WHEATON, Ill. - The Coe College football team fell behind by 31 points in the first half Saturday and dropped its season opener at No.24 Wheaton College, 36-28, before 2,232 fans at McCully Stadium.

The Kohawks rallied behind quarterback Josh Rekers and pulled within 31-20 in the fourth quarter on a 42-yard touchdown pass to Trevor Heitland, but the PAT was blocked and returned by Wheaton College for two points to make it 33-20.

Wheatland kicked a field goal for a 36-20 advantage.

Rekers connected with Nicholas Lenstra with a four-yard touchdown pass with 39 seconds left in the game to make it 36-26, then Rekers found Dan Kopp for a two-point conversion pass for the final scoring.

Rekers completed 31 of 45 passes for 317 yards and three touchdowns. He was intercepted once.

Sam Lahr rushed 15 times for 71 yards and a touchdown for Coe. He also caught seven passes for 77 yards. Heitland caught five passes for 58 yards.

Mitchell Berendes led the Coe defense with 15 tackles.

Wheaton finished with 483 yards of total offense. Coe finished with 410.

Wheaton scored 10 points in the first quarter and tacked on 21 more points in the second quarter for a 31-0 lead at intermission.

Coe       0   0   7  21 - 28

Wheaton   10  21  0   5 - 36

W - Coe 38 FG

W - Thorson 8 pass from Butler (Cote kick)

W - Geary 10 run (Cote kick)

W - Geary 2 run (Cote kick)

W - Thorson 10 pass from Butler (Cote kick)

C - Sam Lahr 4 run (Brandon Abbas kick)

C - Lahr 23 pass from Josh Rekers (Abbas kick)

C - Trevor Heitland 42 pass from Rekers (Kick failed)

W - Risher PAT return

W - Cote 25 FG

C - Nicholas Lenstra 4 pass from Rekers (Dan Kopp pass from Rekers)