Football Kicks Season Off

Scots Rollover Opponents

by Ian Van Anden
Asst. Sports Editor

The Scots second game of the young season was the first against a Midwest Conference opponent. On Sept 10, MC welcomed Ripon College to Bobby Woll Memorial Field. Ripon is a team Monmouth beat handily in the 2004 season and the team was looking forward to keeping with that tradition, defeating Ripon 48-34 this time around.

The score was much closer then the game actually was, as MC shot out to a 41-0 lead by halftime. Dazzling offense and spectacular defense on the MC side of the ball highlighted the first half.

The Scots scored five touchdowns alone in the second quarter, as the offense scored three rushing touchdowns and found the endzone twice through the air. Junior transfer, Dante Daniels showed what he could bring to MC offense this year, as he took over the running game in the second quarter. Daniels rushed for 61 yards on 12 carries and all three of his rushing touchdowns came in the second quarter.

On MC's next possession after each Daniels touchdown senior quarterback Mitch Tanney made use of the open passing lanes. First Tanney found junior tight end Shane Gordon for a 16 yard score putting up Monmouth up 21-0. Two MC possessions later Tanney found junior wide receiver Evan Haffner for a 15 yard score. This score wrapped up MC's first half points at 41 to Ripon's goose egg on the scoreboard.

The second half started out with a bang, on the sixth play of the first MC drive Tanney found Haffner open for an electrifying 51 yard touchdown. This play brought MC fans to their feet as they saw their boys go up on the conference foe Ripon 48-0.

That is where the MC scoring stopped and where Monmouth fans saw Ripon turn a 48 point lead into only a 14 point win by Monmouth. However Ripon scored most of their points against the Scots second string defense who were facing a still hungry attack by the Ripon starters.

For the second week in a row MC saw its defense stay strong. The defense forced four straight turnovers by the Ripon squad. It started when Ripon attempted fourth down conversion and failed giving MC terrific field position. On the following Ripon possession the MC defense forced a three and out and then proceeded to block the Ripon punt. On Ripon's very next offensive play the MC defense caused a fumble that was nearly picked up and returned for a touchdown by senior linebacker Justin Zigler who simply over ran the loose ball.

Zigler redeemed himself on the next MC defensive series picking off the Ripon quarterback and barreling his way to the Ripon five-yard line. This concluded the Ripon turnover frenzy each of which turned into a MC touchdown.

By the end of the day Tanney was named the Midwest Conference player of the week. The second straight week a MC football player took home that distinction as sophomore kicker Nathan Palkovic and Zigler shared the honor the week before.

The Scots kicked off their season on Sept 3, by playing Concordia College who traveled all the way from Mequon , WI to visit Bobby Woll Memorial Field. Last year the Scots traveled to Mequon to compete against Concordia on opening day. The Scots won that game by a score of 51-39.

Again this year the Scots opened up their potent offense against Concordia defeating them again by the score of 40-26. Senior quarterback Mitch Tanney and junior wide receiver Evan Haffner began where they left off last season hooking up nine times for 94 yards and a touchdown. Tanney was the story of the game though as he completed 20 of his 29 pass attempts and found the endzone four times. Two of those touchdown passes went to senior wide receiver Matt Hammer. Tanney also threw for 237 yards.

By the fourth quarter backups for MC were in cleaning up for the win. Mainly utilizing the running game to roll down the clock the Scots were able to add to their final tally of 154 rushing yards.

The two-feature backs, Daniels and, sophomore, Jeff Davis were handed the ball 13 and 12 times respectively. Davis barreled through the line for a total of 46 yards; while Daniels ran through, over, and around the competition to pick up all of his 45 yards. The Scots will look for this double “D” combination to be a lethal asset to their offense. Tanney happy with his new running game “We have a different style this year, Davis and Daniels are more slash type runners it has really allowed us to spread the field.”

In the game two MC records were broken. In the second quarter Palkovic made 45-yard field goal breaking the previous record that stood at 43 yards. Also while leading the team in tackles in the game with 7, Ziegler set a record for all time MC tackles. He has now tallied 274 tackles during his carrier as a Scot.

Don't sleep on the Monmouth defense because they came up with some very big plays in the MC win. The highlight of the MC defensive performance came in the third quarter where Monmouth forced four turnovers on five drives. The only none turnover came on a three and out punt by Concordia. Senior defensive back, Ryan Bast became the focal point of the game at this point. First he delivered a bone-crushing blow to force a Concordia punt. Second he intercepted the Concordia quarterback in the endzone on the next drive. The Bast name didn't end there as Ryan's dad won the MC traditional 50-50-halftime raffle.

Tanney realizes the defense's high level of play saying, “The defense is playing really well. Our seniors set the bar high with their level of play. Guys like Nick Bush, Tyler Dihle, Bast and Zigler really bring a lot to the table.”

The Monmouth Fight Scot football team enters the 2005 season looking to build upon their solid 2004 campaign. After ending the season with 7 straight wins. This year the Scots will look to make the playoffs for the first time in the history of the program after narrowly missing out on the post season last year. The coaching staff will remain the same this year with seventh year MC coach Steve Bell still calling the shots.

This weekend, Sept 17, Monmouth will travel to DePere, WI to take on perennial Midwest Conference Champion St. Norbert College. The Scots look to avenge their lone loss of the year that came at the hands of St Norbert. Tanney realizes the importance of this game “We have to beat them; it's a big test for our season.”