Chicago, Ill. (10/21) – The Wheaton College football team tallied its highest single-game point total in 47 years with a 73-26 victory at North Park University on Saturday afternoon. Wheaton, ranked 24th in this week's American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division III Coaches Poll, is now 6-1 on the season and 3-1 in conference play. North Park falls to 1-6 on the season and 0-4 on the year. The Thunder will host Elmhurst College next Saturday at 1 PM at McCully Field.
Today's win was the 84th career victory for veteran head coach Mike Swider who has compiled a record of 84-26 in 11 seasons at the helm of the Wheaton football program. Swider is now tied with J.R. Bishop for the second-highest win total in school history. Bishop compiled a record of 84-43-1 in 14 seasons at Wheaton. Harve Chrouser is the winningest coach in Wheaton history with a 104-34-8 record in 17 seasons.
Wheaton led the Vikings 21-7 after one quarter of play with a 13-yard touchdown catch by Noah Dreyer, quarterback Jeremy Chupp ran for a one-yard touchdown scamper and Andrew Hershey reached the end zone on a two-yard touchdown run. Hershey added two more touchdown runs in the second quarter and Jordan Kemper caught a five-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter as the guests held a 42-7 lead at halftime.
North Park opened the third quarter with a touchdown, but Wheaton countered with a 26-yard touchdown scamper from Hershey and a one-yard touchdown toss to Chris Fossum as the Thunder lead was 56-14 after three quarters. In the fourth quarter Wheaton sophomore Tim Ellingsen kicked a 40-yard field goal, Alex Pokorny caught an 18-yard touchdown pass and Matt Prudhomme scored on a one-yard touchdown run, combined with two Viking touchdown catches to account for the 73-26 final score.
Wheaton tallied 602 yards of total offense on 84 plays, averaging 7.2 yards per play. Today's mark of 602 yards is the most by the Thunder since the squad accumulated 630 yards against Hope in 2004. Wheaton passed for 272 yards and ran for 330 yards in today's contest. The 10 extra points converted today by Thunder kicker Tim Ellingsen set a new school record for PAT's in a game, breaking the previous mark of nine made by Chris Baughman against Anderson University (Ind.) in 1998. North Park recorded 333 yards of offense, with 287 passing yards and 46 rushing yards.
Jeremy Chupp completed 12 of his 20 passing attempts for 182 yards with two touchdown tosses. He also ran for 22 yards, with one touchdown run. Zach Ullrich was 6-for-9 passing, with 87 yards and two touchdown tosses. Noah Dreyer caught four passes for 70 yards, with one touchdown catch. In his first career start, Hershey ran for 115 yards on 22 carries with four touchdown runs. Senior fullback Brad Thornton ran for 96 yards on 14 carries.
Linebacker Jesse Laizure recorded seven total tackles, with one forced fumble. Jon Ryan recorded six total tackles, with a tackle for lost yardage. Steve Pagh , David Tokar and Kirk McKenney each made five tackles. Junior Andy Studebaker recorded two tackles for lost yardage (-4 yards), including one quarterback sack, with a fumble recovery and two passes broken-up.
North Park quarterback Shelby Wood was 21-for-40 through the air, with 287 passing yards and two touchdowns. Brandon Watts caught eight passes for 164 yards, with one touchdown catch. Kelvyn West carried the ball 18 times for 59 yards, with one touchdown run. Sophomore cornerback Pete Ittersagen intercepted a pass for the guests.
Joe Culotta recorded 14 tackles for the Vikings' defense. Donte Cummings made 12 tackles, with one tackle for lost yardage. Barrington Price made nine tackles and Breon Moore recovered one fumble.
