The beads of sweat were still dripping off the tip of Steve Staker's nose a good 25 minutes after the Coe football team began the season with a 52-14 loss to seventh-ranked Wheaton at Clark Field.

It was a hot, steamy, miserable day for the Kohawks and their head coach knew his team had lost to a superior opponent.

"They're rated in the top 10 in the nation and we're not," he said succinctly. "They're a better football team than we are."

Wheaton rolled up 574 yards of total offense and 29 first downs, averaging a healthy 7.2 yards per play. Quarterback Johnny Peltz picked the Kohawks apart all day, hitting 24 of 35 passes for 350 yards and four touchdowns.

Coe rarely put pressure on Peltz, who had plenty of time to find his wide-open receivers against Coe's green defensive backs. Wheaton finished 11-1 last season and reached the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs and could be headed in the same direction again.

"They're a good team," Coe quarterback Josh Rekers acknowledged. "They're a top-10 team for a reason."

The Kohawks got off to a good start on their first possession when they drove 69 yards in 12 plays and took a 7-0 lead on a 3-yard run by Sam Lahr and the PAT. Rekers began the game with three straight completions to Kennedy grad Trevor Heitland and it looked like Coe might have a good day on offense.

"The first drive they came out and did exactly what we thought they'd do on defense," said Rekers. "I was taking what they were giving me. Trevor was getting open. Then they made some adjustments and we took awhile to adjust to what they were doing."

Wheaton tied the game, 7-7, in the first quarter and took command with 24 points in the second period for a 31-7 cushion at halftime. The Thunder scored 45 straight points for a 45-7 lead in the fourth quarter before Coe broke the drought on a 2-yard pass from Rekers to Elijah Phillips.

Rekers hit 27 of 38 passes for 227 yards with two interceptions, but the Kohawks were never able to stretch the Wheaton defense with a long-ball threat. Coe compounded the problem by rushing for only 96 yards.

"We struggled to run the ball," said Rekers. "We were one-dimensional for much of the game. We have to be able to run the ball a little better."

Lahr finished with 77 yards on 21 carries. Colton Storla, Coe's backup tailback from Marion, missed the game with a hamstring injury.

Rekers moved into third place in school history with 377 completions in his career. Phillips caught 11 passes for 117 yards. Heitland had seven receptions for 56 yards.

Luke Thorson caught nine passes for 116 yards and one touchdown for Wheaton. Matt Norton had six grabs for 118 yards and two TDs.

Coe hosts Cornell next Saturday at 1 p.m. "We'll go back to the drawing board and we'll be ready for Cornell next week," said Rekers.

Coe tight end Dan Kopp suffered an ankle injury on the opening drive and is probably lost for the season, according to Staker.

WHEATON 52, COE 14

WHEATON       COE

First downs             29                16
Rushes-yards          41-216        29-96
Passing yards         358               241
Comp-Att-Int        25-39-1       29-42-2
Fumbles-lost          1-0               0-0
Punts-avg.            4-34.0        7-35.3
Penalties-yards       7-69            5-23

Wheaton     7   24   7   14 - 52
Coe         7    0   0    7 - 14

Scoring Plays

C - Sam Lahr 3 run (Brandon Abbas kick)
W - Johnny Peltz 2 run (Daniel Gray kick)
W - Matt Norton 8 run (Gray kick)
W - Luke Thorson 25 pass from Peltz (Gray kick)
W - Gray 27 FG
W - Norton 12 pass from Peltz (Gray kick)
W - Andrew Lindquist 19 pass from Peltz (Gray kick)
W - Norton 13 pass from Peltz (Gray kick)
C - Elijah Phillips 2 pass from Josh Rekers (Abbas kick)
W - Jordan Shive 49 run (Stefan Knoerr kick)

Individual Statistics

Rushing

Wheaton: Shive 7-93, Olateju 9-33, Peltz 10-28, Watson 2-26, Hanley 4-22, Puknaitis 3-10, Norton 1-8, Bowers 5-3.
Coe: Lahr 21-77, Siddell 1-22, T.Heitland 3-7, Roseberry 1-0, Rekers 2-minus 4, Glenn 1-minus 6.

Passing

Wheaton: Peltz 24-35-1, 350; Bowers 1-4-0, 8.
Coe: Rekers 27-38-2, 227; Glenn 2-4-0, 14.

Receiving

Wheaton: Thorson 9-116, Norton 6-118, Olateju 3-18, Shive 2-45, Lindquist
2-29, Hanley 1-19, Watson 1-8, Lindquist 1-5.
Coe: Phillips 11-117, T.Heitland 7-56, Gunderson 4-33, Lahr 4-7, Malloy 2-19, Martin 1-9.