Rock Island, Ill. (10/14) – The Thunder football team took its first loss of the season on Saturday in a 17-14 defeat at Augustana College. Today's defeat was Wheaton's first loss in Rock Island since 1998. Augustana improves to 4-2 overall and 3-0 in conference play. Wheaton falls to 5-1 on the season and 2-1 in conference play. The Thunder will return to action next Saturday in a 1 PM kickoff at North Park.
In its first drive of the game Wheaton took the ball at its own 45-yard line and marched to the Viking six-yard line in four plays, however, a Thunder fumble was recovered by Augustana to stall the Wheaton drive. Augustana intercepted a Thunder pass on Wheaton's very next drive. Nine plays after the interception the Vikings reached the end zone on a 14-yard touchdown run for Ryan McGinnis to give the hosts a 7-0 lead with 2:51 remaining in the first quarter. After a three-and-out for the Thunder on the next drive, Augustana scored on the first play of its next drive when fullback Mike Guzman broke through the Wheaton defense for a 76-yard touchdown run to increase the Viking lead to 14-0 with 46-seconds left in the first quarter. It remained a 14-0 Augustana advantage for the remainder of the first half.
The Vikings booted a 32-yard field goal with 1:35 left in the third quarter to increase the Augustana lead to 17-0. Wheaton mounted a furious rally that began with 9:57 left in the fourth quarter when Jeremy Chupp threw a six-yard touchdown pass to fullback Brad Thornton to cut the Vikings' lead to 17-7. Two key plays in the drive were quarterback scrambles of 23 and 27 yards by Chupp. The Thunder defense stalled the Vikings on the next drive to give the ball back to the Wheaton offense. On the fifth play of the drive Thunder tailback Chaz Black scored on a three-yard touchdown run to cut the Augustana lead to 17-14 with 4:26 left in the game. The key play in that drive was a 46-yard pass from Zach Ullrich to Chris Fossum that setup Black's touchdown two plays later. On Augustana's next drive Wheaton kept the Vikings from converting on third-down-and five to force a fourth-and-one at the Vikings' 22-yardline. Augustana converted on the fourth down and recorded one more first down in the drive as they were able to run out the clock and keep the Thunder offense from returning to the field.
Wheaton tallied 278 yards of offense, with 134 rushing yards and 144 passing yards. Augustana recorded 276 yards of total offense and they all came on the ground.
Black carried the ball 22 times for 66 yards, with one touchdown. Jeremy Chupp completed six of his 10 passing attempts, for 62 yards with one touchdown. He also ran for 51 yards on three carries. Ullrich completed four of his 14 passing attempts, for 82 yards and 15 rushing yards. Joe Chupp caught three passes and Thornton caught three passes for 31 yards, with one touchdown. Fossum made two receptions for 54 yards.
Linebacker Mike McKinney led the Thunder defense with 11 total tackles and three tackles for lost yardage (-8 yards). Steve Pagh made nine tackles, with a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Kirk McKenney and Shane Woodward each added nine tackles.
Guzman led the Viking offense with 122 yards on 14 carries, with the 76-yard touchdown run. McGinnis ran for 91 yards on his 23 rushing attempts, with one touchdown run. Josh Galliart ran for 49 yards on 12 rushing attempts.
Mark Cunningham led the Augustana defense with eight total tackles and two quarterback hurries. Joe Youngbauer and Kyle Simpson each recorded six tackles with one tackle for loss (-3 yards).
