Waukesha, Wis. – The Wheaton football team, ranked 13
th in the most recent D3football.com Top-25 poll, traveled to Wisconsin on Saturday for a road matchup at Carroll. The Thunder cruised to a 52-6 victory against the Pioneers (4-3, 3-3 CCIW). Wheaton improves to 6-1 overall on the season and 5-1 in CCIW play.
The Wheaton offense racked up 431 total yards on Saturday, passing for 276 and gained 155 yards on the ground. Carroll's offense had 183 total yards, with just 81 passing yards and 102 yards on the ground.
Senior quarterback
Ben Thorson (PICTURED LEFT) led the Thunder passing game with 276 yards through the air. He completed 22 of his 28 passing attempts, with six touchdown passes. Thorson's six touchdown passes in a game ties the school single-game record for passing TD's also held by Keith Bishop (vs. Carroll on 10/15/83 & vs. North Park on 10/12/85), Garrett Meador (vs. Albion on 9/10/11), and Luke Anthony (vs. Aurora on 11/20/21).
Caleb Titherington caught five touchdowns among his eight receptions on 116 receiving yards. Titherington's five touchdown catches established a new school single game touchdown reception record, surpassing the previous record of four in one game that had been held by Mark Loeffler (vs. North Park on 11/2/96) and Teddy Watkins (vs. Millikin on 11/12/2011). Titherington's five touchdown catches is the most by a player in a Division III game this season.
Ben Bonga caught six passes for 99 yards with one touchdown catch.
Giovanni Weeks ran the ball 20 times for 123 yards, with one rushing touchdown.
Johnny Eller led the Thunder defense with eight total tackles. Eller had 2-1/2 tackles for loss (-11 yards), including one quarterback sack of nine yards. Virgil Cannon had seven total tackles, and his brother Dimitri made six total tackles.
Isaac Parrish had 1-1/2 sacks (-12 yards) and
Peter Johanik had one sack for (-7 yards), among his 2-1/2 tackles for loss (-9 yards).
Wheaton's first score of the game was a 27-yard touchdown pass from Thorson to Titherington (PICTURED RIGHT) to give Wheaton a 7-0 lead with 13:30 left in the first quarter. Carroll converted a 26-yard field goal later in the opening quarter as the Thunder led 7-3 at the end of the first.
Carroll added a 32-yard field goal early in the second quarter to cut Wheaton's lead to 7-6. The Thunder responded with a 13-yard touchdown run by Weeks and a 21-yard touchdown from Thorson to Titherington that allowed the Thunder to lead the Pioneers 21-6 at halftime.
The Thunder scored four times in the third quarter. Wheaton's first score in the second half was a 25-yard field goal followed by a one-yard touchdown pass from Thorson to Titherington. Thorson added a 45-yard touchdown pass to Bonga and a 23-yard touchdown pass to Titherington as the Thunder led 45-6 at the end of the third quarter.
Wheaton's final score of the game was a 19-yard touchdown pass from Thorson to Titherington early in the fourth quarter to account for the 52-6 final score.
