Wheaton, Ill. - The Wheaton Thunder football team, ranked 16th in this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll, closed out the 2022 regular season with a 54-14 victory at home against North Park University. Wheaton is 8-2 on the season and 8-1 in conference play. Wheaton is an at-large candidate for the 2022 NCAA Division III Playoffs that begin next Saturday. Parings for the playoffs will be announced tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 p.m. (CST) at
ncaa.com.
Wheaton recorded 593 yards of total offense on Saturday, with 395 passing yards and 198 rushing yards. Wheaton had 67 plays on the day, averaging 8.9 yards per play. North Park registered 221 yards of offense with 152 passing yards and 69 rushing yards.
Thunder quarterback
Will Bowers (PICTURED LEFT) completed 82.1% of his pass attempts with 23 completions on 28 attempts. Bowers threw for 340 yards, with five touchdown tosses.
Matthew Tucker caught all eight of his targets for 79 yards and three touchdown receptions.
Tyler Gautier caught seven passes for 86 yards and
Ben Bonga had five receptions for 49 yards with one touchdown catch.
Running back
Giovanni Weeks averaged 8.5 yards per carry with 111 yards on 13 attempts and two touchdown runs. Weeks also caught three passes for 60 yards, with one touchdown catch.
Linebacker
Jalen Shaffer (PICTURED RIGHT) made a team-high six total tackles, including four solos, to lead the Thunder defense.
Clayton Reeves and Virgil Cannon each had five total tackles, including five solo stops for Reeves. Cannon led the Thunder defense with 1-1/2 tackles for lost yardage (minus-3 yards).
Wheaton scored two touchdowns in the first quarter, starting with a seven-yard score by
Giovanni Weeks. The second touchdown in the opening quarter was a 20-yard pass from Bowers to
Matthew Tucker. The hosts led 13-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Wheaton recorded four touchdowns in the second quarter as the hosts led 40-0 at halftime. Bowers had a 34-yard touchdown pa ass to Bonga, to go with12 and three-yard touchdown passes to
Matthew Tucker.
Jack Allen scored on a nine-yard touchdown run in the quarter as well.
Weeks had touchdown runs of 47 and 13 yards in the third quarter as the hosts led 54-0 at the conclusion of the third.
North Park quarterback AJ Harris threw a three-yard touchdown pass and a five-yard touchdown pass to Matt Eck in the fourth quarter to account for the 54-14 final score.
