Wheaton, Ill. – The Thunder football team clinched a share of the CCIW Championship on Saturday with a 13-7 victory against Illinois Wesleyan at McCully Stadium. Wheaton is now 9-0 overall and 6-0 in CCIW play. This year's share of the CCIW Championship marks Wheaton's 17th CCIW Title in football and sixth since 2000.
As the only undefeated team in CCIW play Wheaton secured a share of its second CCIW Championship in three years. The Thunder will close out the regular season next Saturday at Carthage. A victory against the Red Men next week would give Wheaton its first undefeated regular season and outright CCIW Championship since 2003. Wheaton is currently ranked 10th in this week's AFCA Division III Coaches Poll and 12th in the D3football.com Top-25.
The Wheaton offense tallied at least 400 yards of total offense for the third consecutive game on Saturday. Wheaton totaled 400 yards overall, with 242 passing yards and 158 rushing yards. Illinois Wesleyan had 349 yards of offense with 182 yards through the air and 167 yards on the ground.
Wheaton quarterback Johnny Peltz was 22-for-34 passing on the day with 228 yards and one touchdown toss. He also led the Thunder rushing attack with 69 yards on the ground and one touchdown run on 18 carries. Jesse Geary ran the ball 10 times for 42 yards and Luke Thorson (PICTURED RIGHT) caught 10 passes for 85 yards.
Illinois Wesleyan quarterback Jack Warner completed 13 of his 30 passing attempts for 182 yards with one touchdown pass. Austin Harrell carried the ball 13 times for 115 yards and Artie Checchin caught seven passes for 115 yards. Kevin Slawkowski led the Titans' defense with 14 total tackles and Sean Garvey made 13 stops for the guests.
Sophomore defensive lineman Josh Aldrin led the Thunder with nine total tackles and he forced a fumble. Logan McRae made seven total tackles, including six solo stops. The sophomore recorded three quarterback sacks (-16 yards), forced a fumble, collected two QB hurried and batted down a pass attempt. Michael Risher and Adam Dansdill each recorded seven tackles. Caleb Ashby, Jared Todd and Mikey Swider each collected six tackles. Ashby had a tackle for lost yardage (-1 yards) and Todd had three QB hurried and broke up two passes.
Illinois Wesleyan took the opening kickoff and began the game with a 14-play drive, but the Thunder defense stopped the Titans' charge at the Thunder 24-yard line on a sack of Warner by Logan McRae. Wheaton marched the ball to the IWU one-yard line on its opening drive, but fumbled the ball on fourth-and-goal as the Titans regained the ball and kept the contest tied at 0-0 late in the first quarter.
Wheaton started its second drive at its own 41-yard line. The Thunder marched the ball downfield aided by a 15-yard pass from Peltz to Zach Lindquist that got the Wheaton offense to the IWU 20-yard line. Two plays after that reception Peltz connected with Andrew Lindquist for a 14-yard touchdown pass to give Wheaton a 7-0 lead with 14:07 remaining in the first half. Wheaton capitalized on excellent field position in a drive that started with 3:58 remaining in the first half as the Thunder started the drive at its own 46-yard line. A 23-yard by Peltz to Keegan Kemp put Wheaton inside the Titans' 10-yard line and the hosts took advantage on the next play as Peltz reached the end zone on a seven-yard touchdown run. The ensuing PAT failed as Wheaton led the Titans 13-0 with 48-seconds remaining in the first half. IWU managed to get the ball to the Wheaton 10-yard line on the next drive, however, a 28-yard field goal attempt by the Titans at the end of the half failed and Wheaton led 13-0 at halftime.
The Wheaton defense continued to shine in the third quarter as Wheaton forced a three-and-out on the Titans' opening drive of the second half and on the guests' next drive McRae forced a fumble that was recovered by Wheaton. Illinois Wesleyan did reach the end zone with 10:44 remaining in the fourth quarter as Andrew Javorka caught a three-yard touchdown pass from Warner. Javorka's TD cut Wheaton's lead to 13-7. A field goal attempt for Wheaton with 1:01 remaining in the game missed left of the goal post to give the Titans one last offensive drive. The Thunder defense forced a fourth-and-nine that the Titans converted, however, IWU had three consecutive incompletions to close out the game as the Thunder secured the win and a share of the conference championship.