Wheaton enters new territory

FRANKLIN, Ind. - The Wheaton College football team extended its season further than it has ever gone thanks to a 45-28 victory at Franklin College on Saturday in the NCAA Division III playoff quarterfinals.

Wheaton is now 11-2 on the year and Franklin ends its season at 11-2.

The victory places the Thunder in the NCAA Division III semifinals next Saturday in Alliance, Ohio. Wheaton will face top-ranked Mt. Union for the right to advance to the NCAA Division III national championship game on Dec. 20 in Salem, Va.

Saturday's game was Wheaton's first appearance in the national semifinal as the Thunder becomes the first CCIW team since 1988 to play in a national semifinal since Augustana played Central (Iowa) in the 1988 semifinals.

"This is the great win for Wheaton College and Wheaton football," said coach Mike Swider.

Franklin entered Saturday's game averaging 50 points per game in its two previous playoff victories.

Swider said of Wheaton's effort to contain the Grizzlies' offense and All-America quarterback Chad Rupp: "We knew that Rupp would get his yards. We told our players it was about limiting big plays, and we were able to do that today."

Wheaton's defense and special teams played a key role today, scoring 17 points in the win. Senior Pete Ittersagen (Wheaton North) returned a first-quarter interception 52 yards for a touchdown and he returned a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown.

Senior Tim Ellingsen contributed a 41-yard field goal as well.

Wheaton recorded 325 yards offense, with 217 rushing yards and 108 passing yards. Franklin recorded 446 yards of offense, passing for 289 yards and rushing for 157 yards.

"I thought our special teams outplayed them today," Swider said. "It allowed us to have good field position throughout the game.

"I thought the biggest play of the game was the kickoff return. They had just scored a touchdown to make it a 10-point game and then Pete just busted it open to give us a lot of momentum back."

Ittersagen said of his kickoff return: "It was a big momentum play, they had just scored and that was really what we needed. We have been talking all year about trying to return a kickoff for a touchdown, which is something we have not done for a long time."

Wheaton tailback Rocky Gingg played a key role in the victory as the sophomore carried the ball 26 times for 145 yards with 2 touchdowns.

"We had a great game plan. We knew that we could run right at them and we did that early and we just wanted to keep it up," Gingg said.