Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
Wheaton, Ill. - The Wheaton Thunder football team was a 49-0 victor against Adrian College (1-1) in Wheaton's home opener at McCully Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The hosts registered 21 first-quarter points en route to the shutout victory. Wheaton, now 2-0 on the year, will travel to UW-Eau Claire for a non-conference matchup with the Blugolds next Saturday night at 6:00 p.m.
The Thunder offense racked up 521 yards this afternoon with 312 passing yards and 209 rushing yards. Wheaton held the Bulldogs' offense to just 187 yards of total offense with 53 rushing yards and 134 passing yards.
Starting quarterback Johnny Peltz paced the Thunder offense with 264 passing yards and he added 38 rushing yards. Peltz completed 14 of his 24 passing attempts, including two touchdown tosses. Andrew Bowers completed two of his three passing attempts on the afternoon for 48 yards. Bowers ran for 65 yards, with one touchdown run and he caught two passes for 36 yards.
Zach Lindquist caught a game-high seven passes for 122 yards and Matt Norton tallied three catches for 70 yards. Luke Thorson caught two passes in the game, both for touchdowns. Sophomore Sola Olateju (PICTURED RIGHT) carried the ball 10 times for 73 yards.
All-American linebacker Adam Dansdill led the Thunder defense with 11 total tackles and he a forced fumble. Linebacker Luke Sahly and lineman Josh Aldrin each recorded six total tackles. Senior linebacker Mikey Swider registered five total tackles, with a fumble recovery that he returned 57 yards for a touchdown.
Wheaton took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on touchdown runs by Peltz (two yards) and Bowers (23 yards). Peltz connected with Thorson as time expired to end the first quarter on 13-yard touchdown pass that increased the hosts' lead to 21-0. With 3:02 left in the second quarter, Thorson caught a 23-yard touchdown pass from Peltz to extend Wheaton's lead to 28-0. The Thunder led 28-0 at halftime.
Peltz reached the endzone on a three-yard touchdown run with 4:38 remaining in the third quarter to give the Thunder a 35-0 advantage. Swider recovered an Adrian fumble in midair and returned it 57 yards for a touchdown with 12:27 left in the game to extend Wheaton's lead to 42-0. Wheaton was marching downfield late in the fourth quarter when a Thunder fumble at the Adrian seven-yard line landed in the end zone and was recovered by Wheaton's Noah Roberts for a touchdown. Roberts' touchdown gave the Thunder a 49-0 lead with 5:34 left in the game and would emerge as the final score.
Stephen Milarch completed seven of his 19 passing attempts for 77 yards for the Bulldogs. Emanuel Stewart carried the ball 12 times for 29 yards and caugh four passes for 41 yards. Lawrence Austin led the Adrian defense with 10 total tackles.