BOXSCORE
Wheaton, Ill. - The Thunder football team, ranked sixth in this week's American Football Coaches Association Division III Top 25, defeated Hope College 42-7 on Saturday night at McCully Stadium. The Thunder scored 35-unanswered points to break a 7-7 tie late in the second quarter.
Tonight's win was Wheaton's 17th consecutive non-conference win in the regular season. Wheaton improves to 3-0 overall, while Hope falls to 0-3. Wheaton is now 16-7 all-time against Hope, with the Thunder winning the last seven meetings between the two teams. The Thunder will host Millikin next Saturday at 1 PM as a part of Wheaton's Homecoming activities.
Wheaton's first touchdown of the game was setup by a 33-yard punt return by All-American Pete Ittersagen to the Hope 37-yard line. Six plays later senior quarterback Kyle Bradley (PICTURED ABOVE) threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to tight end Kirk Sundberg for a 7-0 Wheaton lead with 3:33 left in the first quarter.
Hope tied the game at 7-7 when Jake Manning threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Doug VanEerden with 12:53 to play in the second quarter. Wheaton put together a lengthy scoring drive of 15 plays and 87 yards that culminated with a five-yard touchdown pass from Sean Norris to senior captain Chris Fossum with 5:01 left in the first half. Ittersagen intercepted a Hope pass at the Flying Dutchmen 39-yard line with 3:40 remaining in the first half. Three plays later freshman Rocky Gingg (PICTURED RIGHT) reached the end zone on a one-yard touchdown run to give Wheaton a 21-7 lead with 2:29 left in the first half. Gingg's trip into the end zone was preceded by 15-yard and eight-yard runs by the freshman.
Wheaton scored on its first drive of the second half, when junior tailback Andrew Hershey capped an eight-play drive of 66 yards with an eight-yard scamper into the end zone. Hershey's run increased the Wheaton lead to 28-7. Wheaton's lead increased to 35-7 with 1:49 left in the third quarter when Bradley connected with Fossum on a 57-yard touchdown reception. Gingg capped Wheaton's scoring when he pounded his way into the end zone on a five-yard touchdown run with 11:08 remaining in the game to give Wheaton a 42-7 lead that would become the final score.
Wheaton utilized a balanced attack to tally 443 yards of offense. The Thunder gained 231 yards through the air and ran for 212 yards on the ground. The Thunder defense held Hope to 165 yards of total offense in the game, including just two yards of total offense in the second half. Hope passed for 164 yards, with one rushing yard in the game.
Both Norris and Kyle Bradley saw significant time at quarterback for the Thunder. Bradley completed six of his nine passes for 102 yards, with two touchdown tosses and he ran for 50 yards on three carries. Norris completed 10 of his 15 passing attempts for 129 yards, with one touchdown. Senior Noah Dreyer caught a team-high five passes for 57 yards. Fossum tallied a team-best 73 receiving yards on three catches, including two touchdowns. Hershey carried the ball 13 times for 66 yards, with one touchdown. Gingg performed well in an increased role with 65 yards on 10 carries and two touchdown runs.
Tyler Langs (LEFT) and Jonathan Toal led the Thunder defense with six total tackles apiece. All-American Andy Studebaker recorded three quarterback sacks for -18 yards. Defensive tackle Eric Theisen tallied 2-1/2 tackles for lost yardage of -9 yards, including a quarterback sack of eight yards. Defensive end Ben Kuenzle also had two sacks as Wheaton amassed seven sacks and 10 tackles for lost yardage of -42 yards. Ittersagen had three passes broken-up, with an interception and Jon Ryan also recorded an interception.
Manning, the Hope quarterback, completed 15 of his 25 passing attempts for 164 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions. VanEerden caught seven passes for 92 yards, with Hope's lone touchdown. Chris Batterbee led the Flying Dutchmen defense with 13 total tackles. Drew Weigt made 11 total tackles, with two tackles for lost yardage. Troy Blasius added seven tackles, with an interception.
