BOXSCORE

Bloomington, Ill. – The Thunder football team lost a hard-fought game at Illinois Wesleyan 18-14 on Saturday. With the win, the Titans earned a share of the CCIW Championship, tying at 6-1 with North Central. Wheaton finishes the regular season 8-2 overall and 5-2 in the CCIW, in second place.

Wheaton took a 7-0 lead when starting quarterback Kyle Bradley tossed a 79-yard touchdown pass to Alex Pokorny (PICTURED LEFT) with 11:58 left in the second quarter. Illinois Wesleyan's Joe Duffy booted a 33-yard field goal with 4:19 left in the first half to cut Wheaton's lead to 7-3.

Duffy kicked a 27-yard field goal with 8:29 left in the third quarter to cut the Thunder lead to 7-6. With 59-seconds left in the third quarter Wheaton quarterback Sean Norris threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to senior Noah Dreyer to extend Wheaton's lead to 14-6.

Titan quarterback Kraig Ladd reached the end zone on a one-yard touchdown run with 12:24 left in the game to cut Wheaton's lead to 14-12. Illinois Wesleyan's attempt at a two-point conversion failed. Illinois Wesleyan running back Marcus Dunlop broke through the Thunder defense on a 30-yard touchdown run with 5:43 left in the game to give the hosts their first lead of the game. The Titans' two-point conversion after Dunlop's TD failed as the hosts held an 18-14 lead. On its next drive, Wheaton got the ball to the IWU 49-yard line, however, the drive stalled and the Thunder was forced to punt and the Titans were able to hold on for the victory.

Wheaton amassed 316 yards of offense, passing for 256 yards, with 60 rushing yards. The Titans recorded 386 yards of offense, passing for 238 yards, with 148 rushing yards.

Kyle Bradley completed 10 of his 13 passing attempts for 151 yards with one touchdown before he left the game in the third quarter with an injury. Norris completed eight of his 20 passing attempts for 105 yards, with one touchdown. Pokorny caught five passes for 151 yards with one touchdown.

Linebacker Jesse Laizure (PICTURED RIGHT) led the Thunder defense with 10 total tackles, an interception, 2-1/2 tackles for lost yardage (-21 yards), including a quarterback sack. Cornerback Pete Ittersagen (LEFT) recorded 10 solo tackles. Steve Pagh tallied three tackles for lost yardage (-3 yards) among his seven total tackles.

Quarterback Kraig Ladd led the Illinois Wesleyan offense with 238 Passing yards. Dunlop carried the ball 26 times for 138 yards, with one touchdown run. Nick Nikolich recorded a team-high 15 tackles, with a forced fumbles. Bo Osburn tallied 10 total tackles and Charlie Welke added nine tackles.