Thunder gridders defeat North Park 56-14 (Boxscore)

Wheaton, Ill. The Wheaton Thunder football team, ranked 13th in this week's American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division III Top 25, was a 56-14 victor over North Park University at McCully Field on Saturday afternoon. Wheaton is now 8-1 on the season and 5-1 in the CCIW, while North Park falls to 1-7 overall and 1-5 in the CCIW.

Wheaton will conclude the regular season next Saturday at Augustana (7-2/5-1 CCIW). Wheaton needs a victory over the Vikings to earn at least a share of its third consecutive CCIW Championship. If Wheaton wins next Saturday it would be assured of at least a tie with Carthage for the conference championship. The winner of the Wheaton-Augustana game will have a 6-1 league record and if Carthage (8-1/5-1 CCIW) wins at home against Elmhurst next Saturday the Redmen will tie the Wheaton-Augustana winner for the CCIW Championship. If Carthage loses to Elmhurst the Wheaton-Augustana winner will win the CCIW outright. If two teams are tied for the CCIW Championship a tiebreaker will be used to determine the recipient of the conference's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Playoffs. CLICK HERE FOR AQ TIEBREAKERS.

Wheaton recorded 447 yards of total offense with 311 passing yards and 136 rushing yards in today's victory over the Vikings. Thunder quarterback Jeremy Chupp completed 26 of his 33 passing attempts for 291 yards with two touchdown passes and a rushing touchdown. Senior Colin Sinclair (PICTURED LEFT) caught 16 passes for 194 yards with two touchdown receptions. Sinclair's 16 receptions ties Wheaton 's single-game receptions record that is also held by Mark Loeffler (against Mount Union on 11/25/95) and Pete Bylsma (against Millikin on 10/19/74). Senior Brad Musso caught eight passes for 65 yards. Senior tailback Mark Hamstra ran for 38 yards on five carries with one touchdown. Senior Garrett Granberg carried the ball 11 times for 35 yards with one touchdown.

Senior linebacker Phil Montes made a team-high 10 tackles with 2-1/2 tackles for lost yardage (-13 yards) and two passes broken-up. Senior Mike Lindberg and Jonathan Toal each made six total tackles and defensive back Caleb Walters added five total tackles. Linebacker Nate Odom (PICTURED RIGHT WITH MONTES) made four solo tackles, including a quarterback sack of -13 yards and blocked a Viking punt that resulted in a Thunder touchdown.

North Park quarterback Mike Haehn completed 24 of his 48 passing attempts for 280 yards with two touchdown passes. Jon Harris caught 11 passes for 159 yards with both of North Park 's touchdowns. Tim Rotenberry led North Park with a game-high 14 goals and Paul Mutschler added 10 tackles.

Wheaton led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter thanks to pair of touchdown passes by Chupp to Sinclair. North Park put points on the scoreboard with 12:42 left in the second quarter when Haehan threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Harris. Chupp scored on a one-yard touchdown run to give Wheaton a 21-7 lead with 8:43 remaining in the first half. The Thunder advantage remained 21-7 at halftime.

With 12:56 left in the third quarter North Park attempted a punt at its own 47-yard line. Odom blocked the punt and it was picked up by Luke Bazacas at the Viking 11-yard line and returned for a touchdown by Bazacas to increase the Wheaton lead to 28-7. A pair of touchdown runs by Drew Thornfeldt and Hamstra increased Wheaton 's lead to 42-7 with 5:15 left in the third quarter. With 3:40 left in the third quarter Odom sacked Haehn and forced a fumble that was picked up by Joe Foley and returned for a touchdown that increased the Thunder lead to 49-7. Granberg scored on a two-yard touchdown run with 1:05 left in the third quarter to increase Wheaton 's lead to 56-7. Haehn threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Harris with 1:11 left in the game to score North Park 's final points and make it a 56-14 final score.