No. 9 Wheaton College earns win vs. No. 5 North Central College

What do you get when you match up the nation's top-ranked offense with the top-ranked defense?

You get exactly what was advertised.

But at the conclusion of ninth-ranked Wheaton College's 35-21 come-from-behind victory over fifth-ranked North Central College on Saturday afternoon, Thunder players and coaches kept coming back to the same theme: Pound the rock.

Now, in football terms, that usually means run, run, run the ball. But for Wheaton College, the nation's top-ranked Division III defense, it has a much different, more holistic meaning.

"Honestly, it's been our theme from Day 1," said junior defensive lineman River Shindledecker. "We're told in the weight room and in the locker room, you have to pound the rock every single play. Keep pounding and keep pounding and eventually it will break."

Added senior lineman Patrick O'Connell, who sacked North Central quarterback Broc Rutter twice and had 7 tackles, 3 for loss: "Eventually we kind of overwhelmed them. They are an elite offense, one of the best in the country, and so we took some shots in the first half, but we were confident we would get to them."

Rutter, who was sacked 7 times but still managed to throw for 313 yards and 2 touchdowns on 27-for-54 passing, hit on his last scoring play with 4:47 left in the third quarter, a 9-yard pass to junior receiver Andrew Kamienski, to give the Cardinals a 21-14 lead.

But Wheaton College erupted on offense, late in the third quarter, led by the right arm of sophomore quarterback Luke Anthony (Wheaton North).

Anthony tied the game on a 5-yard touchdown pass to junior receiver Phillip Nichols with 1:32 left in the third. North Central went four-and-out on its next possession, and then it was Anthony again to Nichols on the Thunder's ensuing drive, for 58 yards. Senior kicker Griffin Bowes' extra point gave Wheaton College its first lead at 28-21.

Behind four completed Rutter passes, the Cardinals (3-1, 2-1 CCIW) marched to the Wheaton College 48 - but Shindledecker and junior Jake Holaday forced a fumble that O'Connell recovered.

Seven plays later, Anthony was back in the end zone, this time a 21-yard scoring pass to senior Adam Terrini, also from Wheaton North.

That was the ballgame. The Thunder improved to 4-0, 3-0 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin.

"As good as your quarterback on offense is against a defense like that, that makes you work that hard, at some point, if a mistake happens, you're behind the chains again," North Central coach Jeff Thorne said. "We talked about limiting big plays, and they had a bunch.

"Second half, they pinned our ears back and we didn't do a good enough job of protecting (Rutter)."

A disappointed Rutter (Neuqua Valley) said his team didn't do enough in all three phases.

"It's just so frustrating because I think we had chances," he said. "I think they brought a lot more pressure in the second half. It's tough when you're backed up all day. We moved the ball OK, we just didn't finish drives."

Kamienski (South Elgin) was stellar for the Cardinals, catching a whopping 14 passes for 112 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore running back Ethan Greenfield contributed 114 yards on 29 carries and a touchdown.

But Anthony was even better, going 21-for-30 passing for 351 yards and 5 touchdowns - 3 to Nichols. Postgame, he, too, touched on the Thunder's season theme.

"We kept going and kept going," he said. "It didn't matter what play it was."