Wheaton Edges Carthage, North Central in Pre-Season Football Voting

NAPERVILLE, Ill. – The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin football coaches picked Wheaton to win the conference title in 2005, narrowly edging out Carthage and North Central by three points.

Wheaton, who finished 11-2-0 in 2004, tallied 43 points, including two first place votes, while Carthage and North Central each tallied 40 points with two and three first place votes respectively.

Carthage and Wheaton each shared the conference title in 2004 with identical 6-1 conference records. Carthage topped Wheaton 39-21 on Oct. 30, 2004. Both teams made the NCAA Division III Playoffs, with Wheaton losing to Mt. Union in the second round 27-6, while Carthage lost to Mt. Union in the quarterfinals 38-20. North Central (7-3, 4-3 in 2004) lost both its games to Carthage and Wheaton last season.

Augustana (7-3, 5-2) was predicted fourth with 35 points, including one first place vote, while Millikin (5-5, 4-3) was fifth with 25 points.

Illinois Wesleyan (3-7, 2-5), Elmhurst (4-6, 1-6) and North Park (1-9, 0-7) rounded out the poll with 21, 12 and eight points.

The CCIW football season begins September 3.