Monmouth 35, Carroll 24

Release Date: November 4, 2002

MONMOUTH, Ill. - Now the Fighting Scots (4-5, 4-4) can talk turkey. Coach Steve Bell did not want his team looking past Carroll (1-8, 1-7) to next week's season finale for the Bronze Turkey against arch-rival Knox and, for the most part, the Scots didn't, although they did hit a lengthy lull after taking an early 21-0 lead.

That big advantage came thanks to scoring drives of 73, 75 and 94 yards in the game's first 20 minutes. Carroll made a game of things by scoring with 10 seconds left in the half. While the Pioneers were pesky throughout the final two quarters, Monmouth made enough plays to hang on for its fourth straight victory, including a smashing 68-yard TD run by Ed McCracken and a 16-yard TD reception by Jason Killion. Both players had two touchdowns on the day.

Quarterback Rob Purlee led a balanced offense, completing 14-of-23 passes for 246 yards, including four for 74 yards to Nathan Gaskill. Monmouth ran for 255 yards, with McCracken gaining 141 on 19 attempts and Todd Sabean adding 79 on 16 tries. For Carroll, Tony Salvage had 106 yards on 16 carries and quarterback Brad Dement was 14-of-34 for 162 yards and one TD.

Rob Brester, who had 126 all-purpose yards, had all three Carroll scores. Andy Stumpf led Monmouth's defense with two sacks and two other tackles for loss, while Adam Kujath had 10 tackles and a fumble recovery for Carroll.

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