Chicago, Il., -- #18 Wheaton College (7-2, 7-1) will make their way to the Holmgren Athletic Complex to face off against the Vikings (3-6, 2-6), who close out their season with Senior Day.
North Park is coming off their road trip to St. Louis where they fell to Washington University 42-14. A tough day for both the offense and defense, however the effort never wavered and the Vikings were still able to pull out some special plays. To start the game, senior receiver Jereme Ombogo took the opening kickoff 97 yards to the house giving North Park the early 7-0 lead. Defensively, sophomores linebackers Armando Martinez and DJ Johnson continued their high level of play leading all Vikings in tackles with 11 and 9, respectively, with Martinez recovering a fumble as well. North Park was able to force four turnovers against a WashU team that has been receiving votes in the DIII national rankings, a trend they hope to carry into this week against the Thunder. Defensive backs Ben Butler and Xavier Wade both had interceptions, while defensive linemen Danny Alequin and Elijah Chandler both forced a fumble. Chandler also logged one of the Vikings' four sacks on the day. Receivers Wesley McCloud and Niko Armstead-Lehti III, along with Cayden Debose had some explosive plays in the pass game, quarterbacks Carson Lewis and Justen Green were able to connect with those guys a good amount. McCloud ended with a team high 83 yards and Debose had four catches for 46 yards; Armstead-Lehti III had one catch on the day but it was the longest reception of the game by any player at 56 yards, putting the Vikings in scoring position.
Wheaton is on a five game win streak, handling Millikin 61-14 in their last game. Their last loss came six weeks ago against #1 North Central where they got shut out 35-0 and since then the Thunder have been rolling. On the year they have only surrendered 19 points a game to opponents and have been averaging 45 points, virtually being top-3 in every offensive category. Quarterback Mark Forcucci has the least amount of interceptions by a starting QB in the CCIW and is third in completion percentage at a 69% clip. A big part of Forcucci's success is due the fact he's throwing to receiver Seth Kortenhoeven, who is second in receiving touchdowns(8), first in yards per game (96.6), and third in yards (773). Runningback Matt Crider is second in rushing touchdowns this season (9) and third in rushing yards (644). This well oiled machine of an offense will provide some match up problems for the Vikings this week. For the Thunder defense, they have two players sitting atop the CCIW leading the way in sacks: Peter Johanik has an impressive 6.5 on the year while his teammate Zeke Harris has 2. Harris is also top three in total tackles this season with 76, averaging 8.4 a game. As a team they have forced 10 interceptions a game, forced 6 fumbles, and tallied 16 sacks on the season, showing how opportunistic the Thunder can be and cognizant the Vikings offense has to be in getting the ball out quick and protecting it as well.
Kickoff is set for 12pm on Saturday, November 15th, with Senior Day honors starting briefly before the start of the game.
