LAST WEEK: The Titans won for the fourth straight week with a 33-10 conference decision over North Central. Senior Aaron Telford (Bloomington, Central Catholic HS) was the co-winner of the CCIW “Offensive Player of the Week” honor as he rushed for a career-high 148 yards on 16 carries with two touchdowns. .Junior QB Josh Akin (Naperville, Benet Academy) completed 7 of 17 passes for 82 yards and a score as seven different Titans caught passes. . .The IWU defense was led by senior Creighton Drescher (Palatine HS) and junior Mike Clark (Joliet, West HS), each of whom had 10 tackles, and senior Brad Andrekus (Carol Stream, Glenbard North HS), who made eight total tackles. Senior Craig Kastning (Woodstock HS) intercepted two passes and now has 10 in his career.

TELFORD: Senior Aaron Telford (Bloomington, Central Catholic HS) now has 680 yards this season and 1,433 in his career, moving to No. 15 among all-time IWU rushers. Just ahead of him is Mike Macesich with 1,461 yards on 357 carries (1970-73). With 282 carries, Telford averages 5.1 yards per carry in his career.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Chosen by Titan coaches to honor top players in the week’s game and practices.
OFFENSE: Aaron Telford, senior, back, Bloomington (Central Catholic HS)
DEFENSE: None selected
SPECIAL TEAMS: Solomon Jones, sophomore, linebacker, Kankakee (HS); Peter Dabrowski, sophomore, linebacker, Elmwood Park (HS)
SCOUT (Offense): Mike Bragg, freshman, back, Joliet (HS)
SCOUT (Defense): Pat O’Neil, freshman, linebacker, Byron (HS); Jason O’Hara, freshman, line, Bolingbrook (Romeoville HS)

ANDREKUS: Senior Brad Andrekus (Carol Stream, Glenbard North HS) was the CCIW “Defensive Player of the Week” vs. Carthage (Oct. 27) when he had two interceptions for 50 yards, defended three other passes, and had four solo tackles. Andrekus has 11 career interceptions. The all-time leaders with 16 are Jon Goldie and Kevin Fahey (1995-98). Fahey also holds the season record with nine (1998).

THE RETURNS ARE IN: When junior Kevin Kaplan (Cary, Cary-Grove HS) returned a punt 85 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter at Carthage, it broke his own school record of 80 yards, set last year, also vs. Carthage. Kaplan’s punt returns are the longest for a TD in IWU history, topping the previous long of 78 yards by Chris Bisaillon vs. Augustana (Oct. 26, 1991).

FOR THE RECORD: With six wins, the Titans will have their eighth straight winning season and are over .500 for the 12th time in the last 13 years... . . . IWU teams are 26-8 (.765) in November in the Norm Eash era . . .The Titans are 53-15 (.779) at home and 45-25-1 on the road (.641) under Eash. . .IWU is 42-8 (.840) at Wilder Field in the last 11 years, including 2001 . . .Dating back to 1995, IWU has won 50 of its last 61 games (.820). . . Prior to a Sept. 8 loss at Washington U., IWU had won 11 straight regular season non-league games, dating back to a 24-21 loss to Simpson in 1995.

THE COACHES: Norm Eash (Illinois Wesleyan, 1975) is in his 15th season as head coach at IWU. He has an overall record of 98-40-1 (.709) and a CCIW mark of 76-32-1 (.702) with conference titles in 1992, 1994, 1996 and 2000. Eash is fifth in all-time CCIW coaching wins and a win this weekend would tie him for fourth with Millikin’s Carl Poelker, who was 77-30-1 in 14 years (1982-95). Eash is second in victories at IWU, behind Don Larson (166 wins in 33 years, 1954-86) . . . Doug Neibuhr is in his sixth season as head coach at Millikin and has an overall mark of 39-18 overall and is 28-12 in the CCIW. Neibuhr, a 1974 Millikin graduate, was head coach at Wittenberg for seven years prior to returning to Millikin. Neibuhr was 50-18-1 at Wittenberg and led the Tigers to a playoff appearance in 1995. He is 89-36-1 (.684) overall as a collegiate coach.

94TH MEETING: Dating back to 1904, Millikin has a 50-36-7 lead over IWU. The Titans won last year 10-8, snapping a three-game Millikin win streak. Prior to that, the Titans had won three in a row and five of the last six. Millikin had won nine in a row prior to that (1982-90). Despite being 93 meetings old, the rivalry isn’t in the top 15 of Division III longest series.

SCOUTING THE BIG BLUE: The Big Blue are ranked No. 12 in the latest AFCA poll and are No. 23 in Don Hansen’s Football Gazette this week. Millikin rolled up 622 yards of total offense in a 58-6 win over Elmhurst last weekend. Millikin, which led 3-0 after the first quarter, got 405 yards rushing, including 161 from Deon Packer. Packer, who shared CCIW “Player of the Week” honors with Aaron Telford, broke a 29-year school record as he became the Big Blue’s all-time rushing leader heading into this week. Packer’s 3,300 yards tops the record set by Bob Henry (1969-72). Donnell Brown completed 7 of 12 passes for 215 yards with one TD. Michael Marker caught two passes for 87 yards and Ryan Miller caught two for 52 yards. . . The CCIW “Defensive Player of the Week” was Jason Halm, who registered nine tackles vs. the Bluejays. Jamie Luzinski also made nine tackles. Senior DB Richard Carter also added his name to the Millikin record book Saturday. He pulled in his fourth interception of the season to tie the career mark of 15 set by Tim Teegarden from 1979-1982. . .Their only loss has been at Augustana, 21-17.

CCIW STATS: In the latest CCIW statistics, IWU is fourth in total offense with 353.2 yards per game and ranks third in total defense, allowing 237.2 yards per game. . . Aaron Telford is fifth with 85.0 rushing yards per game and seventh with 104.4 all-purpose yards/game. Kevin Kaplan leads the league with an average of 19.5 yards per punt return and Ben Lawson leads the league with a 24.4 kickoff return average. Josh Akin is third in the league with 128.5 passing yards per game. Tim Snyder is second with 53.1 receiving yards per game and third with 3.57 catches per game. . . As a team, Millikin is first in team defense (189.9), scoring offense (38.0) and scoring defense (7.0), and second in total offense (428.3). Deon Packer is third in the league with 111.4 rushing yards per game. Donnell Brown is second in the CCIW with 128.7 passing yards per game. Andrew Beals leads the league in kick scoring with 72 points and is 39 of 45 in extra-point kicks. He is 11 of 19 in field goals with a long boot of 37 yards.

ABOUT WHITE, AKIN: Freshman wide receiver Eric White (Antioch HS) and junior quarterback Josh Akin (Naperville, Benet Academy) are non-lettermen and are not profiled in the 2001 IWU media guide. WHITE: Was an all-North Suburban Conference, all-county and all-area football player as a senior for the Sequoits. . . Also lettered four times in basketball . . .Majoring in business. AKIN: He threw for 800 yards and eight touchdowns as a high school senior for an East Suburban Catholic Conference champion team that made the state playoffs. . . Majoring in chemistry.