GAME STATS PICTURED ABOVE: Freshman wide receiver Mark Hiben caught a pair of touchdown passes, with 161 receiving yards in the game.
BOXSCORE
Kenosha, Wis. – The Thunder football team, ranked 16th in this week's D3football.com Top-25 poll, earned its third straight victory on Saturday night with a 31-7 victory at Carthage College. Wheaton is now 6-1 overall and 3-1 in CCIW play. Carthage is 4-3 on the year and 1-3 in conference action.
Wheaton recorded 393 yards of offense, with 337 passing yards and 56 rushing yards. Carthage tallied 146 yards in the game, with 57 passing yards and 89 rushing yards.
Thunder quarterback
Garrett Meador (PICTURED LEFT) completed 22 of his 31 passing attempts for 330 yards, with three touchdown tosses. Freshman
Mark Hiben caught eight passes, including two touchdown receptions, totaling 161 receiving yards in the game. Senior
Teddy Watkins caught six passes for 105 yards, with one touchdown catch. The Thunder captain also returned a pair of punts for 63 yards. Sophomore
Justin Swider led the Thunder rushing attack with 39 yards on 10 carries.
Senior safety
Brian McMullen (PICTURED RIGHT) recorded nine tackles on the night for the Thunder.
Jordan Chapman added four tackles. #JD East recorded a QB sack and recovered a fumble and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown.
Jordan Higgins and
Robert Ramsay each recorded a sack for the Thunder defense.
Brad Fortney led the Carthage defense with 12 total tackles on the night. Red Men quarterback TJ Trepanier threw for 18 yards, on six passes and he ran for a team-high 36 yards, with one touchdown run.
Wheaton kicker
Scott Roche converted a 23-yard field goal on the first Thunder drive of the game to give the guests a 3-0 lead with 11:36 remaining in the first quarter. Roche's kick was setup by a 62-yard return on the opening kickoff by Watkins. The Thunder increased its lead to 10-0 with 5:30 left in the opening quarter when Meador connected with Hiben on a 25-yard touchdown pass.
Carthage reached the scoreboard with just 30-seconds left in the first half when TJ Trepanier scored on a two-yard touchdown run that capped an 11-play drive of 67 yards to cut Wheaton's lead to 10-7. Wheaton returned the ensuing kickoff 51 yards to the Carthage 42-yard line and two players later that set up a 39-yard touchdown pass to Watkins (PICTURED LEFT) that afforded the Thunder a 17-7 lead at halftime.
With 7:59 remaining in the third quarter, Wheaton senior defensive end
JD East scooped up a Red Men fumble and returned to 45-yards for the Thunder touchdown that extended Wheaton's lead to 24-7. The guests increased their lead to 31-7 with 2:40 left in the third quarter when Meador tossed a 47-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Hiben, for the second TD of the night for the freshman. Neither team scored in the final quarter of the game.
