Bloomington, Ill. - The Thunder football team earned a 40-27 victory at Illinois Wesleyan (7-2, 4-2 CCIW) on Saturday afternoon to earn the CCIW's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division III Playoffs. Today's win improves Wheaton 9-0 on the year and 6-0 in CCIW play as the Thunder secures at least a share of the CCIW Championship. Wheaton can take outright possession of the CCIW Championship next Saturday with a win in the regular season finale at home against Carthage at 1:00 p.m.
Today's game saw a series of momentum swings for both teams, with Wheaton gaining the early advantage. Wheaton received the opening kickoff and the Thunder utilized its strong running game in the opening drive as the guests ran for 55 yards in the opening drive of 79 yards, led by a strong performance by the Thunder offensive line. The drive culminated with quarterback Andrew Bowers hitting a wide open Andrew Lindquist for a four-yard touchdown pass to give Wheaton the 7-0 lead with 8:24 remaining in the first quarter.
The Titans fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Wheaton's Jared Strom recovered the ball at the IWU 19-yard line. The running game and Thunder line again carved up the Titans' defense as Danny Puknaitis ran for eight yards on Wheaton's first play of the drive and Bowers followed that with a six-yard run to give the guests the ball at the IWU five-yard line. Bowers scampered out of the shotgun on the next play and marched through the middle of the IWU defense for a five-yard touchdown run that gave Wheaton a 13-0 with 8:17 left in the first quarter lead as the PAT attempt failed.
The Titans' offense was able to see the field for the first time on the next drive, however, the Thunder defense forced the hosts' into a three-and out and Wheaton started the ensuing drive at its own 41-yard line following IWU's 25-yard punt. Butler connected with a streaking Jackson Fain down the Thunder sideline on a 46-yard completion to give the guests the ball at the Titans' 10-yard line. Puknaitis reached the end zone two plays later on a five-yard touchdown runs that gave Wheaton a 20-0 lead with 2:39 left in the first quarter.
The Thunder defense forced another three-and-out on the Titans' next drive to give Wheaton the ball. However, the Titans intercepted a Wheaton pass at the Thunder 35-yard line and hosts scored six plays later as Jack Warner threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Austin Wagner. Wagner's touchdown catch cut the Thunder lead to 20-7 with 11:31 remaining in the second quarter. The interception and ensuing touchdown turned the momentum towards the hosts as IWU kicker Michael Kelley cut Wheaton's lead to 20-10 with a 30-yard field goal with 6:45 remaining in the first half. The Thunder led the Titans 20-10 at the halftime intermission.
The two team exchanged possessions over the first four drives of the second half. The Titans then capitalized with a 31-yard by Kelley to cut the Wheaton lead to 20-13 with 5:37 remaining in the third quarter. Wheaton's drive that followed the field goal stalled and the Titans started their next drive at their own 37-yard line. On the second play of the hosts' drive, Thunder sophomore Tyler Sigler intercepted Warner's pass and ran into the end zone for a 49-yard touchdown return. Sigler's interception for a touchdown gave the guests a 27-13 lead with 3:49 left in the third quarter.
The Titans regained the momentum in the next drive as the Warner threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to Wagner to trim the Thunder lead to 27-20 with 2:24 left in the third quarter. The Thunder offense went three-and-out on the drive that followed; and a short punt gave the hosts the ball at the Wheaton 35-yard line. Two plays into the drive, Maurice Shoemaker-Gilmore of IWU reached the end zone on a 35-yard touchdown run to end the third quarter. The touchdown and ensuing PAT tied the game at 27-27 with momentum firmly in the Titans' favor.
Each team punted on their respective drives that followed the IWU touchdown. The Thunder defense stalled the IWU offense and forced the Titans to punt form their own eight yard line and Wheaton started its drive at the IWU 40-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Bowers escaped the Titans' pass rush and threw a deep pass to Andrew Lindquist in the back of the end zone for a 40-yards TD pass that gave Wheaton a 34-27 lead with 10:23 left in the game.
On the IWU drive that followed Lindquist's TD the hosts started the drive with an eight-yard pass to give the Titans second and two at their own 29-yard line. The Thunder defense came up big as Logan McRae and Caleb Ashby teamed up for a three-yard tackle for lost yardage on a carry by Shoemaker-Gilmore. On third and five, the Thunder pass rush got to Warner and Dansdill recorded a 13-yard sack to force an IWU punt.
Wheaton's next drive started at the IWU 49-yard line and Puknaitis started the drive with a nine-yard run to move the ball to the IWU 40-yard line and he caught an 11-yard pass from Bowers to give the guests the ball at the hosts' 29-yard line. Wheaton continued to advance the ball on the drive, culminating with a one-yard touchdown run by Puknaitis that gave the Thunder a 40-27 lead with 3:50 remaining in the game. Wheaton was unable to convert the PAT following the touchdown as the score remained 40-27. IWU was unable to score on a lengthy drive that concluded on fourth and 12 when Alex Mendez broke up the hosts' pass attempt to secure the win for the Thunder.
The Thunder offense put up 406 total yards today with 214 passing yards and 192 rushing yards. Illinois Wesleyan totaled 292 yards of offense, with 185 yards through the air and 107 rushing yards.
Bowers completed 16 of his 24 passing attempts, with 210 passing yards and two touchdown tosses. He also ran for 77 yards on 14 carries, with one touchdown run. Puknaitis carried the ball 24 times for 92 yards with two touchdown runs and he caught three passes for 38 yards. Andrew Lindquist caught five passes for 66 yards with two touchdown receptions.
Dansdill led the Thunder defense with 11 total tackles, including seven solo stops. Dansdill tallied 3-1/2 tackles for lost yardage (-17 yards), including the fourth-quarter quarterback sack of -13 yards and two pass breakups. Ashby made six total tackles with 1-1/2 tackles for loss (-3 yards). McRae, Mendez and Mikey Swider each collected five total tackles. McRae had two tackles for lost yardage (-3 yards).
Today's win was the first for Wheaton at Illinois Wesleyan's Tucci Stadium since a 35-21 victory in Bloomington in 2002. Today's win improved Wheaton's win streak in the regular season to 20 games, dating back to 2013.