PICTURED ABOVE: Senior Jesse Geary scored twice and amassed 143 all-purpose yards in Saturday's win.

Wheaton, Ill. - The Wheaton Thunder football team (1-0) opened the 2014 season on Saturday afternoon with a 36-28 victory against Coe College (0-1). Today's victory marked the 20th consecutive non-conference win at home for the Thunder in the regular season and Wheaton's 13th straight victory in season-opening games.

The Thunder offense racked up 483 total yards on the day, with 338 passing yards and 145 rushing yards. The Thunder offense ran 83 plays in the game, averaging 5.8 yards per play for the afternoon. Coe recorded 410 yards of total offense with 317 yards through the air and 93 yards on the ground.

Wheaton quarterback Reece Butler, a senior, completed 28 of his 41 passing attempts for 321 yards, with two touchdown tosses. Keegan Kemp (PICTURED LEFT) caught seven passes for a career-high 101 yards. Running back Jesse Geary carried the ball 19 times for 78 yards, with two touchdowns and he also caught six passes for 73 yards. Luke Thorson caught five passes for 51 yards, with two touchdown catches

Junior linebacker Adam Dansdill made a team-high nine total tackles for the Thunder defense. Jordan Dornbush (PICTURED LEFT WITH DANSDILL) made six tackles, including a tackle for lost yardage. Josh Aldrin (-10 yards) and Tim Lovett (-5 yards) each had a QB sack for the Thunder.

Coe quarterback Josh Rekers was 31-for-45 passing in the game. He threw for 317 yards, with three touchdown tosses. Running back Sam Lahr ran for 71 yards on 15 carries with a TD run and he caught seven passes for 77 yards with a touchdown catch. Mitchell Berendes led the Kohawks' defense with 15 tackles.

Wheaton dominated the first half today. The Thunder totaled 305 yards of offense in the opening half, with 204 passing yards and 101 rushing yards. Coe was held to just 72 yards of total offense in the first half.  Thunder kicker Sam Cote started Wheaton's scoring with a 38-yard field with 9:41 remaining in the first half to give the Thunder a 3-0 lead. Cote's kick capped a 14-play drive. Senior Luke Thorson caught a leaping eight-yard pass in the end zone from Butler (PICTURED LEFT) to increase Wheaton's lead to 10-0 with 0:35 remaining in the first quarter.

Touchdown runs of 10 yards and two yards by Geary in the second quarter to increase Wheaton's lead to 24-0. Butler connected with Thorson on a 10-yard touchdown pass late in the first half to account for Wheaton's 31-0 lead at halftime.

Coe scored its first points on a four-yard touchdown run by Lahr with 4:33 remaining in the third quarter to cut Wheaton's lead to 31-7. A 23-yard yard touchdown pass from Rekers to Lahr and a 42-yard TD toss from Rekers to Trevor Heitland helped the Kohawks trim the Thunder lead to 31-20. Wheaton's Adam Dansdill blocked the ensuing PAT after Heitland's touchdown with 8:28 left in regulation and Michael Risher scooped up the ball and returned it to the end zone for the Thunder as Wheaton held a 33-20 lead. Cote kicked a 25-yard field goal with 2:34 left in regulation to increase the Thunder lead to 36-20. A four-yard touchdown pass for the Kohawks with 39-seconds remaining in regulation cut the Wheaton lead to 36-28. Wheaton recovered the onside kick that followed the touchdown to secure the win for the hosts.
 
Wheaton will return to action next Saturday with a 1 PM (EDT) kickoff at Kalamazoo College.