Box Score Box Score - IWU 49, North Park 0, 11/14/09
CHICAGO, Ill. - For the first time since 1996 the Illinois Wesleyan football team will be part of the NCAA Division III football playoffs. The Titans whalloped North Park, 49-0, in Chicago on Nov. 14 to earn the league's automatic qualification for the first time.
The NCAA pairings announcement for the 32-team playoffs will be made at 2 p.m. Central time on ESPNews.
The Titans (9-1 overall, 6-1 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) led 42-0 at halftime cruising to the school's 14th CCIW championship (in 2007 (shared with North Central), 2001 (shared with Augustana), 2000 (shared with Millikin), 1996, 1994 (shared with Augustana), 1992, 1980 (shared with Elmhurst), 1977 (shared with Millikin), 1974 (shared with Millikin), 1965, 1964, 1951, and 1948.
North Park was limited to -6 yards of total offense (-19 rushing and 13 passing) and gained only two first downs while the Titans rolled up 19 first downs and had 489 yards of total offense.
The Titans opened the scoring on a 6-yard pass from
Brien Rooney to
Chris Messina at the 11:17 mark of the first quarter, then scored again at 8:11 when Rooney found
Jack Scalcucci on a 49-yard TD pass. A two-point conversion made the score 14-0.
IWU went ahead 22-0 when
Eli Williams ran in the first of his three TDs with 3:51 to play in the opening period and Rooney hit
Jon Meacham for a two-point conversion. Williams scored again with 2:05 to play in the first on a 15 yard run and
Dennis Zic added the first of his three extra point kicks.
With 10:23 to play before halftime,
Max Brooks recovered a fumble in the end zone for a score to put the Titans on top, 35 - 0, and Williams dashed 27 yards for a score with 5:17 before intermission. Zic added the extra point for a 42-0 advantage.
In the fourth quarter with 14:43 to play in the game, freshman
Matthew Lambert connected with freshman
Joe Musso on a 65 yard TD pass and Zic,added the kick to make the final 49-0.
Williams had 152 yards on 13 carries and
Cameron Allen rushed for 54 yards on 10 carries. Rooney completed an efficient eight of nine passes for 131 yards and also ran for 12.
Ryan Jenkins,
Nick Nikolich and
Mike Kotz all had five tackles to lead IWU, who kept North Park quarterback Shelby Wood in check - he was 0-for-seven in the game. Kotz and Nikolich each had one quarterback sack and
Chris Rice was in on two sacks.
This will be the school's third NCAA Division III playoffs. Others were:
1992: The Titans were 1-1 in 1992 NCAA playoff action, topping Aurora, 21-12, at home before falling to Mount Union, 49-27. Quarterback Tom Monken was brilliant in the two games, completing 38 of 57 passes for 474 yards, but Mount Union quarterback Jim Ballard set an NCAA record with 17 consecutive completions in the first half en route to a 26 of 33 day with 454 yards and five touchdowns. That yardage total was a record for an IWU opponent.
1996: IWU was also 1-1 in the 1996 playoffs, downing Albion on the road (23-20) before falling again to Mount Union (49-14), who went on to become Division III national champions. Titan end Steve Peterson's block of a potential game-tying 19-yard field goal with 1:22 left saved IWU's win at Albion. Mount Union stormed to 35 second quarter points behind quarterback Bill Borchert, who threw for 228 yards and rushed for 97 more.
Illinois Wesleyan has only had nine wins in a football season three other times — most recently in 2000 (9-1), in 1996 (10-1) and in 1992 (10-1). The school record for wins in a season is 10.
