Thunder football team earns a 42-25 victory over Illinois Wesleyan (Boxscore)

Wheaton, Ill. (10/23) The Wheaton Thunder football team, ranked third in this week's American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division III Top 25, was a 42-25 victor over Illinois Wesleyan at McCully Field this afternoon. Wheaton is now 7-0 on the season and 4-0 in the CCIW, as the Thunder improved its school-record regular season winning streak to 26 games, in addition to a 21-game winning streak against CCIW opponents. Illinois Wesleyan falls to 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the CCIW. The Thunder will travel to Carthage College (6-1, 3-1 CCIW) next Saturday afternoon in a 1 PM kickoff (PLEASE NOTE: Next Saturday's game time has been moved from 6 PM and will now start at 1 PM).

Wheaton led the Titans 22-14 at halftime. Thunder fullback Drew Thornfeldt had a 13-yard touchdown reception and two touchdown runs in the first half. Junior placekicker Andrew Day kicked a 29-yard field goal early in the second quarter.

Titan placekicker Mike Berry kicked a 47-yard field goal with 12:38 to play in the third quarter to start the second half scoring and cut Wheaton 's lead to 22-17. Sophomore quarterback Jeremy Chupp threw a four-yard touchdown pass to tight end Matt Davis (PICTURED LEFT) for a 28-17 Wheaton lead with 5:11 to play in the third quarter. With 2:19 to play in the third quarter Titan quarterback Tom Kudyba threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Eric White to cut Wheaton 's lead to 28-25.

With 14:48 to play in the game Wheaton 's Aaron Toly booted a 44-yard punt that was downed at the Titan one-yard line. However, Illinois Wesleyan used 12 plays to march 93 yards to the Wheaton six yard-line. Wheaton safety Todd Travis intercepted a Kudyba pass at the end zone to stop the Titans' scoring threat. On Wheaton's next drive the hosts had the ball at their own 21 yard-line with a third-down and 10-yards for a first down when Chupp and senior Brad Musso connected on a 40-yard pass to give Wheaton a first down at the Titans' 39-yard-line. Four plays later Chupp (PICTURED RIGHT) got into the end zone on a seven-yard touchdown run to give Wheaton a 35-25 lead. Tailback Garrett Granberg secured the Wheaton victory when he scored on a two-yard touchdown run with 3:57 left in the game for a 42-25 Wheaton lead that would go on to become the final score.

Wheaton tallied 576 yards of total offense on 89 plays, averaging 7.1 yards per play. The Thunder passed for 319 passing yards and ran for another 257 yards. The Titans recorded 318 yards of offense with 195 passing yards and 123 rushing yards.

Chupp completed 21 of his 31 passing attempts for 319 yards with two touchdown passes. Chupp also ran for a touchdown, as he carried the ball five times for nine yards. Granberg carried the ball 23 times for 150 yards with one touchdown run. With his effort today Granberg moved into third place on Wheaton 's career rushing yardage list, passing the 2,494 rushing yards recorded by former tailback Brian Pastermack (1997-2000). Granberg now has 2,562 rushing yards in his four seasons at Wheaton. Senior Mark Hamstra carried the ball eight times for 55 yards and Thornfeldt ran for 34 yards with two touchdown runs and a 13-yard touchdown catch. Musso caught nine passes for 163 yards and fellow senior Colin Sinclair caught eight passes for 100 yards. Today's impressive effort gives Musso 3,857 receiving yards with 220 receptions in his career. Musso's 3,857 receiving yards in his career is the 11 th -highest total in Division III history. He is now just 143 yards shy of becoming only the ninth player since Division III football came into existence in 1973 to have 4,000 or more receiving yards in a career.

Linebacker Phil Montes led the Wheaton defense with 10 total tackles and linebacker Jared Heckendorn added nine tackles with 1-1/2 tackles for lost yardage (-3 yards). Junior defensive end Jason Isaacson recorded eight total tackles with 2-1/2 tackles for loss (-6 yards). Sophomore Michael Ware (PICTURED LEFT WITH ISAACSON) added seven tackles with 2-1/2 quarterback sacks (-13 yards) and three quarterback hurries. Senior Caleb Walters made six total tackles with three passes broken-up and Travis made four tackles with the critical interception and he forced a fumble.

Kudyba completed 22 of 43 passing attempts for 195 yards with three touchdown passes. He also carried the ball 18 times for 113 yards. White caught seven passes for 100 yards with three touchdown catches and Tim Snyder caught six passes for 48 yards.

Damon Banks led the Titan defense with 10 tackles and Vince Heaton added nine tackles and Eric Esch made eight stops. Andrew Tarman made seven tackles and had an interception. Jason O'Hara recorded four tackles, including two quarterback sacks (-5 yards).