BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Holding an 11-point lead, the Illinois Wesleyan football team was scored on twice in the final 7:30 and lost a 29-28 decision to Elmhurst at Tucci Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 25.
The loss sends the IWU overall record to 3-4 and 1-3 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin while the Bluejays improved to 4-0 in the conference and 5-2 overall.
"A difference in the game was that we couldn't get our defense off the field," said IWU head coach Norm Eash. "We had an 11-point lead and they were able to score in nine plays. It seemed that every time we had momentum, we couldn't keep momentum. We did everything except finish the game."
Elmhurst had 25 first downs to 11 for IWU and amassed 420 yards of total offense (196 rush, 224 pass) compared to 304 for the Titans (197 rush, 107 pass). The Bluejays, who did not punt in the game, were 11 of 15 on third down conversions and had the ball 39:05 compared to 20:55.
Junior Mac Zabriskie completed 7 of 13 passes for 107 yards and two touchdowns, one of 60 yards to Artie Checchin in the first quarter and one of 9 yards to Checchin in the third period. Junior Anfernee Roberts had 160 rushing yards on 18 carries and Zabriskie added 32 yards on 10 carries and also ran for two TDs.
Senior punter Matt Kussmann had a 51.2 punting average and boomed one for 73 yards, the second longest in school history, behind a 75-yarder by Bob Lenahan against Millikin on Nov. 12, 1938.
Joe Camiliere completed 18 of 29 passes for 224 yards and the Bluejays were led in rushing by Josh williams with 114 on 23 carries while Camiliere made 16 carries for 70 yards.
Linebacker Sean Garvey led IWU with 18 total tackles (12 solo) and sophomore defensive end Kyle Venhuizen, freshman safety Brinton Wilkey, senior linebacker Connor Klein and sophomore Luke Roth all accounted for six total tackles. Klein also had two pass breakups.
Elmhurst got eight tackles each from Jake Garabedian and Valdez Honorable while Jake Pawlicki made the game's only interception with 51 seconds remaining in the game.
How They Scored
1st 13:23 IWU - Checchin, Artie 60 yd pass from Zabriskie, Mac (Kelley, Michael kick), 4-75 1:37, ELMHURST 0 - IWU 7
07:44 ELMHURST - Miller 9 yd pass from Camiliere (Bayer kick), 10-75 5:33, ELMHURST 7 - IWU 7
00:35 ELMHURST - Bayer 22 yd field goal, 11-55 5:35, ELMHURST 10 - IWU 7
2nd 09:40 IWU - Zabriskie, Mac 7 yd run (Kelley, Michael kick), 3-19 1:09, ELMHURST 10 - IWU 14
3rd 04:58 ELMHURST - Williams, J. 2 yd run (Bayer kick), 18-84 9:55, ELMHURST 17 - IWU 14
00:22 IWU - Checchin, Artie 9 yd pass from Zabriskie, Mac (Kelley, Michael kick), 9-79 4:36, ELMHURST 17 - IWU 21
4th 11:41 IWU - Zabriskie, Mac 1 yd run (Kelley, Michael kick), 7-72 3:36, ELMHURST 17 - IWU 28
07:30 ELMHURST - Miller 42 yd pass from Camiliere (Camiliere pass failed), 9-75 4:11, ELMHURST 23 - IWU 28
01:32 ELMHURST - Camiliere 7 yd run (Camiliere kick failed), 6-80 3:41, ELMHURST 29 - IWU 28
What's Next?
Illinois Wesleyan hits the road for the next two weeks against nationally-ranked opponents, starting with a game against North Central in Naperville, Ill., at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1.
Late Scores Send Illinois Wesleyan to 29-28 Loss to Elmhurst
/seasons/2014/boxscores/20141025_1cbx.xml
2014
Elmhurst
29
Illinois Wesleyan
28
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elmhurst (5-2) | 10 | 0 | 7 | 12 | 29 |
| Illinois Wesleyan (3-4) | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 28 |
Oct 25, 2014