#13-Wheaton tops Augustana 36-7
Wheaton, Ill. - The Wheaton Thunder football team def. Augustana 36-7 on Saturday afternoon at McCully Stadium. Wheaton has now won four in a row and is 7-1 on the season with a 4-1 record in Conference play. Augustana is 2-6 overall and 2-3 in the CCIW.
Wheaton will travel to CCIW leader North Central next Saturday for a 1 PM kickoff in Naperville.
Wheaton tallied 460 yards of offense, with 368 passing yards and 92 rushing yards. The Vikings had 181 yards of offense as Augustana ran for 56 yards and gained 125 yards through the air.
Thunder senior quarterback Garrett Meador completed 26 of his 36 passing attempts for 368 yards, with five touchdown passes. Today's effort marked Meador's fourth game of 300 yards or more for the season. Teddy Watkins caught nine passes for 114 yards, with one touchdown catch. Freshman receiver Mark Hiben caught five passes for 93 yards with a pair of touchdown receptions. Junior tailback Peter Jarrett carried the ball 14 times for 55 yards and he caught two passes for 54 yards.
Senior linebacker Jordan Chapman led the Thunder defense with seven total tackles, including two for lost yardage (-9 yards). Defensive linemen JD East and Brandon Dykstra each made five tackles, with East adding 1-1/2 tackles for lost yardage (-3 yards).
Augustana quarterback David Lee completed 13 of his 24 passing attempts for 116 yards, with one touchdown pass. Zachary McCullough led the Vikings' receiving corps with seven catches for 57 yards and Brett McWilliams ran for 51 yards on 11 carries. Mike O'Donoghue and Joe Weber each led the Augustana defense with nine total tackles.
Wheaton took a 14-0 lead with touchdown on its first two drives of the games as Meador threw five-yard touchdown passes to Watkins and fullback Brannen Dorman to cap each of those drives. Kicker Scott Roche capped Wheaton's first-quarter scoring with a 28-yard field to give the Thunder a 17-0 lead with 35-seconds left in the opening quarter.
Wheaton led the Vikings 29-0 at halftime thanks to a pair of Meador touchdown passes to Hiben. Hiben's first score was a diving 45-yard reception in the end zone and his second touchdown catch was a 24-yarder with 55-seconds left in the first half.
Meador's final touchdown toss came in the third quarter when he connected with senior Justin Zeller on a nine-yard touchdown that extended Wheaton's lead to 36-0 with 2:38 left in the third quarter. Augustana's lone touchdown came with 4:28 remaining in the game when Lee threw a one-yard touchdown toss to account for the 36-7 final outcome
