BOXSCORE
Wheaton, Ill. – The Thunder football team rallied in the fourth quarter for the second straight week to earn a 28-24 win against Augustana in front of a full home crowd on Saturday night. Wheaton, ranked fifth in last week's D3Football.com Top 25, improves to 6-0 overall and 3-0 in the CCIW. Augustana is 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the CCIW. The Thunder will host North Park next Saturday night at 6 PM.
Wheaton led the Vikings 21-10 at halftime, as the Thunder scored three rushing touchdowns in the first half. Augustana's Jake Parke scored on a three-yard touchdown run with 12:26 left in the third quarter to cut the Wheaton lead to 21-17. The Vikings took a 24-21 lead with 13:52 left in the game when Josh Galliart reached the end zone on a four-yard touchdown run. In a third-down-situation, with eight-yards to go for a first-down, Wheaton regained the lead with 5:19 left in the game. Sean Norris threw a well-placed pass to junior receiver Alex Pokorny (PICTURED RIGHT) on a 44-yard touchdown connection for a 28-24 Wheaton lead.
Following Pokorny's touchdown catch Augustana returned the kickoff 33 yards to the Vikings' 40-yard line. Augustana methodically moved the ball downfield, getting the ball to the Thunder seven-yard line with 47-seconds left in the game thanks to a fourth-down conversion on a 10-yard pass from Ryan McGinnis to Matt Downing. With four downs to reach the end zone Augustana spiked the ball to stop the clock on first down and two incompletions gave the guests one play remaining to reach the end zone. Thunder linebacker Jesse Laizure stormed through the Vikings' offensive line and sacked McGinnis to give the Thunder the ball and the victory.
Wheaton recorded 306 yards of offense, with 223 passing yards and 83 rushing yards. Augustana tallied 404 yards of offense, with 231 rushing yards and 173 passing yards.
Norris completed 15 of his 22 passing attempts for 223 yards, with one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown. Norris, the Thunder punter also had a strong night with his foot, averaging 37.2 yards per punt on four punts, with each of his punts inside the 20-yard line. Chris Fossum (PICTURED LEFT) caught five passes for 105 yards. Andrew Hershey led the Thunder in rushing, with 50 yards and one touchdown on 14 carries.
Defensive lineman Eric Theisen led the Thunder, with 11 tackles, including eight solos and two tackles for lost yardage (-3 yards). All-American Pete Ittersagen and Shane Woodward (PICTURED RIGHT) each tallied nine tackles, as Ittersagen also forced a fumble. Laizure recorded eight total tackles, including the game-ending sack.
McGinnis completed eight of his 18 passes for 102 yards and he carried the ball 16 times for 40 yards, with one touchdown run. Jake Parke led the Vikings with 78 rushing yards on 18 carries, with one touchdown. Josh Galliart had 10 carries for 55 yards, with one touchdown. Andy Klink led the Vikings' receiving corps with three catches for 72 yards. Preston Jones led the Augustana defense with 12 total tackles, including three quarterback sacks (-22 yards).
