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Scots ready for opening test
Release Date:
Sept. 3, 2009
MONMOUTH, Ill. —
Saying they’re ready
mentally, the Monmouth College football team opens the 2009 season
at home Saturday at 1 p.m. on new artificial turf against last
year’s opening opponent, Loras College. The Fighting Scots posted a
24-17 come-from-behind win over the Duhawks last season.
“We had a lot of work
to do this week,” reported MC head coach Steve Bell. “The
guys are ready to play someone else instead of facing each other in
practice. They’re ready physically and mentally to get the season
started. We still have a few question marks, but going into the
season opener, I think we’re about where we need to be.”
Like the Midwest
Conference champion Scots, who return the majority of last year’s
starters, Loras returns 17 starters from last year’s team, which
finished third in the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The
Duhawks return sophomore quarterback Vaughn Gesing, who – as a
freshman – completed nearly 52 percent of his passes on the way to
throwing for 1,355 yards.
“He (Gesing) has a
year’s experience under his belt,” warned Bell. “He did a nice job
last year as a first-year starter. The coaches will be more familiar
with his strengths and weaknesses, so we expect him to be even
better.”
Gesing hit 10
different receivers last season, but his favorite target, Ben
McMahon, was lost to graduation as was the Duhawks’ top rusher, Alex
McGrew, who carried the ball 80 percent of the time in 2008. McMahon
ended the year with nearly 700 yards in receptions.
“They ran the ball
well last year and they always have,” said Bell. “I don’t expect
them to be that much different this year. There may be some tweaks,
but we don’t expect any wholesale changes. Defensively, our guys
have to do their job to the best of their abilities and tackle well.
That’s always a first game concern. We can’t allow yards after a
catch, or any long runs. We’ll have to eliminate mistakes on
alignments and assignments. Those two are controllable things.”
Loras’ defense should
be tested, too.
Alex Tanney
guides a Scots offense that led Division III in scoring last season
and returns all but one offensive lineman. Sixteen different players
recorded catches last season and a dozen had at least one carry.
Loras had as much success controlling the Scots’ high octane offense
as anyone last season, holding Monmouth to a season-low 24 points.
“They’re good,” said
Bell of the Duhawk defense. “Loras is well-coached on offense and
defense. You know their kids are being taught where to be and when
to be there. They play with a lot of discipline. They’ll have some
of the better defensive players we’ll see this season up front. It
will be physical, so we’ll have to bring our hardhats. If it goes
like I expect, it will be a good game to watch.”
The two teams had
just over 400 yards of offense in last year’s matchup – combined.
Bell is hoping for a little more offense out of his team in this
year’s opener.
“We didn’t play up to
our offensive abilities against Loras last year,” said Bell. “If we
play the way we’re capable, we’ll at least give ourselves a chance.”
Last year’s second
half comeback propelled the Scots to a 10-0 regular season, but Bell
isn’t looking to last season for inspiration.
“Last year was last
year,” claimed Bell. “Obviously, we have a lot of experience coming
back, but we haven’t proved anything yet this year. No one is going
to give us anything because of what we were. You can’t hang on to
what was when you’re trying to get to what you’re going to be. That
hasn’t been written yet.”
At the end of
Saturday, the Scots are hoping Bell will write a passing grade on
their first test.
Football
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