Thunder gridders remain undefeated with a 56-6 win over Elmhurst (Boxscore)

Wheaton, Ill. (10/16) The Wheaton Thunder football team, ranked third in this week's American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division III Top 25, was a 56-6 victor over Elmhurst College at McCully Field on Saturday afternoon. Wheaton is now 6-0 on the season and 3-0 in the CCIW, as the Thunder improved its school-record regular season winning streak to 25 games, in addition to a 20-game winning streak against CCIW opponents. Elmhurst is now 4-2 overall and 1-2 in the CCIW. Today's win was the fifth straight Thunder victory over the Bluejays and the 16 th win in the last 17 meetings between the two teams. Wheaton owns a 47-19-6 advantage in the all-time series between the two programs. The Thunder will host Illinois Wesleyan (2-4, 1-2 CCIW) next Saturday afternoon and Elmhurst will travel to North Central (4-2, 1-2 CCIW).

Wheaton amassed 526 yards of total offense today, with 283 rushing yards and 243 passing yards. Thunder wide receiver Brad Musso (PICTURED LEFT) caught 10 passes for 140 yards with two touchdown catches. Late in the second quarter Musso caught a 14-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Jeremy Chupp to become Wheaton 's all-time leader in receiving yards. Musso now has 3,694 yards on 211 receptions to eclipse the previous school record of 3,601 receiving yards accumulated by Mark Loeffler from 1993 to 1996. Senior Colin Sinclair caught two passes for 46 yards, with one sensational touchdown. Sophomore Joe Chupp also caught two passes for 39 yards with a touchdown catch. Jeremy Chupp completed 13 of his 18 passing attempts for 194 yards, with three touchdown tosses. Junior Frank Andrews completed three of his four passes for 49 yards, with a touchdown throw to Joe Chupp. Senior tailback Garrett Granberg carried the ball 17 times for 92 yards, to move into fourth place on Wheaton 's career rushing yardage list. Granberg has now carried the ball 471 times for 2,412 yards in his career at Wheaton. In today's game he passed Chuck Schoenherr (2,348 yards) for fifth place on Wheaton 's career rushing list and moved past Dane Shaw (2,400 yards) for fourth place. Senior fullback Drew Thornfeldt carried the ball seven times for 84 yards, with three touchdown runs. Senior tailback Mark Hamstra ran the ball eight times for 55 yards with one touchdown run.

Elmhurst came into Saturday's game ranked 14 th in Division III in total offense, averaging 483.6 yards per game. The Wheaton defense held the Bluejays to 174 yards of total offense today, with 90 passing yards and 84 yards on the ground, as the Thunder recorded four quarterback sacks. Junior free safety Todd Travis led the Thunder defense with a team-high nine total tackles. Sophomore defensive ends Jason Isaacson and Michael Ware each made seven total tackles. Isaacson made 1-1/2 quarterback sacks (-7 yards) and Ware added 1-1/2 tackles for lost yardage (-8 yards), including a quarterback sack (-7 yards). Senior linebacker Jared Heckendorn led the Thunder with 2-1/2 tackles for lost yardage (-10 yards), including 1-1/2 quarterback sacks (-5 yards).

Elmhurst quarterback Dom Demma completed 11 of his 24 passing attempts for 90 yards with one touchdown. Andy Brogan caught a team-high four passes for 19 yards with a touchdown for the Bluejays and Terence Young caught two passes for 28 yards. Senior tailback Eric Luna ran for 85 yards on 21 carries.

Sophomore linebacker Ward Brady led the Elmhurst defense with a team-high 15 tackles and Kyle Maple added 10 tackles. Elmhurst safety David Socarras made 10 tackles with a tackle for lost yardage (-3 yards) and a pass break-up.

Wheaton scored on its first five drives of the game. After Elmhurst 's opening drive of the game stalled, the Bluejays attempted a punt at their own 30-yard line, but Wheaton 's Jonathan Toal blocked the punt and he recovered the ball at the Wheaton 18-yard line to give the hosts excellent field position on their first drive of the game. On the very first play of the drive Thornfeldt barreled 18 yards into the end zone to give Wheaton a 6-0 lead with 11:25 to play in the first quarter. Wheaton 's extra point attempt hit the upright, as the score remained 6-0. On the hosts' next drive the Thunder ground game did all the work as Wheaton carried the ball five times for 75 yards, culminating with a three-yard touchdown run by Thornfeldt to give Wheaton a 12-0 lead with 3:53 to play in the first quarter. The score remained 12-0 when Wheaton 's two-point conversion attempt that followed Thornfeldt's TD failed.

Sinclair (PICTURED RIGHT) made a nice effort to get into the end zone on a 39-yard touchdown pass by Jeremy Chupp with 11:12 remaining in the second quarter to give Wheaton a 19-0 lead. Thornfeldt busted through the Elmhurst defense for a nine-yard touchdown run with 7:18 to play in the first half, as the Wheaton lead increased to 26-0. Wheaton 's next drive started with a 14-yard completion to Musso to establish the school's receiving record. Fittingly, the final play of the drive was a 13-yard touchdown toss by Jeremy Chupp to Musso for a 33-0 Wheaton lead with 27-seconds left in the first half. The two teams went to the locker rooms at halftime with Wheaton leading 33-0.

Wheaton fumbled the kickoff that opened the second half and the Bluejays recovered at the Thunder 15-yard line. Elmhurst cut Wheaton 's lead to 33-6 when Demma threw a one-yard TD pass to Brogan with 12:07 to play in the third quarter. On the very next drive Chupp threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Musso, increasing Wheaton 's lead to 40-6 with 9:02 left in the third quarter.

Andrews threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Joe Chupp with 10:58 left in the game to increase Wheaton 's lead to 47-6. With 4:07 left in the game Hamstra reached the end zone on a 13-yard TD (PICTURED LEFT) run that gave Wheaton a 54-6 lead. The final score of 56-6 was the result of an Elmhurst punt attempt that sailed out of the end zone for a safety.