Kalamazoo, Mich. – The Wheaton football team, ranked 20th in this week's D3football.com Top-25, earned a 26-12 victory at Kalamazoo College on Saturday afternoon. Wheaton led the Hornets from the first quarter on today. The Thunder will return home next Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff against UW-Eau Claire.
Today's victory marked the 150th career win for veteran head coach Mike Swider. Swider is now 150-43 in 19 seasons as Wheaton's head coach. His 77.7% career winning percentage is ranked 11th among all current Division III head coaches and he is ranked among the top-50 NCAA football coaches in college football history (all divisions).
The Thunder offense ran 83 plays for 442 yards this afternoon, averaging 5.3 yards per play. Wheaton ran for 195 yards and passed for 247 yards with a well-balanced attack. The Hornets tallied 320 yards on the day with 176 passing yards and 144 rushing yards.
Thunder quarterback Reece Butler completed 21 of his 34 passing attempts for 247 yards, with two touchdowns. Senior wide receiver Luke Thorson caught six of Butler's passes for 83 yards, including two touchdown catches. Running back Jesse Geary ran for 85 yards on 24 carries with a touchdown run and he caught five passes for 57 yards. Danny Puknaitas carried the ball six times for 48 yards.
Junior linebacker Adam Dansdill led the Thunder defense with 15 total tackles, including a quarterback sack (-7 yards). Linebacker Mikey Swider tallied nine total tackles, including two sacks (-14 yards). Caleb Ashby, David Suominen and Chris Jenkins each recorded six total tackles. Suominen, Josh Aldrin and Tim Lovett each had 1.5 sacks on the day. Aldrin and Wes Cannonier each had an interception in the game and Ashby forced a fumble.
Kalamazoo quarterback Aaron McGuire completed 22 of his 32 passing attempts for 86 yards with two touchdown passes and he ran the ball 22 times for 45 yards. Cameron Shegos caught 11 passes for 86 yards with two touchdown catches and Alex Dietrich caught six passes for 78 yards with a TD reception. Connor Rzeznik led the Hornets' defense with 15 total tackles and a fumble recovery.
Geary capped a 10-play drive of 71 yards with a one-yard touchdown run to give the Thunder a 7-0 lead with 3:57 left in the first quarter. A 19-yard touchdown pass for the Hornets early in the second quarter capped an 11-play drive of 74 yards for the hosts. Kalamazoo was unable to convert a two-point conversion as the Thunder led 7-6 with 12:46 left in the first half. A long Thunder drive was capped by a 38-yard field goal for Sam Cote with 2:04 remaining in the second quarter to increase Wheaton's lead to 10-6. The Thunder maintained the 10-6 lead at the halftime intermission.
Wheaton's fourth offensive drive of the third quarter culminated with a 40-yard touchdown pass from Butler to Thorson. Thorson carved his through the Hornets' defense for the score. The Thunder defense continued its strong play with a safety for Jordan Dornbush and Jared Todd with 11:52 left in the fourth quarter. Butler connected with Thorson for a three-yard touchdown pass with 7:43 remaining in the fourth quarter as the 6'6" Thorson used his height to go above the Hornets' defense for his second score of the day. McGuire connected with Shegos for an eight-yard touchdown pass with 5:11 remaining in the game to trim Wheaton's lead to 26-12. Thorson recovered the onside kick that followed the Kalamazoo touchdown and maintained possession for the final 5:11 of the game to secure the win.