Box Score
The Carthage College football team (7-3, 4-3 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) wound up its 2009 season on Saturday, Nov. 14 with a thrilling, 35-30 win over CCIW-opponent and No. 21 Wheaton College (Ill., 7-3, 4-3) at McCully Field in Wheaton, Ill. The win gave the Red Men a three-game winning streak to end the season and elevated Carthage to the 31st spot in the final, regular-season “D3football.com” poll.
Carthage took a 7-0 lead on the game's opening drive after covering 76 yards in 11 plays, ending with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Evan Jones to Nick Merchut at 11:04. Wheaton answered with a pair of field goals by Scott Roche, the first a 46-yarder at 8:36 and the other a 37-yarder at 3:02 to cut the Red Men's lead to 7-6. Roche connected on a third field goal, this one from 41 yards, at 12:12 second period to give the Thunder their first lead of the game, 9-7. Carthage's Tyler Funk booted a 20-yard field goal at 7:18 second period to put the Red Men back up by a point, 10-9.
Late in the first half, Carthage's John Seigler fumbled a punt return, which the Thunder recovered at the Red Men's 17-yard line. Five plays later, Sean Norris hooked up with Danny Hindman on a six-yard touchdown pass and a 17-10 Wheaton lead. After the ensuing kickoff, Carthage took at its own 38-yard line with 15 seconds to play. An 11-yard rush by Seigler and a 16-yard pass from Jones to Jeff Koeneman put the ball on the Wheaton 49-yard line, and Tyler Funk booted a 52-yard field goal as time ran out, and the Thunder led at halftime, 17-13. Funk's 52-yard boot tied his own school record set in the Nov. 7 North Park University game.
The Thunder opened the second half with a 61-yard scoring drive that ended with a one-yard TD pass from Norris to Hindman at 12:24 for a 24-13 Wheaton lead. Tyler Funk converted his third field goal of the game, a 20-yarder at 7:28 third period to make it a 24-16 contest. On the ensuing kickoff, Wheaton fumbled the return and the Red Men's Chris Kempton recovered at the Thunder 38-yard line. Eight plays later, Evan Jones carried the ball in from the one-yard line for touchdown, and the Red Men trailed by a point, 24-23, with 3:57 to play in the third quarter.
Carthage took a 29-24 lead at 9:51 fourth quarter on a five-yard TD pass from Jones to Nick Merchut, but an attempted two-point conversion failed. Wheaton re-gained the lead, 30-29, on a six-play, 68-yard drive that ended with a 31-yard touchdown pass from Norris to Fredy Ellis with 1:30 to play in the game. The Thunder's two-point conversion also failed. The Red Men scored the game-winning touchdown with 39 seconds to play on a 21-yard pass from Jones to Jeff Koeneman. Back-to-backs sacks by Carthage's Brad Fortney helped thwart the final Wheaton drive.
Carthage collected 471 total offensive yards, 121 rushing and 350 passing, while Wheaton had 380 total yards, 110 on the ground and 270 in the air. Evan Jones completed 40-of-56 passes for 350 yards and three touchdowns. Jeff Koeneman caught 14 passes for 134 yards.
The Record Book: Quarterback Evan Jones (Jr., Grayslake, Ill.,) set season records for total offensive yards (3,655), passing yards (3,554), passing attempts (464), passing completions (309) and touchdown passes thrown (32), all bettering his own marks set in the 2008 season…with 6,651 total offensive yards, 4,253 passing yards, 59 touchdown passes in three years, Jones surpassed Patrick Brown's Carthage career records of 5,435 total yards, 4,253 passing yards and 42 touchdown passes set between 1999 and 2002…wide receiver Jeff Koeneman (Sr., Barrington, Ill./Palatine-Fremd) set a season record with 94 passing receptions, breaking his own 2008 mark of 77…Koeneman wound up his career as Carthage's all-time leader in both passing receptions (258) and receiving yards (3,006)…Tyler Funk (Sr., Racine, Wis./Horlick) set a school record with a 44.4 punting average, bettering a 1955 record of 42.3 set by Carthage Hall of Fame member John Eakins…wide receiver Nick Merchut (Sr., Bartlett, Ill.) wound up his career as the Red Men's all-time leader in touchdown passes caught (40), and his total matched Carthage's overall mark of 40 set by tailback Kevin Burris between 1996-1999…as a team, Carthage's 4,639 total offensive yards, 3,796 passing yards, 35 passing touchdowns and 327 passing completions set school records, and its 257 first downs matched a 2008 season mark.
