JOLIET, Ill. – The No. 6-ranked Indiana Wesleyan football team spoiled the Homecoming celbrations for the No. 23-ranked University of St. Francis (Ill.) on Saturday afternoon with a 38-3 road victory. The Wildcats held an offense that has averaged 53 points per game so far this season to just three points. IWU's defense registered a pick-six, five sacks, and 3 forced fumbles.

 

THE ESSENTIALS

 

• Location: Joliet, Ill. | Joliet Memorial Stadium
• Records: IWU - 4-1 | USF - 3-1
• NAIA Top-25 Ranking: IWU - #6 | USF - #23

 

FIRST QUARTER

 

• Ryan Whitwell led the offense on the opening drive with a touchdown to cap off a 7:24 drive covering 75-yards.
• Anthony Cheesebourough stalled a long St. Francis drive with a sack, but a converted field goal made it 7-3 Wildcats at the end of the 1^st quarter.

 

SECOND QUARTER

 

• The Saints drove down the field to start the 2^nd quarter, but missed a field goal attempt with the strong winds blowing into the kicker's face.
• IWU gave the ball back to USF on the very next play after forcing a fumble by Whitwell.
• Clayton Mosher took the Saints out of field-goal range with a tackle for a 5-yard loss.
• St. Francis turned the ball over on downs after choosing to not kick against the wind again.
• Whitwell powered his way for his second touchdown to extend the IWU lead 14-3.
• The Wildcats' stellar red-zone defense kept the Saints out of the endzone and forced a second missed field-goal to go into the halftime locker room up 14-3.

 

THIRD QUARTER

 

• A three-and-out for the Saints to open the half was capped off by a sack by Clayton Mosher.
• Isaac Smith found the endzone on IWU's first drive of the third quarter to extend the Wildcat lead to 21-3.
• Josh Clifton connected on a 25-yard field goal midway through the quarter to push the Indiana Wesleyan lead to 24-3.
• Clayton Mosher picked off a pass and returned it to the house for the second-straight game, making it 31-3.
• Deven Arevalo got his chance in the backfield and earned the fourth sack to the Wildcats to stall another Saints' drive.
• The offense stayed hot with a 41-yard bomb from Kyle Antoine to Isaac Smith to give IWU the 38-3.

 

FOURTH QUARTER

 

• Whitwell, Elijah Gibbs, and Brock Short split time at running back in the 4^th as IWU controlled possession and ran down the clock.
• The fifth sack of the game for the Wildcats came from Ethan Dutra with two minutes left in the game.

 

OFFENSIVE LEADERS

 

• On the ground, Ryan Whitwell gained 145 yards and two touchdowns on a season-high 31 carries. Elijah Gibbs got the ball 12 times for 55 yards.
• Antoine returned at quarterback and completed 15-of-20 (75.0 percent) for 182 yards and two scores on the day. Lothe hit all three targets for 17 yards.
• Isaac Smith hauled in two scores on 94 yards, totaling 503 yards and eight touchdowns this season. Levi Tidwell reached 60 yards with his four catches.

 

DEFENSIVE LEADERS

 

• Clayton Mosher led the defense with 11 total stops, including two for loss. Deven Arevalo added eight tackles in the victory.
• The Wildcats matched last week's season-high of five sacks for five different players.
• Luke Bays, Terry Sylvester, and Arevalo each registered a forced fumble.
• Mosher recorded his second-straight game with a pick six.

 

SPECIAL TEAMS STANDOUTS

 

• Josh Clifton made his one field goal attempt from 25 yards, while going 5-5 on PAT's.
• Clifton also averaged 61.9 yards on seven kickoff attempts.
• Jaden Downs averaged 37.3 yards on four punts, placing one inside the 20 with a long of 48.

 

STATS COMPARISON

 

• IWU totaled 22 first downs while only allowing 11. The Wildcats dominated the opposition 202-24 on the ground.
• The road team totaled for 401 total yards while limiting one of the top offenses in the country to 233 yards and three points. IWU averaged 5.5 yards per play.
• The Wildcats held the ball for 33:30 while allowing Siena Heights to only have possession for 26:30.
• IWU scored on all four of their red zone trips and the team was also two-for-three on fourth down.

 

WHAT THE WIN MEANS

 

• The victory give IWU their first ranked win of the season and look to keep momentum next week at home.
• The Wildcats move to 2-0 in the all-time series against the Saints.

 

RODE PERSPECTIVE

 

• "It was a great team win today," said Andrew Rode, Head Football Coach. "Our defense played really tough throughout the whole game and gave our offense some opportunities to score points."

 

LOOKING FORWARD

 

• No. 6 IWU returns home next week against nationally ranked Saint Xavier (Ill.) on Saturday, Oct. 5^th at 12:00PM.
• Tickets, video, and stats will be available on IWUWildcats.com.

 

FOLLOW THE WILDCATS

 

• Follow Athletics (@IWUWildcats): Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
• Follow Football (@IndWesleyan_FB): Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

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