Holland, Mich. (9/23) – The Wheaton Thunder football team used an early lead and solid play at critical times in a 35-21 win under damp and overcast conditions at Hope College on Saturday afternoon. The win against the Flying Dutchmen was the 14 th consecutive regular season, non-conference victory for Wheaton. Wheaton, ranked 21st in this week's D3Football.com Top 25, improves to 3-0 on the season. The Thunder will open CCIW play next Saturday in a 1 PM kickoff at Millikin University. Hope falls to 0-3 on the year.
Senior tailback Chaz Black carried the ball for 126 yards with one touchdown. Wheaton used two quarterbacks throughout today's game, as senior Jeremy Chupp completed seven of his 12 passing attempts for 155 yards with two touchdown passes. Junior Zach Ullrich was 9-for-15 for 156 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Senior Chris Fossum caught eight passes for 156 yards with two touchdowns. Joe Chupp recorded four receptions for 86 yards with one touchdown and Noah Dreyer caught two passes for 72 yards with one touchdown.
Senior linebacker Jonathan Toal led the Wheaton defense with seven tackles. Cornerback Pete Ittersagen made six total tackles. Senior cornerback Tim March had one interception with three total passes broken up. Junior defensive end Andy Studebaker recorded two quarterback sacks for -5 yards.
Jake Manning completed 22 of his 58 passing attempts for 346 yards with one touchdown. Doug VanEerden caught seven passes for 161 yards with one touchdown. David Booko carried the ball for 20 yards with one touchdown on 11 carries. Zach Huizing led the Hope defense with 15 tackles. Josh Thorington added 10 tackles with a fumble recovery.
Ullrich threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Fossum with 4:08 left in the first quarter to cap a lengthy 13-play drive of 77 yards to give Wheaton a 7-0 lead. Wheaton opened the second quarter with a 65-yard touchown pass from Ullrich to Dreyer as the Wheaton lead increased to 14-0 with 14:50 remaining in the second quarter. Wheaton capitalized on its final drive of the first half as Jeremy Chupp threw a nine-yard touchown pass to Fossum with 43-seconds left in the second quarter to cap a six-play drive of 75 yards. The touchdown was setup by a 48-yard pass to Fossum four plays earlier as the tandem of Jeremy Chupp and Fossum combined to tally 71 of Wheaton 's 75 yards on the drive. The Fossum touchdown reception allowed the Thunder to hold a 21-0 lead at halftime.
Black broke through several Hope tacklers for a sparkling 80-yard touchdown run with 12:14 left in the third quarter to increase the guests lead to 28-0. Hope reached the scoreboard thanks to an eight-yard touchdown by Booko with 10:35 remaining in the third quarter for a 28-7 Wheaton lead. Wheaton opened a drive with 7:31 remaining in the third quarter. The only play Wheaton would need in the drive was a 57-yard touchdown toss from Jeremy Chupp to his twin brother Joe to increase the Thunder lead to 35-7. Hope closed the Thunder advantage to 35-14 with 8:47 remaining in the game when Manning tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass to VanEerden. Hope's Steve Mostrom scored on a four-yard touchdown run with 6:20 remaining in the fourth quarter to cut the Wheaton lead to 35-21. Wheaton cornerback Tim March ended a Hope attempt to cut the Thunder advantage even more when he intercepted a Flying Dutchman pass with 3:09 left in the game to give the Thunder the ball at the Hope 15-yard line.
