Wheaton, Ill. - A 41-year old record fell by the wayside on Saturday afternoon at McCully Stadium as the second-ranked Thunder football team stayed undefeated on the young season with an 82-10 rout of Millikin University. Wheaton posted the third-highest single-game point total in program history, but quarterback
Mark Forcucci headlined the offensive onslaught with five touchdown passes on the afternoon. With his second touchdown of the game, a 14-yard toss to
Seth Kortenhoeven, Forcucci moved past Thunder legend Keith Bishop to set a new program record with his 71st career touchdown pass, breaking a record that had stood since 1985.
Wheaton's CCIW-opening victory moved the hosts to 3-0 on the season and 1-0 in conference action while dropping Millikin to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in CCIW action. Wheaton will hit the road again next Saturday for a 1 pm kickoff in Bloomington against Illinois Wesleyan before the Thunder return to McCully Stadium for a Homecoming matchup against North Park on October 3.
In a lopsided statistical battle, Wheaton out-gained the Big Blue with 562 yards of total offense while giving up just 177 yards.
Matt Crider led a balanced rushing attack with 13 carries for 86 yards and a touchdown and
Owen Yorke rushed for 70 yards and a score. Forcucci's five-touchdowns highlighed a 250-yard performance that saw 23 of 32 passes completed. Kortenhoeven caught four passes for 84 yards and three touchdowns with
Sam McFadden hauling in six passes passes for 75 yards.
Luke Heggie led the Thunder defense with 12 tackles including a sack.
Zeke Harris tallied 11 tackles with one tackle for loss.
Eli Reeves stuffed the stat sheet with five tackles including a sack and an interception.
Sandwiched between a pair of turnovers, the Thunder offense cashed in their second possession of the game when Forcucci found Kortenhoeven for a 28-yard touchdown pass for the game's first score and the only score of the opening stanza. Following an
Eli Reeves interception late in the first quarter,
Matt Crider's 35-yard run set Forcucci up for his record-breaking 14-yard touchdown pass to Kortenhoeven to make 14-0 with 13:48 left in the first half.
Wheaton's offense turned up the efficiency following a Millikin field goal, capping an 11-play drive with a four-yard touchdown run by
Malachi Jones (PICTURED RIGHT).
Rex Kroger's third down sack on the ensuing possession put the brakes on a promising Millikin drive and the offense quickly moved down the field and pushed the lead to 27-3 with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Forcucci to
Caleb Titherington.
Kenny Jager forced a Millikin fumble on the ensuing kickoff that was recovered by
Max Loomis with only 1:03 remaining in the half. Forcucci quickly found Kortenhoeven for a 16-yard touchdown on the first play of the drive to put the hosts up 34-3 at the halftime break.
After the Thunder defense forced a three-and-out on the opening possession of the second half,
Colin Moore broke off a 67-yard punt return before being forced out of bounds at the Millikin eight-yard line. Two plays later, Crider broke through the middle for a one-yard touchdown plunge. Kortenhoeven capped his day on the next Thunder drive with an 18-yard touchdown pass to
Max Loomis to make it 47-3.
Jeremy Johanik's blocked punt set up another short field for the Thunder offense before
Luca Carbonaro punched in a seven-yard quarterback keeper. Early in the fourth quarter, Carbonaro found
Luke Crawford for a 20-yard touchdown pass, making the score 61-3. Johanik stepped up again for the Thunder defense on the ensuing drive, forcing a fumble that was recovered at the Millikin 33 by
Brady McClatchy before
Malachi Jones scored his second rushing touchdown from one-yard out.
Owen Yorke's 33-yard punt return set up a one-yard touchdown run by Jager before the Big Blue found the end zone for their only touchdown of the day. Yorke punctuated the action on the first play of the next drive with a 70-yard touchdown run to account for the 82-10 final score.
NOTE WORTHY: Wheaton's 82 points scored is the second-highest scoring total in a Division III game this season and is the sixth-highest point total in a game this season across all NCAA divisions, trailing only Houston Christian (88), South Carolina State and James Madison (87), and Oregon and Baldwin Wallace (84)...today's 82 points is the third-highest single-game point total in program history behind the school-record 90 points scored against Elmhurst in 1958 and 83 points against Elmhurst in a victory in 1959...today is Wheaton's highest single game point total since a 79-point performance against Elmhurst in 2018...Forcucci currently sits in the third place in program history in passing yards (6,807), trailing only Bishop (9,413) and Jeff Brown (7,090)...Forcucci is fourth in career completions with 481, trailing only Bishop (757), Jordan Roberts (515), and Brown (495)...Kortenhoeven's three touchdown catches moves him into a tie with Bart Moseman (1989-92) for eighth in career history with 25 career touchdown receptions, moving past Jim Jorden (1982-85) and Phillip Nichols (2016-19) on the all-time list...Kortenhoeven's four catches moved him past Wes Mooring (1993-96) and Jeremy Amos (1997-200) into ninth on the career receptions list with 152 catches...Kortenhoeven is also ninth on the career yardage list with 2,291 career receiving yards.
