BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- Illinois Wesleyan head coach
Norm Eash became the coach with the most wins in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin as his Titans topped No. 12 Wheaton, 24-14, at Tucci Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 15.
In his 32nd year at IWU, Eash now has a CCIW record of 143-81-1, topping the mark of 142 wins he shared with Don Larson, his own college coach at IWU, who amassed 142 wins in 33 seasons from 1954-86.
"To be able to have your name as the winningest coach in the CCIW means a lot. It's a great league and great coaches," Eash told
Jim Benson of The Pantagraph. "The greatest coach was Coach Larson. We were 1-2 for a long time and we're still 1-2. Coach Larson is probably up there looking down and smiling. Hopefully he's OK with us switching positions."
The Titans improved to 1-1 this season while the Thunder slipped to 1-1 in the league opener for both squads. This is the first time since the 1981-82 seasons that Illinois Wesleyan has put together back-to-back wins against Wheaton.
Go here for the complete series record.
Illinois Wesleyan amassed 387 total yards compared to 188 offensive yards for the Thunder and IWU had 22 first downs to nine for Wheaton.
Junior quarterback
Brandon Bauer threw for 303 yards in completing 26 of 40 passes with one touchdown, a 15-yard strike to junior
Zach Walsh in the fourth quarter. Walsh made a total of nine catches for 138 yards while junior running back
Bryce Dooley had six grabs for 41 yards and junior
Dean Zigulich had five catches for 71 yards.
Senior
Morgan Alexander made 25 carries for 56 yards and had a late second quarter touchdown.
Senior
Trevor Staley led a balanced defensive effort with five tackles and returned an interception 62 yards for a touchdown. Senior
Eric Dubose was responsible for two quarterback sacks for -22 yards as junior
Derrick Frye, junior
Chance Hilliard and sophomore
Mike Murphy also record sacks of the Wheaton quarterback.
The Titans had a 17-0 halftime lead cut into in the first 1:18 of the second half when the Thunder's Adam Terrini returned a kickoff 91 yards and his team scored on a 5-yard TD run by Jaelin Goldsmith on the first play. On the Titans' second play from scrimmage, a fumble resulted in a 32-yard TD recovery and run by Kyle Fox to bring Wheaton to within three at 17-14.
What's Next?
Illinois Wesleyan plays a 6 p.m. CCIW game at Augustana next Saturday, Sept. 22. The Vikings are 2-0 after a 35-0 shutout of Elmhurst on Saturday.
