BOXSCORE
Wheaton, Ill. - The Wheaton football team closed out the home portion of its regular season schedule on Saturday with a convincing 44-10 victory against Illinois Wesleyan at McCully Stadium. Wheaton is now 7-2 overall and 4-2 in CCIW play, while the Titans fall to 5-4 overall and 2-4 in league action. Wheaton will end the regular season next Saturday with a 1 PM kickoff at Carthage College.
Wheaton took an early 7-0 lead with 10:27 left to play in the first quarter when Thunder tailback Rocky Gingg scored on a one-yard touchdown run to cap the opening drive of the game. Gingg ran for 32 of Wheaton's 55 yards in the nine-play drive. Illinois Wesleyan cut the Thunder lead to 7-3 on a 37-yard field goal by Joe Duffy, with 9:37 left in the opening quarter.
Quarterback Sean Norris connected with senior wide receiver Alex Pokorny on a pair of second quarter touchdown tosses to give Wheaton a 20-3 lead at halftime. Pokorny's first trip to the end zone was on a 39-yard pass with 2:58 left in the first half and he scored the second time on a 34-yard catch with 1:38 left in the opening half.
Gingg (PICTURED RIGHT) tallied his second touchdown of the game on a two-yard run with 8:45 left in the third quarter to extend the hosts' advantage to 27-3. Norris connected with Pokorny again on a 41-yard touchdown toss over the middle to increase the Wheaton lead to 34-3 with 14:53 left in the fourth quarter. Thunder kicker Tim Ellingsen booted a 28-yard field goal with 11:42 remaining in the game to extend the hosts' lead to 37-3. Illinois Wesleyan's only touchdown of the game came with 5:54 left in the contest when Chris Messina caught a deflected pass on his back in the end zone for a 37-10 Wheaton lead. Wheaton quarterback Kyle Bradley tossed a 15-yard touchdown toss to fellow senior Dan Svendsen with 2:14 remaining in the game to account for the 44-10 final score.
Wheaton amassed 448 yards of offense, with 264 passing yards and 184 yards on the ground. The Titans tallied 235 yards of offense, with 133 passing yards and 102 rushing yards.
Norris completed 12 of his 22 passing attempts for 249 yards, with three touchdown tosses for the Thunder. Pokorny caught six passes for 141 yards; with three trips into the end zone and Freddy Ellis caught three passes for 63 yards. Gingg ran for 123 yards, on 30 carries, with two touchdown runs.
Jordan Schirman, (PICTURED LEFT) Tyler Langs, Ben Kuenzle, Nick Theobald# and Mike McKinney each collected a team-high five total tackles to lead the Wheaton defense. McKinney and fellow linebacker Jon Ryan# each tallied 1-1/2 tackles for lost yardage, including a quarterback sack by Ryan. Senior defensive backs Pete Ittersagen and Shane Woodward each collected an interception on the day, with two pass break-ups.
Titan quarterback Kraig Ladd was 6-for-14 passing, with 79 yards and teammate Brien Rooney was 7-for-16, with 54 passing yards and a touchdown. Rooney led the Titans with 84 rushing yards on 10 carries. Martin Ceisel caught five passes for 51 yards. Linebacker Dan Souder led the Titans' defense with a game-high 16 total tackles.
