WHEATON, Ill. – The Carthage College Red Men suffered their first defeat of the season in their College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin opener at the hands of #4 Wheaton College Saturday night, 37-14.
 
"They outplayed us tonight," said head coach Mike Yeager following the loss.  "They outplayed us and outcoached us in all three phases; offense, defense and special teams.  Wheaton played very well and is a very good football team.  We had our opportunities.  We didn't take advantage of any of those.  When you do that against a good football team then you are going to be in trouble."
 
The loss drops the Red Men to 2-1 on the season and 0-1 in the CCIW, while the Thunder move to 3-0 and 1-0 in the league.
 
Despite huge struggles trying to punt in the first half, which saw a pair of snaps go over Nick Candre's head and a Wheaton block, Carthage still was able to limit the damage at the half, trailing just 16-7.
 
On the special team struggles Yeager said, "We had two bad snaps and they led to nine points with a safety and a touchdown.  We have to get that fixed; we will get that fixed and we have to be better in that area." 
 
The Carthage defense fought to keep the Red Men in the first half as an interception created off a tipped ball by Nick Ganzke that landed in the hands of reigning CCIW Defensive Player of the Week Shawntrel Garner at the end of the first quarter was returned 28 yards to set the offense up at the Wheaton four yard line.
 
Two plays later Jamel Davis got the Red Men on the board with a one-yard touchdown run for his first of the season to cut the deficit to 9-7.  Davis finished as Carthage's top rusher with nine carries for 43 yards.
 
Carthage looked to get on the board again in the final minute of the first half but an interception by thrown by Kyle Friberg in the end zone as he was trying to find Cobbs closed the door on their red zone opportunity.
 
Out of halftime break, Wheaton added onto their lead with touchdowns in the third and fourth quarter to open a 30-7 lead over Carthage.
 
James Cobbs delivered the lone score for the Red Men in the fourth quarter as he took a short pass Kyle Friberg and was able to break free to run down the sideline for a 49-yard touchdown reception to cut the deficit to 30-14 after the Lance Unland PAT.
 
Friberg finished the game 15-of-25 for 117 yards, an interception and the touchdown to Cobbs.  Cobbs finished as the Red Men's leading receiver with four catches for 58 yards.
 
Wheaton quarterback Spencer Peterson accounted for four Thunder touchdowns, going 1-for-1 in the air with a passing touchdown and running for three on 16 carries for 141 yards.
 
Carthage was held to a season-low three net rushing yards and just 117 total yards of offense, while Wheaton ran for 251 yards in the game and tallied 334 total. 
 
"We had some success running the ball early on and they made some adjustments and they made it a little bit tougher on our run plays," noted Yeager.  "Hats off to them for doing a good job.  They have a nice front seven and a nice defense, but we have to get better in all three phases."
 
The Red Men will return to action on the road again next week as Carthage makes the trip to Rock Island, Illinois to face Augustana College next Saturday at 6:00 p.m.
 
Looking ahead Yeager said, "We have to respond in the right way next week.  We believe in our kids.  We believe in what we are doing.  So I think we will come out and learn from this film tomorrow and have a great week of practice.  We will have our hands full with Augustana.  They are a good football team that we will need to play well against.  And we will need to get back to doing what we do; and that is playing consistent in all three phases."