Box Score

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan football team found itself in an early 21-0 hole and battled back, but too little too late as the Titans lost a 45-24 decision to No. 23-ranked North Central at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium in Naperville, Ill., on Saturday, Nov. 1.

The Titans, who suffered their third straight loss, are now 3-5 overall and 1-4 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin while the Cardinals are 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the league.

Trailing 21-0 after the first quarter, the Titans scored twice in the second quarter. With 12:59 to play in the second, freshman quarterback Jack Warner, seeing his first action since September 20, hit sophomore tight end Quincy Butler on a 7-yard touchdown pass to cap a five-play, 69-yard drive. Junior Michael Kelley added the extra point.
Warner ran the ball in from 5 yards out with 6:14 before halftime to put the finish on a nine-play, 53-yard drive and get IWU back to within seven at 21-14 after Kelley's extra point.
 
Coming out of the locker room trailing 24-14, Warner hit junior wide receiver Artie Checchin on a 71-yard touchdown pass on the second play of the half just 46 seconds in and IWU trailed 24-21.
 
After another North Central touchdown, a 32-yard field goal by Kelley with 3:46 left in the third quarter got IWU within a score at 31-24. But the Cardinals put up two more unanswered TDs to seal the win.

North Central had 454 (187 passing, 267 rushing) total yards of offense to 340 total yards (267 passing, 73 rushing) for Illinois Wesleyan.

Warner finished the day 17 of 27 passes for 267 yards with two touchdown passes and three interceptions, one coming on IWU's first play of the game and one coming on IWU's last. Warner also rushed for a team-high 53 yards on 13 carries. Butler made five catches for 43 yards and Checchin made four grabs for 92.

Defensively, senior linebacker Connor Klein and sophomore linebacker Sean Garvey each made 11 tackles. Klein had a quarterback sack for -9 yards and Will James had a sack for -8 yards.

What's Next?
The Titans are on the road again next Saturday, Nov. 8, with a 1 p.m. kickoff at Wheaton (8-0 overall, 5-0 CCIW). The Thunder are ranked 11th in this week's AFCA Division III Coaches Poll and 13th in the D3football.com Top-25 poll.