Naperville, Ill. – The Wheaton Thunder football team, ranked eighth by D3football.com, remained undefeated on Saturday afternoon with a 17-9 victory at #16-ranked North Central. With the victory, Wheaton retains possession of the Little Brass Bell trophy that is on the line annually when the two programs meet on the gridiron.
Wheaton (7-0, 4-0 CCIW) held North Central to a season-low in total offense and points today, while the Cardinals fall to 4-3 overall and 3-1 in CCIW play. Wheaton will be back in action next Saturday when the Thunder host Elmhurst at 1:00 p.m. at McCully Stadium.
Wheaton received the kickoff to open the game and on the first play of the game quarterback Andrew Bowers connected with Luke Thorson for a 62-yard completion to give the guests the ball at the Cardinals' 18-yard line. Consecutive sacks by the North Central defense forced Wheaton to punt from the NCC 30-yard line on fourth down.
The Cardinals' third drive of the game saw the NCC offense move to the Wheaton 12-yard line, but the Thunder defense stalled the hosts' to force a 29-yard field goal attempt that was missed and kept the game scoreless. Wheaton's ensuing drive stalled and when North Central got the ball back on its next drive, the Cardinals pushed the ball to the Wheaton 17-yard line. The Wheaton defense again kept the hosts out of the end zone to force a 33-yard NCC field goal that gave the Cardinals a 3-0 lead with 9:01 left in the second quarter.
The Thunder offense responded on the next drive, starting at the NCC 30-yard line. The key play on the Wheaton drive was a 27-yard pass reception by Sola Olateju to put the Thunder offense into Cardinals' territory with the ball at the NCC 30-yard line. The Wheaton offense continued to chew up yardage as the guests moved the ball to the NCC 21-yard line where Daniel Gray converted a 38-yard field goal to tie the game at 3-3 with 3:44 remaining in the first half.
The Cardinals responded with a 27-yard pass completion in their next drive to give the hosts the ball at the Wheaton 38-yard line. The Thunder defense held strong, however, forcing a fourth down with four yards to go for the Cardinals at the Wheaton 32-yard line. The North Central pass was incomplete with a pass break-up by Thunder linebacker Mikey Swider to give Wheaton the ball at its own 32-yard line with 26-seconds left in the first half.
Wheaton's first play of the next drive was a 15-yard completion from Bowers to Olateju to give the Thunder the ball at its own 47-yard line with 18-seconds left in the half. Bowers ran for 10 yards on the very next play to advance the ball to the Cardinals' 43-yard line with nine-seconds remaining. In the closing seconds Bowers escaped the Cardinals' defense and lofted a 43-yard touchdown pass to superback Zach Lindquist who extended his arms into the end zone to give Wheaton the lead. Gray converted the PAT to give the Thunder a 10-3 advantage at halftime.
On the Cardinals' first drive of the second half the Wheaton defense again came up big on a NCC fourth down as a North Central incompletion on fourth and five at the Thunder 35-yard line forced the hosts to turn the ball over on downs. Olateju broke free on the first play of Wheaton's ensuing drive for a 31-yard run to push the Thunder offense to its own 49-yard line. Wheaton ran the ball for 35 yards over the next eight plays to move the ball to the NCC 16-yard line. Bowers connected with Trey Hanley on a 16-yard touchdown pass to increase Wheaton's lead to 17-3 with 7:34 remaining in the third quarter.
The North Central offense moved the ball 45 yards on its next drive, but the Wheaton defense again made the big play when defensive back Tyler Sigler intercepted the NCC pass at the Wheaton four-yard line to end the hosts' scoring threat. Wheaton's next drive stalled after eight plays, forcing the guests to punt.
The North Central offense again got into Wheaton territory on its next drive. The Cardinals' advanced down the field as NCC moved to the Wheaton 10-yard line with first down and goal to go. The Wheaton defense again made a key play to keep the Thunder lead intact. Sophomore Nick Blazek snatched the pass of NCC quarterback Dylan Warden for an interception in the end zone. Blazek returned the interception 19 yards to stall the Cardinals scoring threat and help Wheaton maintain its 17-3 lead, with 9:14 remaining in the game.
Wheaton turned the ball over on its own 22-yard line on the next drive to give the hosts a scoring opportunity. Wheaton's defense kept North Central out of the end zone for much of the drive; however, NCC finally scored on a two-yard run by Austin Breunig to cut Wheaton's lead to 17-9 with 5:20 left in regulation. The Cardinals' PAT attempt failed as the score remained 17-9.
Wheaton's ensuing drive started at its own 38-yard line as Zach Lindquist recovered the Cardinals' onside kick. Olateju ran for 11 yards on Wheaton's first play of the drive to give the Thunder a new set of downs to work with. On third down with eight yards to go, Bowers connected with Andrew Lindquist on a 10-yard pass that moved the chains to give Wheaton a key first down. Olateju ran the ball four yards on Wheaton's next play, forcing the Cardinals to take a timeout with 2:40 left in the game. The sophomore running back broke free for a 16-yard run that gave Wheaton a first and 10 at the North Central 19-yard line. Wheaton was able to run out the clock from there and earn the 17-9 victory and retain the Little Brass Bell.
Wheaton passed for 231 yards on the day and ran for 130 as the Thunder had 361 yards of total offense in the win. The Cardinals tallied 315 yards of offense with 245 passing yards and 70 yards on the ground.
Olateju carried the ball 20 times for 127 yards and he also had a team-high five receptions for 54 yards. Zach Lindquist caught two passes for 56 yards on the day, including the 43-yard touchdown pass. Hanley accounted for two receptions with his touchdown catch to his credit. Thorson had the key 62-yard reception to open the game.
Bowers completed 13 of his 18 passing attempts for 231 yards with two touchdown passes.
Senior linebacker Adam Dansdill led the Wheaton defense with a game-high 12 total tackles, including seven solo stops. The All-American recorded 2-1/2 tackles for lost yardage of 10 yards on the day. Logan McRae made seven total tackles on Saturday including six solo tackles. He registered both of Wheaton's quarterback sacks on the day as he had a pair of sacks (-11 yards). Alex Mendez and Sigler each contributed five total tackles. Sigler and Blazek each had key interceptions for the Thunder defense in the win.