Box Score

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Despite scoring 21 fourth-quarter points, the Illinois Wesleyan football team's comeback fell short in a 35-31 loss at Elmhurst on Saturday (Nov. 10).

The IWU season ended with a 6-4 record and a 3-4 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin mark (fifth place) while Elmhurst claimed a share of its first CCIW title since 1980, tying with North Central and Wheaton with a 6-1 league record. The Bluejays are 9-1 overall and have a chance for an NCAA playoff berth as an at-large team. The NCAA Division III football selections will be announced on Sunday (Nov. 11) at 5 p.m.

The Titans trailed by 18 points at two times in the game - 21-3 with 11:02 to play in the first half and 28-10 heading into the fourth quarter. With 14:22 to play in the game, IWU senior Brett Robinson scored on an 11-yard run to cap an 8-play, 73-yard drive and IWU was within 11 at 28-17 after freshman Michael Kelley added the extra point kick.

With 7:47 left in the game the Titans closed to within three points at 28-25 when senior tight end Parker Carroll caught a 29-yard pass from sophomore Tyrell Bolden. Bolden ran in for a two-point conversion.

Elmhurst's Scottie Williams scored on a 42-yard run with 4:02 to play to stake the Bluejays to a 35-25 edge and IWU's final score, a 50-yard touchdown pass play to senior Joe Musso from Bolden, left IWU on the short end, 35-31.

The Bluejays amassed 465 yards of total offense to 414 for Illinois Wesleyan. Bolden was 8-for-13 for 183 yards and two scores while rushing for 59 yards and a TD on 13 carries. Junior Alec Starr started the game at quarterback for IWU and was 6-of-12 for 29 yards. Devonte Jones accounted for 91 rushing yards on 12 carries.

Williams finished with 190 yards and two TDs on 38 carries for the Jays and quarterback Joe Furco threw for 141 yards (13-of-17) and rushed for 52.

Junior linebacker Chris Simms had a game-high 13 tackles for IWU while junior Tim Hollowed had 11 total tackles. Senior Mike Kraft and junior Kyle Pfister each had 10 tackles and Kraft had a quarterback sack for -10 yards. Freshman cornerback Erik Stanek had an interception for the Titans.

Following the game, Illinois Wesleyan head coach Norm Eash told The Pantagraph: “I'm real proud of our players. We came back in the second half and made the plays we needed to get back in the game. You have to credit Elmhurst. They have a large senior class. When they had to make plays, Furco did, and Williams was phenomenal running through some tackles.
“I thought we got back to playing Titan football. We're disappointed we didn't win, but we got our confidence back.”

Ryan Johnson had eight total tackles to lead Elmhurst.

NOTES: Illinois Wesleyan has its first four-game losing streak since the 2004 team lost its last two games and the 2005 team lost its first two ... It is the first four-game losing streak in a single season since 1988 ... The four-year seniors (2009-10-11-12) finished with a 32-11 record, tied for the most wins by a four-year group with those who played in 2008-09-10-11 (32-11) ... North Central earned the CCIW's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III football playoffs by virtue of having the highest point differential in games featuring the Cardinals, Bluejays and Thunder during the regular season ... This is only the third time that the CCIW declared tri-champions. Wheaton, Augustana and North Central claimed football titles in 2006 while Illinois Wesleyan, Millikin and Wheaton finished tied atop the conference in 2000.