Wheaton Academy has much to celebrate
It was a joyous occasion all around Saturday at Wheaton College's McCully Stadium.
Wheaton Academy won its homecoming football game 34-13 over Chicago Christian. In the process Warriors coach Ben Wilson got revenge and a father celebrating a milestone saw his son accomplish one himself.
"The thing that makes this victory sweet for me is our first game as a program on the (junior varsity) level three years ago we got smoked (35-0) by Chicago Christian's JV when Brian (Pell) and Anthony (Ritchie) were freshmen," Wilson said of his refurbished program's linchpins.
"For me it's full circle to come back three years later and beat these guys at our homecoming," Wilson said. "Just a great win for our program and one step closer to the playoffs."
Posting a 27-7 first-half lead over its Suburban Christian Conference Gold opponent, Wheaton Academy (4-2, 2-1) intercepted Chicago Christian quarterback Jason VanderLaan 5 times, 3 alone by Luke Thorson. Ritchie and Pell added interceptions, Ritchie's off a fake punt and Pell's foiling some trickery by Chicago Christian (3-3, 1-2).
Wheaton Academy led 7-0 on Kai Libby's 19-yard touchdown run at 3:34 of the first quarter, but Chicago Christian's Jimmy Burns recovered a fumble at Wheaton Academy's 24-yard line. Pell, at linebacker, diagnosed a pitch-left, throwback-right to VanderLaan, intercepted it and returned it 69 yards to score.
"Typically we try to get our quarterback a little further down the field," said Chicago Christian coach Jim Hamstra, "but because of the rush at our running back the kid had to get rid of it sooner than he wanted to. It ended up being a good play for them."
Also the Warriors quarterback, Pell may throw the odd interception but isn't used to returning them all the way.
"It was exhilarating to say the least," he said.
Chicago Christian pulled within 14-7 on VanderLaan's 5-yard option keeper at 10:35 of the second quarter. The Warriors capitalized on turnovers to score 13 unanswered points by halftime on Ritchie's 31-yard touchdown catch and Sam Cote's 35- and 30-yard field goals.
"We came into the game really wanting to run the ball a whole lot," said Ritchie, who caught 7 passes for 118 yards and 2 touchdowns. His 2-yard catch had Wheaton Academy up 34-7 at 2:18 of the third quarter.
"We partly had success with that," he said, "but even though I don't think we were as successful as we wanted to be, the fact that we were committed to it opened up a lot of stuff in the passing game."
Pell ran for 52 yards and completed 14 of 25 passes for 188 yards. His father, Jeff, was celebrating his 40th birthday up in the press box, helping compile stats.
Brian Pell said: "It was an unbelievable homecoming game and it happened to be a great birthday present for him. I wouldn't trade it for the world right now."