Thunder earns 21st straight regular season victory in a 65-6 win over Greenville (BOXSCORE)

Wheaton, Ill. The Wheaton Thunder (2-0) football team defeated Greenville College (0-2) by a score of 65-6 this afternoon at Wheaton 's McCully Field. The victory was the 21st consecutive regular season win for the Thunder.

Today's game was the first contest played on a brand new FieldTurf (PICTURED LEFT) playing surface at McCully Field. Wheaton will return to action next Saturday at Hope College in a 12 PM (CDT) kickoff that will be broadcast on WETN radio at 88.1 FM in the Wheaton area and on the internet at www.wetn.org. Greenville will host Aurora next Saturday at 1:30 PM.

Wheaton amassed 561 yards of total offense, with 393 rushing yards and 168 passing yards. Thunder tailback Garrett Granberg carried the ball 17 times for 148 yards with three touchdowns. Fellow senior Mark Hamstra (PICTURED LEFT) ran the ball 16 times for 83 yards with two touchdowns. Junior Luke Bazacas recorded 93 yards on 13 carries with one touchdown. Sophomore quarterback Jeremy Chupp completed 10 of his 13 passing attempts for 138 yards with one touchdown pass. Junior Frank Andrews completed four of his six passing attempts for 30 yards. Senior wide receiver Colin Sinclair caught three passes for 78 yards with one touchdown receptions. Junior Nate Mealy caught five passes for 33 yards.

Greenville tallied 177 total yards with 173 rushing yards and four rushing yards. Panther quarterback Lee Thompson completed eight of his 23 passing attempts for 112 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions. Fellow quarterback Tony Speck attempted 16 passes with eight completions for 61 yards. Panther wide receiver Bryson Taylor caught three passes for 88 yards with one touchdown.

Senior linebacker Jared Heckendorn (PICTURED RIGHT) led Wheaton with a team-high six total tackles, including five solo tackles and 1-1/2 tackles for lost yards (-5 yards). Jon Shuptar, Muhammad Weusi and Erik Sartin, each made four total tackles as Shuptar and Weusi each recorded a tackle for lost yardage. Senior defensive tackle Marcos Gutierrez led the team with two tackles for lost yardage of -7 yards. Defensive backs Mike Lindberg and Todd Travis each recorded an interception.

Luke Stuber led the Greenville defense with 11 total tackles. Caleb Stuber and Clayton Jeter each recorded 10 total tackles. J.R. Harriel made nine total tackles with a forced fumble with a fumble recovery.

Greenville started the day's scoring when Thompson threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Bryson Taylor with 10:39 to play in the first quarter, but the two-point conversion attempt made the Panthers a 6-0 lead. Wheaton took a 7-6 lead with 9:28 to play in the first quarter when Chupp threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Sinclair. Granberg gave Wheaton a 14-7 lead with 4:11 to play in the first quarter when he reached the end zone on a 25-yard touchdown run.

The Thunder lead increased to 21-6 with 14:55 left in the second when senior fullback Drew Thornfeldt scored on a one-yard touchdown run. Thornfeldt's touchdown capped a seven-play drive of 18 yards that was setup thanks to an interception by Lindberg. Hamstra gave Wheaton a 28-6 lead with 13:22 left in the second quarter when he scored on a four-yard touchdown run. The Thunder recorded a safety when a failed punt attempt by the Panthers went out of the end zone to increase the hosts' lead to 30-6 with 12:01 to play in the first half. The Wheaton lead improved to 37-6 when Granberg scored on a two-yard touchdown run with 9:04 to play in the first half. Granberg's touchdown capped an eight-play drive of 72 yards, with 42 yards in the drive coming from Granberg. Granberg's third touchdown of the game was a 15-yard run with 4:32 to play in the first half to give Wheaton a 44-6. His third score culminated a six-play drive of 65 yards.

Sophomore Chaz Black scored a touchdown on a 33-yard pun return to give the Thunder a 51-6 lead with 10:39 to play in the third quarter. Hamstra scored on an eight-yard touchdown run with 6:03 to play in the third quarter as the Wheaton lead increased to 58-6. The final score of 65-6 came as a result of a four-yard touchdown run by Bazacas with 6:37 to play in the game.