On Saturday, Oct. 27, in front of fans, friends, families and alumni, the Fighting Scots faced off against the Illinois College Blue Boys in a battle of the gridiron.

Illinois College opened up the scoring on an imposing nine-play 80-yard touchdown drive that was capped by a 13-yard touchdown run by Matt Schaefer.

Later in the first quarter, Monmouth mustered a response with a 35-yard touchdown pass from freshman Alex Tanney to sophomore Nick Wright. The play was set up by several underneath passes from Tanney to MC’s receiver core; on the touchdown pass, Tanney pump-faked a short pass to Wright, who then took off down the sideline to haul in a beautiful touch pass from Tanney.

Just a few minutes into the second quarter, Monmouth got on the board again. This time they turned to the powerful leg of senior Nate Palkovic, who boomed in a 27-yard field goal.

However, right before halftime, IC scored again, taking a 13-10 lead to the locker room after failing to connect on the point after attempt.

The Scots’ defense came to life in the second half and was sparked by junior Willy Mason. Mason intercepted a pass on Illinois College’s first, second half possession, setting up the MC offense deep in Blue Boy territory.

The Scots’ offense capitalized when Wright made it through the end zone on a one-yard end-around touchdown run. The score was Wright’s second on the game.

Palkovic then came into the game later in the third quarter to set yet another Monmouth College kicking record. Palkovic lined-up and then nailed a 46-yard field goal, breaking his own record for longest field goal in Monmouth’s history.

The field goal gave Monmouth a 20-13 lead headed into the closing frame, and it seemed that despite a rough start that Monmouth was on to yet another conference win. However, Illinois College was not going down without a fight.

Monmouth’s offense sputtered into the fourth quarter as the Scots’ defense did all it could to hold back the Blue Boys’ attack. IC finally broke through, with just under five minutes remaining in the game, on a four-yard pass from third string quarterback Joe Reed to wide receiver Micheal Jenning. The score and point tied the game, and neither team was able to score with the remaining time in regulation.

As the game headed into overtime, the Scots assembled together on their sideline at the 50-yardline and sent senior captains Wes Levy, Aaron Payette and Brad Rinehart to midfield for the overtime coin toss. Monmouth won and decided to give the IC offense the first crack at scoring.

Monmouth’s defense held the IC offense back in their first and only possession of the overtime. The Blue Boys were able to convert on a 39-yard field goal but it proved to be too little. The stop came in great thanks to a sack by freshman Dante Britt on second and five.

Britt hauled down IC’s quarterback, Reed, forcing a third-and-long play--that ended up being an incomplete pass--and forced the long field goal try.

Next, came Monmouth’s shot at scoring. The Scots opened their possession with a spark as Tanney found senior Bobby Gibbs open for a 14-yard catch and run. The gain set-up Monmouth at the IC 11-yardline poised to score.

On the following play, junior Jeff Davis gained six-yards on a running play. This is just where the excitement began, though.

On the ensuing play, Tanney rolled to his right, looking for a receiver, but no one was open. Tanney, who leads the conference in negative rush yards (from being sacked), is not fleet of foot, however he was able to get out of the tackle-box and throw the ball away a split second before he was brought to the ground.

The officials originally threw a flag for what perhaps would have been an intentional grounding call; however, the flag was waived off and the play was ruled an incomplete pass.

On the very next play, third and just four yards to go, Tanney moved left in the pocket and looked ready to head for the goal line before pulling up and letting go a pass that found sophomore Kyle Wantland in the south-east corner of the end zone. The score gave the Scots a 26-23 overtime victory and sent the team into a frenzy in the corner of the end zone and then spilled out onto the track.

Tanney had a strong day in the air, completing 27 of his 48 passes for exactly 200-yards and two scores. The one interception he threw, bounced of freshman receiver Matt Shepherd’s facemask and into the air before it landed in the waiting arms of an IC defender.

Nick Wright was Tanney’s go-to guy on this afternoon, as he brought in 9 receptions for 87 yards and a touchdown.

Though he struggled in the passing game, dropping a touchdown pass and potential long-pass play, Shepherd erupted in the return game. The freshman had two huge kick-off returns, netting 85 total yards with a long on 44 yards.

Mason had a huge day for the Scots on defense with an interception and a fumble recovery. Junior Cole Norman also had a solid performance which included two interceptions, one that halted an IC scoring drive late in the fourth quarter.

As usual, junior Marc Artozqui led the Scots in tackling as he racked up nine tackles. Another junior, T.C. Olsen was all over the field, he had two tackles behind the line of scrimmage that helped him tally six total takedowns. Olsen also forced the fumble that was scooped up by Mason.

Next on the Fighting Scots’ schedule is their fabled face-off with fierce rival, Knox College. Monmouth will be attempting to win their ninth straight Turkey Bowl. The Scots trounced the Prairie Fire 41-6 in last year’s meeting. This year’s contest will take place at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill. and will kickoff at 1 p.m on Saturday, Nov. 3


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