Scots Begin Three Game Road Trip

Release Date: October 30, 2001

There’s a big difference between leading a football game 14-7 and 28-7. The Fighting Scots figured they should have had the latter lead in the first half against Lawrence Saturday. Thankfully, two big plays helped them get it in the second half on their way to a 35-21 victory, their fifth of the season.

Leading 7-0 in the second quarter, Monmouth had a 3rd-and-goal at the Lawrence 1 when quarterback Rob Purlee slipped free of the Vikings’ pass rush and spotted Nathan Gaskill all alone in the end zone. A late flag, thrown for an illegal pick, negated the TD and pushed Monmouth back to the 16. Purlee was intercepted on the next play to stop the drive cold.

In the waning moments of the half, Justin Oertle intercepted a pass at the Monmouth 44 and began a long, winding journey to the end zone. The only question was, if he didn’t score, would there still be any time left on the clock. Oertle reached the Lawrence 3 before he was tackled, and there were still 5.4 seconds to play.

The Scots called the same play that had clicked for their first score, a 16-yard pass to Nick Martin, and it worked, but a whistle blew just before the play, awarding the Vikings a time-out they didn’t have. Coach Steve Bell then changed his play call, but time ran out during an incompletion to the left corner of the end zone.

With the halftime score only 14-7, Scots’ fans thoughts turned from “How bad will we beat Lawrence this year?” to “WILL we beat Lawrence this year?”

The answer became clearer in the second half, when Scott Stanton stormed through from the far left side to block his second punt of the game. The ball bounced back up to him and he took it 26 yards to paydirt to push the lead to 21-7. Two plays later, Matt Beverly picked off a pass and set Monmouth up at the LU 22. Purlee capped a quick four-play drive by hitting Nate Tipton in the end zone from eight yards out, and Monmouth finally had its 28-7 lead.

Randy Terrell capped the Scots’ scoring with a 1-yard run for his sixth TD of the season, making the score 35-7 with 9:46 to play. Bell subbed freely from that point.

“At halftime, we didn’t think we had played up to our capability,” said Bell. “Somehow, someway, we as coaches have got to be able to get our guys to play a 60-minute game. What we did after halftime was absolutely wonderful, but it’s got to be a 60-minute commitment.”

The Scots stopped themselves twice in the first 30 minutes by throwing interceptions, but fortunately their defense and special teams more than made up for it. Although blocked punts don’t officially count as turnovers, the Scots still checked in at +3 for the game thanks to seven interceptions and certainly will move up in the national rankings in that department. They entered the game ranked 18th in the nation in turnover margin.

“Returning the one block for a TD was icing on the cake,” said Bell. “All you’re trying to do is change field position on a block, but instead we got a touchdown. Coach (Dave) Ragone does a fabulous job with the special teams guys. He teaches them technique and schemes, but more importantly, he teaches them to believe that they’ll make big plays. We knew scheme-wise that we’d have a chance to get in there. We wanted to block two, and that’s what we got. Matt Beverly did a great job in his technique to open up Scott for the blocks.”

Stanton earned a share of the MWC’s Special Teams Player of the Week honor, and if the team gave an offensive award, it might have gone to Martin and Terrell, who each finished with 85 yards rushing.

“Nick did a nice job in the open field of finding the seam,” said Bell. “Randy did a very admirable job of running the ball. He ran hard and got the yards we needed.”

Both backs, and especially Terrell, will be called upon this Saturday at Grinnell, and not just for the obvious goal of gaining yards.

“The best anecdote for an offense like Grinnell’s is to maintain the ball as much as possible and control the clock,” said Bell. “We’ve got to be able to run the ball both when we want to and when we have to.”

Bell hopes to use his offense in a defensive role, in part because there’s no great way to stop Grinnell’s short passing attack. Knox certainly didn’t last week, surrendering 403 yards through the air as Grinnell’s Jeff Pedersen, their former All-American tight end, went 35-of-52 for four TDs to earn a share of the MWC’s Offensive Player of the Week award.

“It’s not that they can’t go deep, it’s that they believe in the high percentage pass,” said Bell of the Pioneers’ aerial attack, which is ranked first in the league at 283.4 yards per game. “They want to get the ball into their receivers’ hands and let them be athletes. It’s very similar to a West Coast-type philosophy, and it’s tough to stop it. We’re going to have to be efficient tacklers, and our underneath coverage has to be exceptional.”

Four Pioneers had six receptions or more last week, including Jacob Peterson, who had nine catches for 156 yards. Teammate Ryan Brown has 57 catches for 792 yards and seven TDs.

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