Thunder rolls over Mount St. Joseph in First Round of NCAA Tournament (Boxscore)

Wheaton, Ill. The Wheaton Thunder football team earned a 31-7 win over College of Mount St. Joseph on Saturday afternoon in the First Round of the NCAA Division III Football Playoffs. The win improves Wheaton 's record to 10-1 on the season and gives the program three consecutive 10-win seasons for the first time in school history. Today's win improves Wheaton 's all-time postseason record to 5-3 record in its eight NCAA Division III Playoff appearances.

The Thunder will face top-ranked Mount Union College next Saturday in the Second Round of the NCAA Division III Playoffs at 11 AM CST in Alliance, Ohio. Tickets for Saturday's game are are $10 and $8. Wheaton fans interested in attending the game in Alliance should call the Mount Union ticket office at 330-821-6759 for tickets and mention that they want to be in the Wheaton block of tickets.

Mount St. Joseph ends the year with a 10-1 record in making its first-ever postseason appearance. Lions' coach Rod Huber said of his team's accomplishments this season, We learned a lot from this experience, we won our conference championship. These kids were 0-10 four years ago and they have nothing to be ashamed of. I'm very proud of them. Huber mentioned of Wheaton, They're well-coached, they've got a good tradition and a good program, and they treated us well. The best team won today. I've got a whole lot of respect for them.

Wheaton, fourth in Division III in total offense, amassed 500 yards of offense today with 264 passing yards and 236 rushing yards. The Lions had just 190 yards of offense with 135 passing yards and 55 rushing yards. The Thunder possessed the ball for 40:53 to just 19:07 for Mount St. Joseph. Thunder head coach Mike Swider, said of Wheaton 's effectiveness running the football: They [ Mount St. Joseph ] haven't played anybody who can run the football like we can. You have to have a good running game to get through our league. Senior wide receiver Brad Musso (PICTURED LEFT) added, We're not just a great throwing or running team, it's the balance that makes this offense really good.

Sophomore quarterback Jeremy Chupp completed 16 of his 28 passing attempts for 222 yards with two touchdown throws. Musso was the leading receiver with seven catches for 111 yards with one touchdown catch. Fellow senior Chad Fenley caught six passes for 76 yards and Colin Sinclair caught four passes with 15-yard touchdown reception. Four Thunder players ran for 30 or more yards in the game.

Senior Garrett Granberg (PICTURED LEFT) carried the ball 19 times for 73 yards to give him 1,298 rushing yards this season to set a new school single-season rushing record. Granberg has passed the 1,262 rushing yards amassed by Dan Price for the Thunder last season. Senior fullback Drew Thornfeldt ran for 54 yards on 11 carries with a one-yard touchdown run. Senior tailback Mark Hamstra ran for 43 yards on 13 carries with a touchdown run and Luke Bazacas tallied 36 yards on eight carries.

Mount St. Joseph quarterback Bryan Hamrock completed seven of his 17 passing attempts for 135 yards with one touchdown toss and he was sacked by the Thunder defense four times. Wide receiver Andy Wellendorf caught three passes for 101 yards with one touchdown grab. Running back Mike Lovell had a team-high 63 rushing yards on 13 carries.

Safety Todd Travis (PICTURED LEFT) made four total tackles with a key third quarter interception and two passes broken-up for the Thunder. Linebacker Jared Heckendorn made four total tackles with a quarterback sack of 11 yards. Defensive back Scott Ast also recorded four tackles with 1-1/2 tackles for lost yardage and a fumble recovery. Defensive tackle Geoff Kirkendall made three solo tackles with an eight-yard quarterback sack(PICTURED RIGHT). Defensive back Caleb Walters said of Wheaton 's stingy defense against the Lions, The coaches gave us a great scheme, and [MSJ] played right into our defensive strength. We had good players step up and make big plays. Hamrock, the Lions' quarterback said of Wheaton 's defense, They were really good in coverage, probably the best secondary we've seen all year. They're very sound defensively.

The Lions' Matt Lawless made a game-high 18 total tackles and linebacker Brooks Klosterman added 16 tackles and linebacker Andrew Ackerman made total stops.

Wheaton took a 7-0 lead when Thornfeldt reached the endzone on a one-yard touchdown run with 9:52 left to play in the first quarter. The key play in the drive was a six-yard pass from Chupp to Fenley on a third down with six yards to go at Mount St. Joseph 's 28-yard line. Fenley's reception gave Wheaton a first down and six plays later Thornfeldt gave Wheaton the lead. The Lions tied the game at 7-7 when Hamrock threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Wellendorf with 5:12 left in the first quarter.

Hamstra scored on a seven-yard touchdown run with 12:12 left in the second quarter to give the hosts a 14-7 lead. Hamstra's touchdown was setup by a 26-yard punt return by Chaz Black to open the drive. The first offensive play of the drive was a 25-yard pass from Chupp to Musso, who made a sensational one-handed catch on the play. Wheaton took a 17-7 lead into the lockerroom at halftime thanks to a 35-yard field by Andrew Day.

With 8:25 left in the third quarter Chupp threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Musso to increase Wheaton 's lead to 24-7. Musso's touchdown capped a lengthy drive of 13 plays and 80 yards that lasted 5:18. The 31-7 final score came as the result of a 15-yard touchdown pass from Chupp to Sinclair with 11:35 remaining in the game. Sinclair's touchdown (PICTURED RIGHT) concluded a 12-play drive of 83 yards.