Rock Island, Ill. - The #1-ranked Wheaton football team returned following the bye week with a 26-13 victory over a feisty Augustana team on Saturday afternoon. The victory keeps Wheaton in the driver's seat in the CCIW race with a spotless 6-0 record against conference opponents and 8-0 overall while Augustana falls to 4-4 overall and 3-3 in CCIW play. Wheaton returns home on Saturday, November 7, for its final home game of the regular sason, hosting Elmhurst University for a 1 pm kickoff that serves as Family Weekend and Senior Day.
Wheaton outgained the Vikings on Saturday, tallying 351 yards of total offense split between 208 through the air and 143 on the ground.
Mark Forcucci completed 15-of-25 passes for 208 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Sam McFadden led a balanced receiving effort, catching two passes for 66 yards and a touchdown.
Seth Kortenhoeven caught five balls for 64 yards.
Kenny Jager was Wheaton's leading rusher with 84 yards on 12 carries and one touchdown.
The game got off to a quick start with Augustana taking the opening possession of the game and punching it into the end zone on a two yard pass from Jimmy Makuh to Sean Schlanser. Wheaton appeared to bring the drive to a halt on the previous play when
Eli Reeves picked off Makuh but the interception was negated by a pass interference call. Wheaton answered quickly, driving the length of the field punctuted by a 39-yard pitch and catch from Forcucci to Kortenhoeven.
Malachi Jones capped the drive with a six-yard plunge but a missed extra point kept the score tied at 6-6.
Both teams wore down the middle of the field with the ensuing drives bouncing between 25 yard lines. Augustana's attempt to the take the failed on a missed field goal late in the second quarter and the score remained tied 6-6 going to halftime.
Augustana struck quickly again to start the second half, capitalizing on a 56-yard catch and run by Schlanser to set up a 15-yard touchdown run by Keegan Otte to put the Vikings ahead 13-6. As they did in the first half, Wheaton answered on the ensuing possession when Forcucci found McFadden for a 61-yard touchdown to tie the score at 13-13 with 9:38 to play in the third. After trading punts, the quarterbacks traded interceptions with Forcucci being picked off at midfield only for
Maison Haas to return the favor three plays later with an interception at the 30-yard line.
Wheaton took its first lead of the night early in the fourth quarter, capping off a 13-play, 70-yard drive with a one-yard scoring dive by Forcucci to lead 20-13. After trading punts, the Thunder defense stepped up again on the first play of the drive when
Colin Moore striped the ball from Keegan Otte and
Zeke Harris recovered at the Augustana 26-yard line. Four plays later
Kenny Jager pinballed through the Viking defense and into the end zone for a 13-yard score, pushing the lead to 26-13 and allowing the Thunder defense to ice the game away, stopping a 17-play Augustana drive with a turnover on downs to effectively end the game.
Note Worthy: With the first of his six tackles today,
Zeke Harris became just the 24th player in program history to record 200 career tackles...Harris also moved past
Peter Johanik (2022-25) and Rod Sandberg (1987-90) into 22nd in program history with 205 career tackles...with his 64 yards receiving today,
Seth Kortenhoeven moved past David Lauber (1985-89) into eighth in program history with 2,737 career receiving yards.
