MARION, Ind. – The No. 4-ranked Indiana Wesleyan football team returned to Wildcat Football Stadium on Saturday afternoon against No. 13 St. Xavier for their second-straight nationally ranked matchup. The Wildcats held the Cougars to just 10 first downs and 95 total yards on their way to a 39-7 win.
For the third time this season, the Wildcat quarterback has set a new single-game program record for passing yards. Kyle Antoine takes back the record from teammate, Arjun Lothe, with 395 yards.
- Location: Marion, Ind. | Wildcat Football Stadium
- Records: IWU - 5-1 | SXU - 3-2
- NAIA Top-25 Ranking: IWU - #6 | SXU - #13
- The Wildcats received the opening kickoff and drove 60 yards down the field for a Ryan Whitwell touchdown to go up 7-0.
- St. Xavier's following drive came to an end as Gabe Long forced a fumble and Anthony Cheesebourough fell on the ball to give possession back to IWU.
- A three-and-out for Indiana Wesleyan saw Josh Clifton covert a 33-yard field goal to make it 10-0.
- The defense forced another three-and-out and Roosevelt Cage broke free for a 29-yard rushing touchdown to extend the Wildcat lead to 17-0.
- A SXU punt was able to pin IWU back in their own territory on their one-yard line.
- The Cougars made it 17-7 after forced a Whitwell fumble on the next play was recovered in the endzone.
- Da'Veon Turner ended the next drive for Saint Xavier with his third interception of the season.
- Savion Turner recorded his first sack of the season midway through the quarter.
- The only score of the quarter came off a 26-yard field goal from Clifton to conclude the half.
- Kyle Antoine made it 27-7 early in the third quarter with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Whitwell.
- Antoine and Whitwell found each other through the air again on the following drive with an explosive 41-yard score, extending the lead to 34-7.
- IWU recorded three sacks during one drive with two for Robert Hunter on back-to-back plays and Garrett Hathaway and Antonio White splitting the third to force a punt.
- The Wildcat defense continued to dominate with SXU backed up to their own territory and forced an intentional grounding penalty resulting in a safety and a 36-7 scoreline.
- Clifton connected for his third field goal of the day from 22 yards to secure the 39-7 victory for Indiana Wesleyan.
- For the third time this season, the Wildcat quarterback has set a new single-game program record for passing yards. Kyle Antoine takes back the record from teammate, Arjun Lothe, with 395 yards. He also finished with two touchdowns to go along with a season-high 31 completions.
- Ryan Whitwell finished with three total touchdowns, two receiving and one on the ground.
- Isaac Smith recorded his third game with over 100 yards, grabbing 10 catches for 114 yards. hauled in two scores on 94 yards, totaling 503 yards and eight touchdowns this season. Levi Tidwell, Whitwell, and Caden Currie all finished with over 70 receiving yards.
- Luke Bays led the defense with seven total stops, with Drake Deshetsky close behind with six.
- The Wildcats set a new season high with 7 sacks. Robert Hunter tallied two and five other Wildcats earned one.
- Gabe Long had a sack, a forced fumble, and a pass deflection.
- Da'Veon Turner snagged his third interception of the season.
- Josh Clifton went 3-4 on field goals with a long of 33 yards, while going 4-4 on PAT's.
- Clifton also averaged 56.1yards on eight kickoff attempts.
- Jaden Downs averaged 37 yards on his two punts, pinning both inside the 20 yard line.
- Myles Cox totaled 72 yards on 2 kickoff returns and 33 yards on 2 punt returns.
- IWU totaled 28 first downs while only allowing 10.
- The Wildcats totaled 440 yards through the air compared to 74 by the visitors. Indiana Wesleyan averaged 12.9 yards per catch while limiting the opposition to 5.3 yards per catch.
- The home team totaled for 535 total yards while limiting SXU to 95 total yards. IWU averaged 6.6 yards per play compared to 1.9 yards per play for the Cougars.
- The Wildcats held the ball for 33:28 while allowing Siena Heights to only have possession for 26:32.
- IWU scored on five of their six red zone trips, while limiting St. Xavier to just one chance.
- IWU moves to 5-1 and have outscored their opponents 274-44 this season.
- With both a high-powered offense and an elite defense, The Wildcats have proven to be one of the top teams in the country.
- "Great team win today!" said Andrew Rode, Head Football Coach. "Our defense played great football and our offense was explosive. Our guys are battling and playing well together."
- The Wildcats go back on the road next week for arguably their toughest test of the regular season.
- IWU heads down to Indianapolis to take on No. 10 Marian on Oct. 12th at 1:05PM.
- Links for tickets, video, and stats are available on IWUWildcats.com.
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