LIVONIA, Mich. – No. 6 Indiana Wesleyan football kicked off the 2024 season in style with a commanding 59-0 shutout over Madonna on Saturday afternoon. Quarterback Kyle Antoine showed out in his first start as a Wildcat with a single-game program record five touchdown passes. Another newcomer, Ryan Whitwell, controlled the ground attack with 227 rushing yards.


 

THE ESSENTIALS

• Location: Livonia, Mich | Franklin High School
• Records: IWU - 1-0 | Madonna - 0-1
• NAIA Top-25 Ranking: IWU - #6 | MU - Unranked

FIRST QUARTER

• IWU marched down the field on the opening possession into the endzone after Antoine found Isaac Smith for the first touchdown of the 2024 season.
• Later in the quarter, Indiana Wesleyan was faced with a 3^rd and 12, and Levi Tidwell caught a ball over the middle and ran for a 42 yard gain. Smith caught his second touchdown to make it 14-0.
• Myles Cox scored his first touchdown as a Wildcat near the end of the quarter to put IWU up 21-0.

SECOND QUARTER

• A stalled out drive early in the second quarter gave Josh Clifton the chance to send a 7-yard field goal through the uprights, extending the lead to 24-0.
• The following drive resulted in a 6 play 65 yards trip down the field, capped off by a 25-yard touchdown catch from Antoine to Grant Irwin, making it 31-0.
• The IWU defense continue to dominate, holding Madonna to just 74 yards in the quarter.
• Isaac Smith caught his 3^rd touchdown of the game to close out the first half, giving IWU the 38-0 lead heading into the locker room.

THIRD QUARTER

• Neither team was able to find the endzone in the third quarter.
• Da'Veon Turner blocked a Madonna field goal attempt to keep the shutout intact.

FOURTH QUARTER

• The first play of the final period saw Whitwell punch the ball in from one-yard out to increase the lead to 45-0.
• Roosevelt Cage took advantage of his first action of the day to put the Wildcats up 52-0 with a two-yard touchdown for his first trip of the endzone .
• The IWU defense continued to execute and earned one of their four fourth-down stops of the game.
• Cage showcased his speed with a 50-yard burst to the house, giving IWU the 59-0 victory.

OFFENSIVE LEADERS

• Antoine showed out as the new QB1 for the Wildcats, going 21-27 for 269 yard and a program-record 5 touchdowns.
• On the ground, Whitwell had himself a day, carrying the ball 28 times for 227 yards and one touchdowns.
• Tidwell hauled in 6 catches for 113 yards, while Smith had three touchdowns with 40 yards.

DEFENSIVE LEADERS

• Drake Deshetsky led the team with 6 total tackles. 
• Neil Campbell was all over the field with 5 total tackles, 2 being for loss, and 5 pass break-ups.
• Deven Arevalo also tallied 5 total tackles.
• Luke Bays and Da'Veon Turner both finished with 4 tackles each.

SPECIAL TEAMS STANDOUTS

• Josh Clifton made his lone field goal try, while also averaging 57.2 yards per kick-off.
• Cox had the team's lone kick-off return for 21 yards.
• Foley only had one punt on the afternoon for 38 yards, while Cox had a punt return of 7 yards.

STATS COMPARISON

• The Wildcats totaled 33 first downs compared to 14 by Madonna.
• The team rattled off 333 rushing yards (6.9 per attempt) compared to 69 (2.4 per attempt) to the visitors.
• Overall, IWU registered 630 yards compared to 192 by Madonna.
• IWU was 9-14 on third downs while Madonna was 2-18.

WHAT THE WIN MEANS

• The win give the Wildcats their second-consecutive win in a season-opener.
• This marks the largest shutout victory since a 66-0 win against Trinity International in 2019.
• IWU welcomes the University of Saint Francis next week. The team has won their last three meetings against the Cougars with a 1-1 record against them at home.

RODE PERSPECTIVE

• "Great team win today!" said Andrew Rode, Head Football Coach. "All three phases were playing complimentary football. We ran the ball well today behind an experienced offensive line and our defense did everything right and gave the offense some very short fields. Proud of how this team is growing together and committed to getting better."

LOOKING FORWARD

• The Wildcats return to action next week for their home opener.
• The team hosts the University of Saint Francis (Ind.) on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 6:00 p.m. for a WHITE OUT under the lights.
• Links for tickets, video and stats are available at IWUWildcats.com.

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