The Thunder football team opens 2006 season with an impressive 29-7 victory against Albion

Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton College football team opened its 2006 season in impressive fashion with a 29-7 victory against Albion College on Saturday night under the lights in front of an overflow crowd at McCully Field. The hosts utilized a stifling defense and a balanced offensive attack to pick up the victory. Albion tallied 222 yards of offense, with just 10 rushing yards. The Thunder offense collected 330 yards, with an impressive balance of 184 rushing yards and 146 passing yards. Wheaton (1-0) will host Washington University next Saturday at 1 PM. Albion falls to 1-1 on the season.

The Wheaton scoring started early when a bad snap on an Albion punt attempt sailed out of the end zone for a Britons' safety to put the Thunder up 2-0 with 14:09 left in the first quarter. Senior tailback Chaz Black scored on a two-yard touchdown run with 3:33 left in the first quarter to give the Thunder a 9-0 lead. Black's touchdown run capped a long 10-play drive of 71 yards. On the next drive of the game Wheaton's Daniel Meeh blocked an Albion punt at the Britons' 19 yard-line and three plays later Black returned to the endzone on a one-yard touchdown run to give Wheaton a 16-0 lead with 45-seconds left in the first quarter.

Sophomore kicker Tim Ellingsen booted his first collegiate field goal, a 33-yarder, with 4:53 remaining in the first half to give the hosts a 19-0 lead. Thunder quarterback Jeremy Chupp scored on a three-yard touchdown run with 1:23 left in the first half to increase Wheaton 's lead to 26-0. Ellingsen increased Wheaton 's lead to 29-0 with a 30-yard field goal with 5:20 remaining in the third quarter. Albion's Peter Shaw caught a 25-yard touchdown pass with 7:55 remaining in the fourth quarter to snap Wheaton 's shutout and account for the final score of 29-7.

Black carried the ball 17 times for 84 yards with the two touchdowns to lead the Thunder rushing attack. Sophomore Walker Smith carried the ball 12 times for 58 yards. Jeremy Chupp completed 11 of his 20 passing attempts for 146 yards. The senior quarterback ran for 32 yards on eight carries with one touchdown. Senior Chris Fossum was Wheaton's leading receiver tonight with four catches for 63 yards.

Sophomore Pete Ittersagen led the Thunder defense with a game-high seven total tackles with two passes broken-up. Defensive back Kirk McKenney and linebacker Jesse Laizure each made six total tackles and Laizure added a quarterback sack. Junior defensive end Andy Studebaker made a game-high two quarterback sacks for -19 yards with one fumble recovery.

Albion quarterback Blake Evans was 12-for-33 for 222 passing yards with one touchdown pass and he was sacked six times. Shaw caught six passes for 133 yards with one touchdown. Kyle Klyn led the Albion rushing attacked with eight carries for 38 yards. Mike Light made nine total tackles and Chase Chandler added eight tackles. Tim Gough and Kevin Winsjansen each made seven stops.

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