BOXSCORE
Rock Island, Ill. – The Wheaton Thunder football team picked up its fifth consecutive win on Saturday afternoon with a 26-14 win at Augustana thanks to an impressive second-half performance. Wheaton, ranked sixth in this week's D3Football.com Top-25 poll, is now 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the CCIW. Augustana is now 3-2 overall and 1-1 in conference play.
Wheaton trailed the Vikings 14-13 at halftime. However, a strong second half performance saw the Thunder out-score the hosts 13-0 after the intermission. The Wheaton defense held Augustana to just 45 yards of total offense in the second half. The Thunder offense racked up 213 yards of offense in the second half, including 149 rushing yards.
Head coach Mike Swider said of his team's effort, “We played well today, especially in the second half. Our offense and offensive line did great job in the second half, we ate up a lot of clock in that half.” The Thunder mentor concluded, “To beat Augustana in Rock Island you have to be a tough football team. Our kids showed some resolve today and played tough, physical football.”
Wheaton accumulated 441 yards of total offense in the game, with 240 passing yards and 201 rushing yards. Wheaton scored its 26 points against an Augustana defense that entered the game ranked first in Division III in scoring defense, as it had held foes to just 6.5 points per game in its previous four contests. Augustana recorded 256 yards of offense, passing for 179 yards and rushing for 77 yards.
Rocky Gingg was a key component of Wheaton's strong second half. The tailback carried the ball 35 times in the game, with 136 rushing yards. The sophomore carried the ball 27 times for 111 yards following halftime. Junior quarterback Sean Norris completed 16 of his 25 passing attempts for 240 yards with one touchdown toss. Norris also ran for 66 yards on nine carries, with one touchdown run. Senior receiver Alex Pokorny caught five passes for 109 yards, with one touchdown reception.
Thunder kicker Tim Ellingsen connected on four field goals in the win as he booted scores of 47-yards, 40-yards and a pair of 21-yard kicks. Ellingsen's 47-yarder was a new career-long for the three-year starter. Swider noted of the veteran, “Tim Ellingsen, did a great job today. His four field goals were a big deal for us.”
Senior safety Shane Woodward (PICTURED RIGHT) made six tackles, with an interception. Tyler Langs and Jordan Schirman each collected five total tackles. Linebacker Mike McKinney and defensive lineman Ben Kuenzle and Nic O'Neal each collected a quarterback sack.
Augustana quarterback Tim Podulka was 19-for-29 passing, for 179 passing yards and he carried the ball nine times for 33 yards, with two touchdowns. Jake Parke caught seven passes for 51 yards. Eric Meyer made 15 tackles for the Vikings' defense. Billy Lynch added nine tackles, with a tackle for lost yardage and an interception.
Augustana took a 7-0 lead with 6:54 left in the first quarter when Podulka scored on a 20-yard touchdown run. Ellingsen's 47-yarder came with 1:59 left in the first quarter to cut the Vikings' lead to 7-3. Norris connected with Pokorny on a 49-yard touchdown toss with 7:59 left in the second quarter to give Wheaton a 10-7 lead. Pokorny's touchdown capped a lengthy eight-play drive of 86 yards. Podulka reached the end zone on a 33-yard touchdown run with 33-seconds left in the first half as Augustana regained the lead with a 14-10 edge. An efficient Wheaton drive of 63 yards in the final 30-seconds of the first half set up a 21-yard field goal by Ellingsen as time expired for a 14-13 Viking lead at halftime.
Wheaton opened the third quarter with an impressive 10-play drive of 73 yards that culminated with a 14-yard run into the end zone by Norris. Norris' score gave Wheaton a 20-14 lead with 10:14 left in the third quarter. The Thunder advantage increased to 23-14 when Ellingsen booted a 21-yard field goal with 12:26 left in the fourth quarter. Ellingsen kicked a 40-yard field goal with 3:50 left in the game to account for the final score of 26-14.
Wheaton will return home next Saturday when the Thunder will host Millikin at 6 PM under the lights at McCully Stadium. Saturday's game will be broadcast on WETN radio and WETN-TV in the Wheaton area with streaming audio and video on the internet at www.wetn.org. Live statistics of next Saturday's game will also be available online.
Photos by Steve Woltmann
