On a bitterly-cold afternoon at Art Keller Field in Kenosha, Wis., the Carthage College football team (3-7, 2-5 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) closed out its 2014 season on Saturday, Nov. 15 with a 21-2 loss to CCIW-champion and No. 8 Wheaton College (Ill., 10-0, 7-0 CCIW).
 
Three touchdown passes by Wheaton quarterback Johnny Peltz accounted for the Thunder scoring.  Carthage took an early 2-0 lead on a bad Wheaton snap on a punt play that resulted in a safety.  The Thunder went up, 7-2, with 45 seconds left in the first period on a 15-play, 72-yard scoring drive that ended with a four-yard touchdown pass from Johnny Peltz to Luke Thorson.  Wheaton upped its lead to 14-2 at 12:29 third period with a six-play, 75-yard drive that was capped by a 20-yard touchdown pass from Peltz to Thorson.  Peltz' third TD pass came at 8:29 fourth period, a 13-yarder to Matt Mitchell that closed out a 10-play, 74-yard scoring drive and accounted for the final, 21-2 margin.
 
Wheaton collected 362 total offensive yards, 110 yards rushing and 252 passing, while Carthage had 265 total yards, 73 on the ground and 192 in the air.  The Thunder had a 23-17 advantage in first downs and a 31:21-28:39 margin in time-of-possession.  Johnny Peltz completed 19-of-30 passes for 252 yards and three touchdowns.  Luke Thorson  caught six passes for 81 yards,  Peltz also rushed for ran for 68 yards on 12 carries.  Red Men quarterback Nick Anzelmo completed 21-of-35 passes for 192 yards and was intercepted twice.  James Cobbs III caught eight passes for 88 yards.  Adam Dansdill led the Thunder defensive effort with 11 solo tackles and an interception, while the Red Men's K.J. Simpson had 10 tackles (9 solo).
 
"We played hard," said Carthage coach Mike Yeager, "but Wheaton did a better job than us on third downs and maintaining drives.  We fell short on those situations.  Wheaton has a really good front seven on defense, and they just stop the run.  That's why they're the top defense in the league.  They also made the key plays on offense.  There's no doubt that good teams are built in the off-season.  We'll take a couple of weeks off, but what we do between December and April will determine our success in 2015.  Two years ago, we were a very bad football team.  This year, we were much better, but we still have a long way to go.  If we can make the same size of jump next year, we'll be right in the mix next season.  The progression of a program takes time—it doesn't happen overnight.  I'm excited about the future."