Sat., Oct. 26 • 1 p.m. • Wilder Field at IWU Stadium
Bloomington, Ill.
LAST WEEK: The Titans had to come from behind in the final 5 minutes to topple North Central, 33-24. Junior Brian Klesath (Peoria/Notre Dame HS) kicked his fourth field goal with 2:41 to play to give IWU a 26-24 lead and senior Chris Ross (Chatham, Glenwood HS) added an insurance rushing TD with 26 seconds left for the final margin. Klesath had field goals of 26, 37, 27, and 26 yards to tie an IWU single game record set by Jason Blaskovich vs. Quincy in 1991. Ross tied a school record with 39 rushing attempts in a game and his 238 yard rushing total is third best in a single game at IWU (see more Ross notes below). Senior Josh Akin (Naperville, Benet Academy) completed only nine of 21 passes for 106 yards and six of those passes went to sophomore Eric White (Antioch HS). Defensively, senior LB Mike Clark (Joliet, West HS) had 12 total tackles, including six solo and senior Willie Chandler (St. Louis, Mo., Hazelwood East HS) had six tackles, a quarterback sack and returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Chosen by Titan coaches to honor top players in the week’s game
and practices.
OFFENSE: Bob Cullen, junior, tight end, Sycamore (HS)
DEFENSE: None selected
SPECIAL TEAMS: Kickoff return team
SCOUT (Offense): Junior varsity offensive line
SCOUT (Defense): Levi Derber, freshman, linebacker, Princeton (Spring
Valley Hall HS); Doug Schmied, freshman, line, Hanna City (Farmington HS).
LEAGUE HONORS: Senior tailback Chris Ross (Chatham, Glenwood HS) has been named "Offensive Player of the Week" in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin for the third time this season, sharing the award for the second time with Wheaton's Brad Musso. Ray Hartmann of Carthage was given the defensive "Player of the Week" honor for games of Oct. 19. Ross and Musso also shared the award on Sept. 28 and Ross also was honored on Oct. 5. Musso caught nine passes for 185 yards with two TDs. In a loss, Hartmann made 22 tackles (10 solo)...IWU’s Josh Akin (Naperville, Benet Academy) was CCIW “Offensive Player of the Week” on Sept. 14.
CHRIS ROSS: Senior Chris Ross (Chatham, Glenwood HS) has been CCIW “Player of the Week” three times this fall. Against North Central, Ross tied a school record with 39 rushing attempts in a game, held by Kurt Swearingen (1977 vs. Augustana) and his 238 yard rushing total is third best in a single game at IWU, behind Chris Humbles (273 vs. North Park, 1991) and Deon Hornsby (244 vs. Thomas More, 1996). At Chicago he ran for 206 yards and vs. North Park he ran for 187 yards and tied a school-record with four TD runs. For the season Ross has 837 rushing yards, which is 12th in an IWU season. Ross is 243 yards from eclipsing the single season rushing record of 1079 by Swearingen in 1977. In his career Ross has 940 yards. Maury Parker ran for four TDs vs. Carthage in 1990.
JUST FOR KICKS: Junior Brian Klesath (Peoria, Notre Dame HS) has eight field goals this season, which makes him second in a single season in IWU records, behind Dave Pearce (10 in 1981). Klesath, who tied the single-game record with four field goals vs. North Central, is 21-of-33 in his career, second all-time at IWU, behind Pearce (29 field goals from 1979-82). Klesath had a career-long 44 yarder in the win over UW-LaCrosse.
FOR THE RECORD: IWU teams are 46-24 in October in the Norm Eash era... Since 1995, IWU has won 56 of its last 68 games (.824) and has been over the .500-mark for eight straight years and 12 of the last 13 years. The 12 losses have come to Wheaton (4), Millikin and Augustana (3 each), Mount Union and Washington U. (1 each)... The Titans are 56-15 (.786) at home and 48-26-1 on the road (.647) under Eash...IWU is 45-8 (.849) at Wilder Field in the last 11 years (1991-2002).
ALL-TIME: IWU is 489-349-42 (.578) in 110 years of football. Before the season, IWU was tied for 16th among Division III schools (with St. John’s [Minn.], 484-211-24 in 91 seasons).
SCOUTING THE THUNDER: The Wheaton Thunder improved to 5-1 (3-0 CCIW) with their fifth straight win in a 36-6 decision over Carthage Saturday. The Thunder held Carthage to 238 yards of total offense, well below their 429 average, and the Redmen came into the game averaging 32.4 points. Carthage's Randal Baker, who came into the game as Division III's leading rusher, was limited to 96 yards on 26 carries. Justin Knapp led the Thunder defense with 11 total tackles, an assisted sack and an interception. Michael Drach, Jeff Mumm and Kevin Sellers each made seven total tackles. Mumm blocked field goal attempt that he returned 32 yards to set up a field goal. Brad Musso made nine catches for 185 yards with two long touchdown catches. Senior quarterback Josh Anderson, filling in for the injured Chad Bradley, completed 22 of his 34 attempts for 293 yards with two TDs. Dan Price had 101 yards on 22 carries with three TDs.
