Wheaton, Ill. - Taking the field for the time in program history as the top-ranked football team in Division III, the Thunder made light work of Carroll University on Saturday afternoon in a 41-3 victory at McCully Stadium. The victory keeps the Thunder record spotless at 7-0 overall and 5-0 in CCIW play while the Pioneers drop to 4-3 overall and 3-2 in conference play. Wheaton will be off next week before returning to action on October 31 with a 1 pm kickoff at Augustana College.
Wheaton rolled up 486 yards of total offense on Saturday remaining balanced with 287 yards through the air and 199 on the ground. Carroll was limited to 205 yards of total offense with 70 yards coming on the ground with an average of just 2.3 yards per carry.
After trading three and outs to open the game, the Thunder running game jump-started the offense wtartigh with a 23 yard run by
Matt Crider that moved the ball down to the Carroll 34-yard line. Three plays later
Mark Forcucci scrambled 19 yards down to the Carroll 10, setting up a 10-yard touchdown strike from Forcucci to tight end
Charlie Duck to put the Thunder ahead 7-0 midway through the first quarter. Carroll answered with a methodical 17-play, 67-yard drive that ate nearly nine minutes of clock and took advantage of a Wheaton penalty that negated a fourth down interception. Matthew Swink's 25-yard field capped the drive, cutting Wheaton's lead to 7-3.
Wheaton's ensuing drive stalled on a fourth down in Carroll territory but the Thunder defense caushed a three-and-out to purce the punt.
Seth Kortenhoeven appeared to extend the Thunder lead when he took the Carroll punt 78 yards for a touchdown, but a penalty nullified the score. Forcucci's legs took center stage again on the next drive for Wheaton, accounting for runs of 11, 15, and 10 yards before the Wheaton gunslinger found Duck in the end zone again for a three-yard score to push the lead to 13-3.
Taking over at their own six-yard line with just 1:02 remaining on the clock, Forcucci appeared to be sacked against the goalline on the first play of the drive but was rescued by a Carroll penalty. Forcucci sandwiched a pair of long completions to Kortenhoven (PICTURED RIGHT) around a nine-yard pass to
Caleb Titherington before finding Seth McFadden for a 26-yard touchdown pass capping a four-play drive that took only 38 seconds off the clock and gave the hosts a 20-3 lead halftime lead.
Wheaton would find the end zone on its first three possessions of the second half when
Matt Crider punched in short touchdown runs of five and two yards on Wheaton's first two possessions and Forcucci capped the scoring with a seven-yard pass to Kortenhoeven to make it 41-3 on the first play of the fourth quarter. The dominant third quarter saw the Thunder outgain Carroll 207-44 with Kortenhoeven catching four passes for 141 yards including a 63-yarder.
Forcucci finished the game 17-of-24 through the air for 284 yards and four touchdowns with his final score accounting for his 80th career touchdown pass. Kortenhoeven was Wheaton's leading receiver with seven catches for 192 yards and a touchdown.
Caleb Titherington caught three passes for 34 yards and
Charlie Duck caught three balls for 14 yards and two touchdowns.
Matt Crider accounted for 91 yards on 12 carries with two touchdowns and Forcucci rolled up 87 yard on 10 carries. Fresh off his historic performance last week against North Central,
Zeke Harris again led the Thunder defense with 10 tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss.
Rex Kroger tallied two of Wheaton's nine tackles for loss including its only sack of the game.
Brett Dieter and
Caleb Coburn each tallied 8 stops apiece.
Note Worthy: With 371 yards of total offense today,
Mark Forcucci becomes just the second player in Wheaton history with over 8,000 yards of total offense, finishing the day with 8,094 total yards, trailing only Keith Bishop's 8,921 yards...
Seth Kortenhoeven bacame just the fourth player in Wheaton history with over 4,000 all-purpose yards after finishing the day with 280 all-purpose yards...with his receiving touchdown today, Kortenhoeven moves past Bart Moseman (1989-92) into a tie for sixth place in program history with 26 career receiving touchdowns, equaling David Lauber (1985-89) and Steve Thonn (1980-83)...with 88 punt return yards today, Kortenhoeven moves past Brad Musso (2001-04) into third in program history with 962 career return yards, trailing only Phillip Nichols (1,235) and
Pete Ittersagen (1,075)...with his 92 yards on the ground today,
Matt Crider jumped into 19th place on Wheaton's all-time rushing list with 1,575 yards, surpassing both Don Brock (1956-59) and Dick Fikejs (1947-50)...Crider's two rushing score moves him into a tie for 14th in career rushing touchdowns with 24, equaling Eugene Campbell (1973-76)...with 10 tackles today,
Zeke Harris moves past Jonathan Toal (2004-07) and Rod Duttweiler (1983-86) into 24th on Wheaton's all-time tackles list with 199 career tackles.
