The Fighting Scots celebrate a convincing win over the Prairie Fire, which will allow them to hang on to the Bronze Turkey for yet another year.

MONMOUTH, Ill. — The first two plays that Monmouth ran against Knox College in the Bronze Turkey Game on Nov. 4 were predictable. A run by senior Dante Daniels was followed by another Daniels run. A joke was made in the pressbox that statistician Dan Nolan should change the default setting on his StatCrew computer program to “Run, No. 21.”

After a third-and-seven completion from freshman quarterback Jared Mundt to senior Evan Haffner covered 12 yards, Daniels got the ball on two of the next three plays. So far, so good.

But that’s when things got a little “crazy,” as Monmouth broke away from its normal script, throwing on seven of its next nine plays. Two of those passes went for touchdowns, as Haffner hauled in scoring passes of 12 and 32 yards. The latter TD came one play after sophomore lineman Wes Levy sacked Knox’s quarterback and jarred the ball loose. It was recovered by senior lineman Adam Troll.

Less than six minutes into the game, the Scots held a 14-0 lead, and they would go on to win their eighth straight Bronze Turkey Game, defeating the Prairie Fire 41-6.

“A lot of people forget that we have Evan Haffner,” Daniels told a reporter following the game. “He is one of the best players that I have ever played with. If you are going to concentrate on me and let Haffner run free, that is what happens.”

Haffner was wide open several times on his way to a nine-catch, 124-yard day that included a third TD grab to start the fourth quarter. Mundt added a fourth scoring pass in the game, finding senior Shane Gordon in the end zone.

“I don’t know if we threw them off,” MC coach Steve Bell said moments after the game. “They still got a steady dose of Dante. It was good to be able to do that, though, because it softened them up a little bit. I thought our quarterback played well. He managed the game well.”

Days later in his office, Bell revealed that he was the only member of Monmouth’s coaching staff to know he had a trick up his sleeve.

“My thought going into the game was that we might be able to throw the ball,” he said. “I didn’t express it to the coaching staff, because I knew they’d try to talk me out of it. But I knew that Knox has traditionally been good at stopping the run. I decided that the key would be how Jared warmed up. Once I saw him throwing decisively in warmups, I decided to go with my ‘side’ game plan.”

Bell was particularly impressed with the second TD, which followed Levy’s big sack. Mundt rolled right on a bootleg, looking for Gordon. But Haffner slipped free behind the coverage, and Mundt made the right decision.

“Give Jared credit for seeing it,” said Bell. “That was not his first read.”

While the passing game stole the thunder, Daniels still finished with 98 yards on 21 carries, boosting his record-breaking yardage to 1,557 for the year, and he scored his 16th touchdown on a seven-yard run in the second quarter.

That gave Monmouth a 24-0 lead, and junior Nate Palkovic’s second field goal of the game made it 27-0 at the half. For his solid game, which also included a 4-for-4 effort on PATs and a 41.5-yard punting average, Palkovic was chosen as the Midwest Conference’s Special Teams Performer of the Week.

Knox tried to make a game of it by marching 82 yards for a touchdown to start the second half, but the Scots squelched that momentum when junior Rick Goffron picked off a pass at the Monmouth 33 on the Fire’s next drive. It was one of five Knox turnovers on the day, while Monmouth made no miscues. Of the Scots’ seven drives that resulted in points, four started in Knox territory.

“I am very proud of our players because they came ready to play,” said Bell. “Rivalry or not, they were ready to play the game from minute one. It’s not about championships. It’s not about our record. It’s about playing the best you can play. We took this game as any game – that we had to get better and play the best we can.”

For the record, the Scots finished 7-3 on the year, and their 7-2 mark in the MWC was good for a second-place tie with Ripon.

“After our last few seasons, the expectation level is pretty high around here,” said Bell. “You reap what you sow. But there are a lot of teams who’d like to be 7-3. We had a few disappointments along the way, but overall, I feel pretty good about our season and many of the things we accomplished.”

Released by the Office of College Communications
Barry McNamara, Associate Director of College Communications
Phone: 309-457-2117
Fax: 309-457-2330