THE COACHES: Norm Eash (Illinois Wesleyan, 1975) is in his 16th season as head coach at IWU and has an overall record of 104-41-1 (.714) and a CCIW mark of 79-33-1 (.701) with conference titles in 1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, and 2001. Eash, the CCIW “Coach of the Year” in 1992, 1996 and 2001, is fourth in all-time CCIW coaching wins, behind IWU’s Don Larson (142 wins), Bob Reade of Augustana (112) and Carthage’s Art Keller (105). Eash is second in victories at IWU, behind Don Larson (166 wins in 33 years, 1954-86)...With an overall record of 44-18, Mike Swider is in his seventh season as Wheaton’s head coach after 11 seasons as defensive coordinator, a position he still holds. A 1977 Wheaton graduate, Swider is a former Wheaton quarterback and still ranks 10th in career passing yards at the school.
The Norm Eash Record - Year-by-Year
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CCIW STATS: Illinois Wesleyan is fifth in the league in both total offense (392) and defense (354.3). Wheaton leads the CCIW in offense (499.3) and scoring (41.8) and is second in defense (240.7). Eric White (Antioch HS) is second in the league with 7.5 catches per game and 97.5 receiving yards per game and Chris Ross (Chatham, Glenwood HS) is second in rushing with 139.5 per game. Kevin Kaplan (Cary, Cary-Grove HS) leads the CCIW with a 16.1 punt return average and Josh Addis (Essex, Reed-Custer HS) tops the league with a 27.6 kickoff return average. Wheaton’s Chad Bradley leads the league in total offense (266.8) and passing (263.2) and Brad Musso is first with 116.8 receiving yards per game.
THE SERIES: IWU snapped a four game losing streak to Wheaton with a win last fall. Wheaton has a 23-22-2 lead over the Titans in the series that dates back to 1922. In the last 17 meetings, Wheaton has an 11-5 lead with a tie in 1991. Norm Eash is 5-9-1 vs. Wheaton.
LOOKING AHEAD: After two straight home games, the Titans will travel to Carthage for a 1 p.m. game next Saturday (Nov. 2) in Kenosha, Wis. The Redmen are 2-4 overall and 1-2 in the CCIW after a 36-6 loss at Wheaton last weekend.
ON THE AIR: The IWU/Wheaton game will be broadcast via streaming audio on the Internet on WJBC Radio. Art Kimball and Greg Halbleib will provide the commentary.
RANKINGS: With the loss to Augustana, IWU fell out of both the American Football Coaches Association poll and the top 40 of Don Hansen Football Gazette. Wheaton is No. 39 in this week's Football Gazette poll.
WEEK-BY-WEEK RANKINGS:
American Football Coaches Association
Sept. 17 - 23
Sept. 24 - 23
Oct. 1 - 19
Oct. 8 - 16
Oct. 15 - not ranked
Oct. 22 - not ranked
Don Hansen Football Gazette
Sept. 17 - 37
Sept. 24 - 37
Oct. 1 - 36
Oct. 8 - 35
Oct. 15 - not ranked
Oct. 22 - not ranked
IWU ALUM COACHES: Three of the CCIW coaches are Illinois Wesleyan graduates - the Titans’ Norm Eash and North Park’s Robin Cooper, both from the class of 1975, and North Central’s John Thorne, who graduated in 1969. Four other coaches are the head mentors at their own alma maters - Jim Barnes (Augustana), Doug Niebuhr (Millikin), Mike Swider (Wheaton), and Tim Rucks (Carthage), while Elmhurst’s Paul Krohn is a Mankato State graduate.
UNDER THE LIGHTS: On Sept. 21, 2002, IWU won the first home night
football game played at IWU’s Wilder Field since 1971. The Titans were
to have played Aurora at night on Sept. 15, 2001, but the game was cancelled
in light of the national tragedies of Sept. 11. The last home night game
was on Oct. 2, 1971, when Carthage downed the Titans, 22-19. Home night
game results from 1965-2002:
Sept. 24, 2002 - IWU 31, Washington U. 24 (OT)
Oct. 2, 1971 - Carthage 22, IWU 19
Sept. 19, 1970 - IWU 21, Wheaton 21
Oct. 5, 1968 - Carthage 20, IWU 13
Sept. 30, 1967 - IWU 17, Augustana 3
Oct. 1, 1966 - IWU 20, North Park 0
Sept. 25, 1965 - IWU 34, Illinois State 7
MEDIA GUIDE: The 2002 Illinois Wesleyan football media guide, complete with player and coach profiles and all-time records, is available for $5 via mail. Send a check to: Sports Information Director, Illinois Wesleyan, P.O. Box 2900, Bloomington, IL 61702-2900.
HONORS: Four players return that were first team all-CCIW choices last season - senior defensive back and punt returner Kevin Kaplan (Cary, Cary-Grove HS) (20 tackles, five interceptions, led league in punt returns); senior linebacker Mike Clark (Joliet, West HS) (82 tackles, 45 solo, 13 tackles for loss); senior offensive tackle Adam Miller (Elgin, Larkin HS); and junior wide receiver Tim Snyder (Glen Ellyn, Glenbard South HS) (27 catches for 396 yards). Kaplan is also a third team preseason All-American (Don Hansen Football Gazette).