PICTURED ABOVE: Eric Stevenson led the Thunder defense with 11 total tackles on Saturday. Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton football team shut out Carroll University (3-5, 2-5 CCIW) on Saturday afternoon with a 58-0 victory against the Pioneers at Carroll University. Wheaton improves to 6-2 overall and 5-2 in CCIW play.

The Thunder offense tallied 505 yards of offense, with 345 passing yards and 160 rushing yards. Wheaton ran 70 plays this afternoon, averaging 7.2 yards per play. The Wheaton defense held the Pioneers to just 111 yards of offense with 50 rushing yards and 61 passing yards for the guests. Carroll averaged 2.2 yards per play on 51 play attempts.

Thunder starting quarterback Curtis McWilliams completed 13 of his 17 passing attempts for 206 yards with four touchdown tosses. Jesse Furrow was 9-of-11 passing with 98 passing yards and two touchdown passes.

Junior wide receiver Phillip Nichols (PICTURED LEFT) caught a game-high five receptions for 77 yards. Carter Roberts had three receptions for 122 yards with two touchdowns. Will Smith ran eight times for 41 yards to lead the Thunder ground game.

Eric Stevenson tallied 11 tackles, including two tackles for loss (-9 yards), with a sack (-8 yards). The linebacker also added a pass break-up and a forced fumble. Jacob Killeen, Tyler Sigler and Ryan Schwartz each had five total tackles. Killeen had 1-1/2 tackles for loss (-9 yards), including a sack of eight yards and Schwartz added a six-yard sack. Daniel Herber, Kyle Fox (PICTURED RIGHT) and Corey Kennedy each recorded interceptions for the hosts.

Carroll quarterback Colton Bahling completed nine of his 23 passing attempts for 56 yards with three interceptions. JJ Keels led the Pioneers' ground game with 18 rushing yards on 19 carries. Colin Shepley led the Carroll defense with 10 total tackles and an interception. Andrew Danculovich registered nine tackles for the guests.

Wheaton led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter on a pair of McWilliams touchdown passes. The senior opened the Thunder scoring with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Adam Terrini with 8:27 left in the opening quarter and McWilliams threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Pace with 3:44 left in the quarter to extend Wheaton's lead to 14-0.

Early in the second quarter, McWilliams connected with Carter Roberts (PICTURED LEFT) on a 31-yard touchdown pass and less than a minute and a half, later McWilliams threw a 79-yard touchdown pass to Roberts. Roberts' second touchdown catch increased Wheaton's lead to 27-0 with 12:29 remaining in the first half. Senior Kyle Fox intercepted a Carroll pass and returned it 28 yards for touchdown to increase Wheaton's lead to 34-0 with 7:01 left in the first half. Nichols scored on a four-yard touchdown runs with 2:23 left in the first half to extend the Thunder lead to 41-0.

Jesse Furrow connected with Luke Van Dyke for an eight-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. Van Dyke's touchdown reception gave Wheaton a 48-0 lead with 12:42 left in the third quarter.

Furrow threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to Michael Bloss with 10:23 left in the fourth quarter as Wheaton increased its lead to 55-0. Thunder placekicker Griffin Bowes converted a 32-yard field goal attempts to cap an 11-play drive of 41 yards as his kick accounted for the 58-0 final score.

Wheaton travels to Carthage next Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff in Kenosha. Saturday's game is the final road game of the 2018 season for the Thunder.