Wheaton, Ill. - The Thunder football team, ranked 13th in Division III according to D3football.com, shut out North Park 55-0 on Saturday afternoon as part of Wheaton's Homecoming Weekend. Wheaton improves to 4-1 overall and 3-1 in CCIW play, while North Park falls to 1-4 on the season with an 0-4 record in conference play.

The Thunder tallied 596 yards of total offense, with 381 passing yards and 215 rushing yards. Wheaton had 78 offensive plays today, averaging 7.6 yards per play. North Park had 162 yards of offense as the Vikings gained 84 yards on the ground with 78 yards through the air.  

Wheaton quarterback Curtis McWilliams (PICTURED LEFT) completed 22 of his 29 passing attempts for 285 yards with five touchdown passes. Jesse Furrow was 5-of-6 through the air, passing for 62 yards with a touchdown pass. Spencer Peterson completed all three of his passing attempts for 34 yards with one touchdown toss. Peterson also caught two touchdown passes and ran for 45 yards on six carries.

Tyler Pace caught five passes for 102 yards with two touchdown catches and Phillip Nichols had seven receptions for 56 yards. Jacob Cretin carried the ball 11 times for 58 yards. Will Smith ran for 44 yards on 10 carries and Stone Watson tallied 44 rushing yards on four attempts.

Ryan Schwartz (PICTURED RIGHT) led the Thunder defense with eight total tackles, including 1-1/2 tackles for loss (-5 yards). Eric Stevenson had six total tackles with an interception. Tyler Sigler and Corey Kennedy each recorded four tackles, with a forced fumble and an interception for Kennedy.

Wheaton led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter behind a pair of touchdown passes by McWilliams. The first TD pass was a 29-yard toss to Pace (VIDEO)and the second was a 24-yard touchdown he connected with Carson Lien on (VIDEO).

McWilliams added two more touchdown passes in the second quarter as Wheaton led 28-0 at halftime. McWilliams' second touchdown pass of the day to Pace was an eight-yard toss to the tight end with 10:30 remaining in the first half (VIDEO). Thunder linebacker Eric Stevenson picked off an NPU pass (VIDEO) on the very first play of the Vikings' drive that followed Pace's touchdown. Three plays later, McWilliams connected with Peterson in the end zone for a four-yard touchdown pass with 9:15 left in the first half (VIDEO).

Wheaton's first drive of the second half concluded with McWilliams throwing a two-yard touchdown pass to Peterson (PICTURED RIGHT) that increased Wheaton's lead to 35-0 with 10:59 remaining in the third quarter (VIDEO). Peterson threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Luke Van Dyke (VIDEO) on Wheaton's next drive to extend the Thunder lead to 42-0 with 5:59 left in the third quarter. Five plays into the ensuing North Park drive, Kennedy (PICTURED RIGHT) picked off the NPU pass and returned the interception 48 yards for a touchdown (VIDEO).

Thunder quarterback Jesse Furrow capped off a nine-play drive of 60 yards with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Michael Bloss as Wheaton secured the 55-0 victory (VIDEO).