Wheaton, North Central put up big numbers in playoff wins
Wheaton College is really enjoying this football season.
The No. 3-ranked Thunder is 12-0 for only the second time in school history and getting ready to play in December.
"December football is a lot of fun," Wheaton coach Mike Swider said while also extolling the virtues of his sport, his team and his school.
The Thunder had a lot of fun Saturday also. Wheaton scored 35 first-quarter points on its way to a 49-13 victory in Wheaton against Central College of Iowa in the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs.
Not only is the Thunder having fun, but the offense is playing as if it believes it can't be stopped.
"We were trying to start off fast the whole week, just reiterating that, and we came out hot," quarterback Luke Anthony said. "It was nice to see the defense got two turnovers, I believe, in the first quarter and gave us great field position. So it was just nice to get energy off them and then just put the ball in the end zone."
Anthony, a Wheaton North graduate, threw five touchdown passes to four receivers. He left the game after the opening drive of the third quarter, which went 94 yards in 13 plays and ended with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Stone Watson.
"We started fast, and really it was too much for them to overcome," said Swider, sounding much happier with how his team played than he was after the Thunder's first-round blowout win. "But we really played well. I'm excited for our football team."
The fast start left Central College a little stunned. The Dutch (10-2) were ranked 23rd in the nation but suffered one of the worst defeats in school history.
"You kind of get punched in the face a little bit. But at the same time we really have worked really hard to be a one-play-at-a-time team and just really stay in the moment, stay in the now. So I don't know that people were walking around in a daze or shocked necessarily in the sense of like, they couldn't function.
"We just failed to make some important stops, some important plays, and Wheaton is very good. I think overall our mindset was still probably where it had to be at that point."
The Wheaton defense also is playing with a lot of confidence.
"We just executed our game plan pretty well," said Wheaton defensive end Patrick O'Connell, a Stevenson graduate. "We're pretty confident about what we've got in our room, in our team. We have a really good football team, and we executed to the level we needed to today."
"They're very good," added Central right guard Josh Mayhew, a West Aurora graduate. "The defensive line played great up front and it was a challenge all day to get what we were doing and try to run the ball."
Wheaton will host No. 8 St. John's in the quarterfinals next Saturday.
North Central 59, Mt. Union 52:
The two teams combined for more than 1,400 yards of offense as the visiting Cardinals upset top-ranked Mt. Union in Alliance, Ohio.
North Central quarterback Broc Rutter (Neuqua Valley) threw for a school-record 522 yards and 5 touchdowns. North Central compiled a school-record 699 yards total offense in the shootout.
The game came down to a fourth-and-goal play for Mt. Union (11-1) at the North Central 15-yard line with seven seconds to play. North Central's Jake Beesley intercepted a hurried, off-balance pass into the end zone.
North Central (11-1) is ranked fifth in Division III. Mt. Union failed to advance past the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 1994.
The Cardinals will play No. 9 Delaware Valley University in the quarterfinals next week at a site to be determined.