Wheaton, Ill. (11/11) – The Wheaton Thunder football team clinched its fourth CCIW Championship in the last five seasons and its fifth title in the last seven years with a 49-14 win at home against Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon. With the win Wheaton finishes the regular season 9-1 overall and 6-1 in the CCIW. Head coach Mike Swider said of winning the CCIW crown, “It is great to be conference champs. I believe that we will be in the playoffs and hopefully we will get a home game.”
The Thunder finishes the conference schedule tied with Augustana and North Central for the CCIW Championship as each team has a 6-1 record. North Central has earned the CCIW's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Playoffs; however, Wheaton is a strong candidate for an at-large bid to the playoffs. The NCAA will announce playoff matchups on Sunday between 1-1:30 PM (CST) on ESPNEWS. If Wheaton has been selected, information will be posted on the Wheaton Athletics Website as soon as possible.
Wheaton dominated the Titans on both sides of the football today, as the Thunder racked up 574 yards of offense, with 366 passing yards and 208 rushing yards. Wheaton averaged 8.2 yards per play for the game. The Thunder defense held Illinois Wesleyan to just 180 yards of offense, with 111 passing yards and 69 rushing yards.
Thunder quarterback Jeremy Chupp completed 16 of his 24 passing attempts, for 293 yards, with three touchdown tosses. Zach Ullrich was 7-for-7, with 73 passing yards and one touchdown toss. Receiver Joe Chupp caught three touchdown passes from his twin brother Jeremy, with five receptions on the game for 144 yards. Noah Dreyer caught a game-high seven passes for 84 yards. Senior tailback Chaz Black ran for 154 yards on 23 carries, with one touchdown.
Junior defensive end Andy Studebaker recorded seven total tackles. He also recorded four tackles four lost yardage (-17 yards), including two quarterback sacks for (-12 yards) and three quarterback hurries. Linebacker Steve Pagh tallied six tackles and Tim March added five tackles, with a forced fumble. Pete Ittersagen and Jonathan Toal each added five total tackles.
Illinois Wesleyan quarterback Brandon Cotter completed seven of his 18 passing attempts, for 104 yards with one touchdown. Running back Marcus Dunlop carried the ball 13 times for 47 yards. Jordan Musselman was the Titans' leading receiver with three catches for 60 yards, including one touchdown. Bo Osburn led the Titans' defense with 11 tackles and Mike Mastro added eight tackles.
Wheaton took a 7-0 lead with 9:29 left in the first quarter when Black scored on a two-yard touchdown run to cap a 14-play drive of 91 yards. The Thunder lead increased to 14-0 with 7:57 left in the second quarter when Andrew Hershey reached the end zone on a two-yard scamper. Jeremy and Joe Chupp connected on a 73-yard touchdown pass with 3:10 remaining in the first half to give Wheaton a 21-0 lead that it would hold at halftime.
The Titans cut the Thunder lead to 21-7 when Musselman caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Cotter with 12:47 remaining in the game. Jeremy Chupp three two more touchdown passes to his brother Joe in the third quarter to give Wheaton a 35-7 lead.
Cotter scored on a one-yard touchdown run for the Titans with 10:58 left in the fourth quarter for a 35-14 Wheaton lead. Wheaton fullback Brad Thornton caught an eight-yard touchdown pass from Ullrich with 9:20 left in the game to increase the Wheaton lead to 42-14. Wheaton linebacker Mike McKinney intercepted an Illinois Wesleyan pass and zigzagged his way through the Titans' defense for a 28-yard return for a touchdown with 8:40 left in the game to account for the 49-14 final score.
