For Ittersagen, Thunder it's perfect football weather
It's 29 degrees and the snow and ice have been pushed to the edges of McCully Field's synthetic turf, covering most of the track that circles the football field. You get the feeling there's no place Pete Ittersagen would rather be.
It's a spot Wheaton College has never been before, getting ready to go to a place the Thunder (11-2) has never won before.
Ittersagen is with the players he calls his "brothers," coached by a man, Mike Swider, for whom he has the utmost respect and admiration.
"As a whole this program is very, very close," Ittersagen said. "A bunch of brothers who love each other and are constantly with each other."
For the first time those brothers have the Thunder in the NCAA Division III semifinals, and Ittersagen is a big reason for that. The senior All-America cornerback scored 2 touchdowns in a quarterfinal victory at Franklin (Ind.) College last weekend, returning a kickoff and an interception.
"He's played well all three playoff games," Swider said. "He had a punt return (for a TD) against Wabash the week before. He's played well. He's really stepped up big, big in the playoffs. That's when your money man is supposed to play. He's just been huge for us. Huge."
That's in the past. Next comes the Thunder's biggest stumbling block.
For the sixth time in Wheaton's 9-5 playoff history, it is headed Saturday to Mt. Union, where all five of the Thunder's previous playoff appearances have ended.
No shame in that. With as many national championships as the No. 1-ranked Purple Raiders have won, nine, many teams have seen their hopes dashed in Alliance, Ohio.
None of it - the cold, the snow, Mt. Union - seems to bother Ittersagen.
"It's going to be fun going back," said Ittersagen, who was injured on his first play the last time the Thunder played Mt. Union, in 2006. "I'm excited. Being a part of D-III football, it's a dream to play the best and beat the best, and that's what Mt. Union is."
He's not one for David-and-Goliath stories either.
"We have won three playoff games. We're pretty good too. Mt. Union knows that," Ittersagen said.
Just get him and his teammates out on the field, and he'll let the chips fall where they may.
Those chips led the Wheaton North graduate back to Wheaton after a year playing baseball at Division I Butler University in Indianapolis as a freshman.
"The prodigal son came home," Swider said. "That's what I tease him about all the time. The prodigal son came home."
Ittersagen soon may might be leaving home again, going from playing football on Saturdays to playing on Sundays. NFL scouts have scouted Ittersagen, and with his 4.4 speed in the 40-yard dash and ability to play the run on defense and be on special teams, there's a good chance he could join Kansas City Chiefs rookie defensive end Andy Studebaker as Thunder graduates in the NFL.
"I don't think it's out of reach," Ittersagen said. "Obviously, it's unusual for a Division III guy. It's not like we're projected to be drafted. It's something I think about a lot and hopefully if some things fall into place I can make it happen."
And make no mistake, though not big at 5-foot-10, 190 pounds, Ittersagen enjoys a good hit, as one Franklin College receiver found out last weekend.
"There was a wide receiver on a little crossing route. Pete was zoned up and the guy ran into the zone looking back at the ball. It was a bit of a freebie," Swider said, laughing at the recollection. "It's one the receiver doesn't like and the DB drools over."
Ittersagen just hopes the team can put a hitting on Mt. Union on Saturday.
"We know them, they know us," Ittersagen said. "We feel like we've got a good game plan. We understand what it's going to take to win. It's not some superhuman effort. It's just simply we're going to have to execute well, and we're going to have to play well."
If the Thunder can do that, it will leave the Purple Raiders out in the cold.
Division III semifinals
Wheaton (11-2) at Mt. Union (13-0)
When: 11 a.m. Saturday
Video: ncaa.com