Wheaton, Ill. - The Wheaton Thunder football team defeated Central College (Iowa) 49-13 on Saturday at McCully Stadium. Wheaton improves to 12-0 for only the second time in school history and advances to the Quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III Playoffs for the fourth time in program history. The Thunder will face St. John's (Minn) next Saturday in a Quarterfinal Round game of the Division III Playoffs. Central concludes the season with a 10-2 record.

Wheaton scored five times in the first quarter to jump out to an early 35-0 lead. Wheaton tallied 474 yards of total offense in the game, with 265 passing yards and 209 rushing yards. Central tallied 253 yards of offense as the Dutch passed for 200 yards and ran 53 yards.

Quarterback Luke Anthony (PICTURED LEFT) completed 12 of his 18 passing attempts. He threw for 265 yards with five touchdown passes. Phillip Nichols caught three passes for 88 yards, with two touchdown receptions. Bert McJunkin had three receptions for 54 yards with one touchdown catch. Stone Watson carried the ball 10 times for 100 yards with one touchdown run. Will Smith ran the ball 10 times for 45 yards.. T.J. Williams ran for 42 yards on nine carries with one touchdown run. 

Wyatt Lee led the Thunder defense with eight total tackles, including three tackles for loss (-11 yards), with 1.5 sacks (-8 yards). Jake Holaday registered six solo tackles, including two sacks (-13 yards). Caden Sigler registered six total tackles. Ryan Schwartz recorded two interceptions and made four solo tackles. Patrick O'Connell made four solo tackles, including an eight-yard quarterback sack, and he forced a fumble. River Shindledecker (PICTURED LEFT) recorded four total tackles, including one half tackle for loss of -3 yards. 

Wheaton received the opening kickoff of the game. Five plays into the first drive of the game, Watson (PICTURED LEFT) broke free for a 57-yard touchdown run (VIDEO) to give Wheaton a 7-0 lead with 12:38 remaining in the first quarter. The Dutch were three-and-out in their opening drive. Central's punt attempt was stymied by Wheaton, as the Thunder started their next drive at the Central 27-yard line due to the key special teams play. Five plays later Williams reached the end zone on a one-yard touchdown run to increase the hosts' lead to 14-0 with 9:03 remaining in the first quarter (VIDEO).

Wheaton blocked a Central field goal attempt (VIDEO) on the next drive for the Dutch as Wheaton started its next drive on the Wheaton 23-yard line. Five plays later, Anthony connected with Nichols for a 55-yard touchdown pass (VIDEO) as Wheaton increased its lead to 21-0 with 5:36 left in the first quarter. Central's first play of the ensuing drive was intercepted by Schwartz (VIDEO) as Wheaton started its next drive at the Dutch 34-yard line. Anthony connected with Bert McJunkin for a 34-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the drive (VIDEO) to increase the Thunder lead to 28-0 with 5:12 remaining in the opening quarter. O'Connell's strip sack late in the first quarter was recovered by Dallas McRae at the Central 18-yard line to give Wheaton terrific field position on the next drive for the hosts. Anthony linked up with Nichols on a 19-yard touchdown pass on the third play of the drive (VIDEO) to extend Wheaton's lead to 35-0 with 3:10 remaining in the first quarter.

Central reached the end zone thanks to a four-yard touchdown pass from Blaine Hawkins to Ross Norem. Norem's touchdown catch with 9:31 remaining in the second quarter cut Wheaton's lead to 35-17. Anthony threw a 69-yard touchdown pass to Matthew Tucker with 3:34 left in the first half (VIDEO) to increase the Wheaton lead to 42-7. The Thunder maintained the 42-7 lead at the halftime intermission.

Watson caught a six-yard touchdown pass from Anthony with 4:54 remaining in the third quarter to increase Wheaton's lead to 49-7 (VIDEO). Hawkins threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Robinson with 36-seconds left in the fourth quarter for a Central touchdown to account for the 49-13 final score.

PLEASE NOTE: This story will be updated throughout the evening.