-play, 72-yard drive that took 5:14 off the clock. The Thunder answered back with a long drive of their own, highlighted by a Garrett Granberg (PICTURED LEFT) 13-yard touchdown run that ended a 9 play, 87 yard drive. The visitors pulled ahead for good with a 5-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Jeremy Chupp (PICTURED RIGHT) to Junior Colin Sinclair with only 25 seconds left in the half and the score 17-14 Thunder.

The Thunder continued scoring in the second half as Senior Brad Musso caught an 8-yard pass from Chupp to extend their lead to 24-14. Millikin responded with another long 11-play drive that traveled 79 yards and lasted 5 minutes. They narrowed the score to 24-21 with a Mike Kender's 1-yard run. Chupp gave the Thunder back their 10 point lead with 1-yard run of his own, and Granberg extended the lead to 17 points with his 36-yard touchdown pass to Musso with:37 left in the third quarter. The tailback has completed both passes he has attempted this season for touchdowns. The Thunder held a 38-21 lead as time expired in the third quarter.

Millikin quarterback Justin Stessman scored on a 10-yard run in the fourth. Chupp responded with a 4-yard touchdown run of his own, his second rushing touchdown of the game. Jordan Thomas added a late touchdown to help Millikin close the gap to 45-35, but the Thunder would hold on for the 45-35 victory.

The Thunder rolled up 567 yards of total offense, including 264 yards rushing on 53 attempts. They gained an additional 303 yards through the air on 41 passes. Millikin was strong on the ground as well gaining 247 yards on 42 attempts. The Thunder ran 94 plays to Millikin's 69, and controlled the ball for 33:10.

Granberg rushed 21 times for 118 yards and a rushing touchdown, and also passed once for a touchdown completion of 36 yards. He now has 2320 career yards rushing, moving him into 6th place in school history. Chupp completed 26 of 40 passes for 267 yards with 2 touchdown passes, and rushed 8 times for 12 yards and two rushing touchdowns. Musso caught 12 passes for 161 yards with two touchdowns and is now only 47 yards from the school career receiving yards record of 3,601 held by Mark Loeffler (1993-96). Sinclair caught 8 passes for 60 yards and a touchdown, and senior fullback Drew Thornfeldt rushed 13 times for 86 yards. Senior Mark Hamstra added 39 yards on 9 carries.

Senior Justin Boxley led the Wheaton defense with 9 total tackles, and free safety Todd Travis made 8 total stops. Junior strong safety Muhammad Weusi (PICTURED RIGHT, WITH LINDBERG) made 6 tackles, including one tackle for loss. Junior defensive end Jason Isaacson and Senior linebacker Phil Montes each made 5 tackles and one tackle for loss. Senior cornerback Mike Lindberg (PICTURED RIGHT, WITH WEUSI) broke up a pass, recovered a fumble and made three total tackles. Senior Jared Heckendorn made five tackles, including one for loss and fellow senior Caleb Walters made 4 stops.

Junior Luke Bazacas returned a third quarter kickoff 31 yards to spark a Thunder scoring drive.

Wallick rushed 29 times for the Big Blue and racked up 208 yards and two touchdowns, including a long rush of 49 yards. Stessman completed 13 of 26 passes for 172 yards with a passing touchdown, and rushed 8 times for 38 yards and a rushing touchdown. Tyler Lux caught 4 passes for 80 yards. Dortania Blount made 12 total tackles, and Seantae Holland made 11, including 9 solo tackles. Lee McCoy made 7 solo tackles, including 2 tackles for loss totaling 12. Overall, Millikin had 5 tackles for loss.