Wheaton rallies in fourth quarter

Coe College had the lead, the football and the momentum. And then Wheaton's Cory Hart stepped in front of a Coe pass, and all of that quickly changed.

With the Thunder down by 12 points late in the third quarter, Hart's interception started a 22-point Wheaton College rally, which ended with a 31-21 Thunder victory in Saturday's NCAA Division III first-round playoff game at McCully Stadium in Wheaton.

Hart's interception set up Joey Skogen's 4-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter to cut the Coe lead to 21-16.

“I thought the interception was a huge play,” Wheaton coach Mike Swider said.

The Wheaton defense held the Kohawks (9-2) to a three-and-out series and forced the Kohawks to punt into a stiff wind. It went just 17 yards, giving the Thunder the ball at the Coe 46-yard line.

“The second half the defense stepped it up and did great because the first half Coe was doing great on offense,” Thunder quarterback Jordan Roberts said.

This was a chance for Roberts and the Thunder offense to step it up, and they did so right away. Roberts found receiver Teddy Ellis alone down the right sideline for a 46-yard TD pass, and after a 2-point conversion the Thunder held a 24-21 lead.

“After that I told us, defensively, we just can't give them a quick score right now,” Swider said. “The only way you really change energy is a quick score. Quick scores really suck the energy out of the balloon. ... They weren't going to strike us after we had just sucked the air out of the balloon with a long pass.”

They didn't. The Thunder defense held firm, and after another Coe three-and-out, Wheaton marched 59 yards down the field, with Roberts' 36-yard scamper setting up Rocky Gingg's 2-yard touchdown run with 8:12 to play.

Roberts, a sophomore from Aurora Christian High School, finished 18-of-24 passing for 221 yards and 2 touchdowns to Ellis. He also rushed for 89 yards.

“He's tough, man. He's tough to bring down,” Coe coach Steve Staker said. “He's like a running back, holy cow. Great stiff-arm. That was the thing we talked about at halftime was we've got to keep him under control, and we really struggled. ...

“He bought himself some time. You just can't give a quarterback like that that much time to throw the football.”

The Thunder (10-1) will host a second-round game at noon next Saturday against Bethel University (10-1).