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Ian Kroemer vs. WashU
21
Winner Illinois Wesleyan IWU 6-4 , 5-4
17
Elmhurst ELMHURST 0-10 , 0-9
Winner
Illinois Wesleyan IWU
6-4 , 5-4
21
Final
17
Elmhurst ELMHURST
0-10 , 0-9
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
IWU Illinois Wesleyan 0 7 7 7 21
ELMHURST Elmhurst 14 0 0 3 17

Game Recap: Football |

Football Holds on for Win in Season Finale

Finishes season with 6-4 record

ELMHURST, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University football team escaped Langhorst Field with a 21-17 triumph over Elmhurst University Saturday, Nov. 12, spoiling the Bluejays' senior day. IWU finishes the season with a 6-4 overall record, including a 5-4 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin mark, while EU ended the season winless at 0-10, 0-9 CCIW.

With Illinois Wesleyan up 21-17 with less than a minute remaining, Elmhurst regained possession around its own 30 yard line. On the verge of closing the game out with a defensive stand, IWU saw EU move the chains with a 34-yard catch down the Bluejay sideline. The catch, which came with 22.1 seconds remaining, set EU up with a fresh set of downs at the IWU 30 yard line. 

A clutch second-down sack by sophomore Josh Hlavacek (Plainfield, Ill.-Plainfield North) disrupted Elmhurst's late game heroics before a last second heave into the end zone fell incomplete. 

Senior Charlie Hamilton (Springfield, Ill.-Sacred Heart-Griffin) wrapped up his collegiate career with another strong outing, as the wide receiver hauled in two touchdown passes. Hamilton finished with eight catches for 113 yards as IWU's top receiving target. 

Sophomore Jay Lemenager (Clfiton, Ill.-Clifton) finished 13-for-24 through the air for 160 yards, while fellow sophomore Ryan Saxe (Palatine, Ill.-Fremd) completed 1-of-1 pass attempts for six yards. 

Junior Seth Albin (Midlothian, Ill.Oak Forest) and senior Ian Kroemer (Aurora, Ill.-Oswego East) spearheaded the ground game. Albin took 12 carries for a game-high 71 yards, while Kroemer tallied 65 yards on a career-best 24 attempts. Kroemer's one-yard touchdown run, the first of his career, broke a 14-14 tie in the fourth quarter.

Defensively, junior Joshua Klein (Glen Carbon, Ill.-Edwarsville), Hlavacek, and sophomore Zach McNees (Hillsboro, Mo.-Hillsboro) turned in career days. Klein led the way with a team-best nine tackles, including three for loss, a pair of sacks, and a pass breakup. Hlavacek tallied 4.5 tackles for loss, all of the sack variety, en route to an eight-stop effort. McNees recorded six tackles, four for loss, and three sacks.

The Bluejays ran out to a 14-0 lead before the Titans scored once in each of the next three quarters. Hamilton hauled in his first touchdown of the day, a six-yard pass from Lemenager, to cut the deficit to seven with 8:30 to go in the first half. 

Coming out of the half down by a touchdown, Lemenager once again went to his senior wideout. This time, Hamilton hauled in a 24-yard grab to even the score at 14 all just minutes into the third quarter.

With the game even at 14, Kroemer capped a 12-play, 59-yard drive with a one-yard scamper into the endzone. The possession, which took a whopping six minutes off the clock, proved to be the winning score. 

Elmhurst settled for a field goal after a pass breakup by Klein and a EU penalty to trim the Titan lead to 21-17.

The Bluejays battled over the final minutes, but ultimately the Green and White prevailed, 21-17.

 
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