The Big Blue suffered a huge loss against the #11 ranked Wheaton Thunder on Sept. 28 for the Big Blue Homecoming game. The Big Blue never got a chance to score in the game and was defeated by a tremendous loss of 62-0.

This loss comes after Millikin won the previous two games and started out the season looking strong with 2-0. The Big Blue is now knocked down to 2-1, and Wheaton moves up to 3-0.

The challenges that the Big Blue faced were tough to overcome, and they fell within the first quarter of the game. The first quarter started off with Wheaton securing two touchdowns and one interception against Millikin.

In the second quarter, the Thunder fumbled the ball, and it was grabbed by Millikin. But Millikin was not able to get through the Thunder’s defense. Wheaton made another interception in a pass intended for #12 wide receiver Jordan Smith. They secured two more touchdowns and a field goal to end the first half 31-0.

Wheaton’s offense was excellent and their defense was hard to push through.

The Thunder totalled 618 offensive yards and limited the Big Blue on offense with only 161 yards and 89 yards of rushing.

“[Wheaton] limited us too much on offense,” head football coach Dan Gritti said. “And our defense gave up way too many plays.”

Moving into the second half, Wheaton scored two more touchdowns and a field goal in the third quarter, and they secured the last two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The game ended 62-0.

The loss was a reality check for the Big Blue. Throughout the game, they did not execute mentally, and it showed.

“It’s a function of thinking we probably were better than we were,” Gritti said. “But that didn’t excuse that performance [because] that was pretty pathetic.”

The Big Blue will travel to Augustana on Oct. 5 to face the Vikings. They will need to make a lot of improvements on offense and defense.

“We got to be able to get lined up and know our assignments on defense, and we need to be able to execute and know who we’re blocking on offense,” Gritti said. “We did neither of those things today.”

The Big Blue needs to get focused and keep their focus throughout the entire game, which they have constantly struggled with in the past season.

“It’s one game, it’s not the season. So we need to make sure we’re ready to go and we’re executing better next week,” Gritti said.

The Big Blue will continue to make improvements and make sure they don’t make the same mistakes in their next game against Augustana.