Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
Chicago, Ill. - The seventh-ranked Thunder football team advanced its record to 4-0 on the season with a 31-7 victory at North Park in the CCIW opener for both teams. Wheaton led 17-0 at halftime and answered an early second half score by the Vikings with 14 unanswered points. The loss pushes North Park to 1-3 on the season and 0-1 in CCIW play. Wheaton will return home next Saturday to host Augustana at 1 PM in the annual Homecoming game for the Thunder.
Wheaton amassed 514 yards of total offense on the day with 372 yards passing and 142 yards on the ground. North Park gained 235 yards through the air with 65 yards on the ground to total 300 yards of total offense. Andrew Bowers led the Thunder offense by completing 21 of his 30 pass attempts for 372 yards and two touchdowns and an interception. Sola Olateju led the Thunder ground attack with 58 yards on nine carries. Bowers managed 54 yards on 17 carries. Andrew Lindquist led the Thunder with five catches for 123 yards and a touchdown. Matt Norton narrowly missed his second straight 100-yard game by tallying 97 yards on five catches and a touchdown.
Wheaton cashed in their third possession of the game after Bowers jumpstarted the offense by completing four consecutive passes, finishing the drive with a 23-yard touchdown to Andrew Lindquist to give Wheaton a 7-0 lead. A fumbled punt return set North Park up with a short field to end the first quarter, but a sack by Logan McRae put North Park behind the chains and the Caleb Ashby emphatically ended the Vikings chance to score with a blocked field goal that was recovered by Alex Mendez and returned to just shy of midfield. A 16-yard scramble by Bowers moved the Thunder into the red zone and a 17-yard touchdown pass to Matt Norton gave Wheaton a 14-0 lead with 11:21 to play in the first half.
A fourth down stop at their own 15-yard line stalled a 16-play, 79 yard Viking drive and gave Wheaton the ball back with 2:12 left in the first half. Bowers quickly found Lindquist for a game of 45 yards and two plays later drove a long throw into a window to Zach Lindquist for a gain of 32 yards down to the Viking eight-yard line. After a sack and a poor snap, Wheaton would close the half with a 48-yard field goal by Daniel Gray to take a 17-0 lead into halftime.
North Park took the initial possession in the second half for quick touchdown to cut the lead to 17-7 and end a 12-quarter scoreless drought against the Thunder dating back to 2012. Wheaton answered with a 13 play, 69 yard drive that ended with a seven-yard touchdown run by Olateju. Bowers and Andrew Lindquist extended the drive with a 24-yard completion on fourth and 10 from the North Park 26 yard line.
Wheaton put the game away in the fourth quarter when a 49-yard run by Olateju moved the ball down to the one-yard line and Bowers punched it in to make the score 31-7.
Mikey Swider led the Thunder defense with 11 tackles on the day. Adam Dansdill recorded 10 tackles and Caleb Ashby had nine tackles with a sack. Logan McRae recorded five tackles, four for loss, and three sacks. Alex Mendez had four tackles to go with an interception.