Illinois Wesleyan Football Team in Italy

Illinois Wesleyan Football

Titans get a big boot in Italy

By STEW SALOWITZ
For The Pantagraph

BERGAMO, Italy -- Bryan Klesath's 27 yard field goal
in overtime gave Illinois Wesleyan a 23-20 win over the
Bergamo Lions in an international exhibition before 500
fans at Stadio Osio Sotto in Italy.

IWU got the ball first in overtime and got a first down
on a 9-yard run by Pat Spangler and a 7-yard run by
Aaron Telford.

Three plays later Klesath made his field goal, no easy
feat in a constant 25 mph crosswind that caused the
goalposts to sway.

"These were some of the toughest conditions I've ever
had to kick in," said Klesath, who missed a 34-yarder
earlier in the game. "I just aimed at the center of the
uprights and hoped the wind wouldn't blow the kick off
course."

IWU scored first on a 2-yard run with 1:20 left in the
first quarter by Telford, who led IWU with 105 yards
on 17 carries. The scoring drive was set up by a
50-yard punt return by Josh Addis.

IWU's Kevin Kaplan had a 55-yard punt return earlier
before the Titans' first possession.

Bergamo's Tyrone Rush, who played professionally for
the Washington Redskins, ran for the first of his two
TDs with 8:16 before the half.

"IWU was very quick and well organized defensively,"
said Rush, who finished with 62 yards on 25 carries,
had four catches for 30 yards and set up his first TD
with a 62 yard kickoff return.

"They were physical and fast and my offensive line
wasn't used to that, which made it difficult for me. But
my hat's off to them -- they were a hard-hitting bunch
of young guys."

Craig Kastning's interception led to the second IWU
score, a 1-yard keeper by quarterback Kyle Eash with
14 seconds left in the half. IWU managed only 18 yards
in eight plays in the third quarter.

"Our inability to score in the third quarter allowed them
to stay with us," said IWU coach Norm Eash, who is
now 2-0 in international play. "We knew coming in that
Bergamo was a good football team, undefeated, and
would give us everything we wanted.

"There are many positive things to come out of this
game and things we can build on for the 2001 season."

Bergamo tied the score with only 13 seconds left in the
game on a 34-yard pass from James Trainer Pazak to
Matteo Soresini. Rush's point-after pass was complete
to Pierluigi Rochetti.

Eash was 2-of-7 passing for 38 yards with both
completions coming in the fourth quarter and leading to
the IWU score with 2:26 to play that put IWU ahead,
20-12.

"Illinois Wesleyan is quick and very disciplined and they
played a very good game," said Bergamo coach Carlos
Barocio.

The Titans' traveling party will go to Florence and
Rome before returning to the United States Friday.

Boxscore

Illinois Wesleyan 7 6 0 7 3 - 23
Bergamo 0 6 0 14 0 - 20

IW - Aaron Telford 2-yd. run (Klesath kick)
B - Tyrone Rush 1-yd. run (kick failed)
IW - Kyle Eash 1-yd. run (kick failed)
B - Rush 4-yd. run (kick failed)
IW - Eash 6-yd. run (kick failed)
B - Matteo Soresini 34-yd. pass (Pierluigi Rochetti pass from Rush)
IW - Klesath 27-yd. field goal

                                            Illinois Wesleyan            Bergamo
Net Yards Gained                        223                                 197
    By rushing                                185                                   90
    By passing                                 38                                 107
Passes Attempted                            7                                   17
    Completed                                  2                                     9
    Intercepted by                             0                                     1

Individual Statistics
    Rushing - Illinois Wesleyan: Telford 17-105, Eash 14-36, Pat Spangler 5-36, Chris Ross 3-8. Bergamo: Rush 25-62, Pazak 7-27, Marco Polizzi 1-1.
    Passing - Illinois Wesleyan: Eash 7-2-0-38. Bergamo: Pazak 17-9-1-107.
    Receiving - Illinois Wesleyan: Jacob Quinton 1-20, Luke Carreras 1-18. Bergamo: Rush 4-30, Gabriel Espaniol 1-34, Soresini 1-34.