Scots return home to tackle hard-nosed Beloit

Release Date: September 26, 2003

MONMOUTH, Ill. — Last Saturday, the Fighting Scots were hoping to send a message to the rest of the Midwest Conference that the balance of power in the league had shifted to west central Illinois. Instead, St. Norbert, the MWC’s four-time defending champion, sent a message of their own, and they sent it immediately.

Aljay Wren scored on TD runs of 39 and 62 yards on St. Norbert’s first two offensive plays, and the Green Knights went on to intercept five Rob Purlee passes in a convincing 38-15 victory. After the victory, the Knights moved up to No. 26 in the national Division III rankings.

“We just didn’t tackle well,” said Scots’ coach Steve Bell when asked to describe Wren’s early exploits. “On the first touchdown, he cut it all the way back across the field and we took bad pursuit angles. He made us look foolish. The second one, we had him dead to rights. Three different players had the tackle, and he spun out of it. It was a poor effort as far as tackling. It was not a good way to start against a team like that.”

The Scots also surrendered a first half score when a low punt snap eluded Phil Pullen. He was hit as he tried to recover the ball and the Green Knights’ Jeremy Swanson scooped up the ball and ran it 25 yards for a score.

Despite SNC’s early touchdowns, the Scots remained in the game for a while thanks to a 22-yard scoring pass from Purlee to Jason Killion. Eventually, though, the Knights’ defense got to the senior signal-caller, disrupting Monmouth’s offense.

“Rob was not on his game,” said Bell. “Let’s put it this way – he didn’t manage the game very well. He tried to make plays that weren’t there and didn’t take what they were giving him. Hopefully, he’ll rebound from that. He always has in the past.”

Foremost in Bell’s mind were two red zone opportunities that were squandered. Had the Scots cashed them in, the result may have been a lot different. Monmouth had the ball first-and-10 at St. Norbert’s 15 in the second quarter and again in the fourth quarter and threw interceptions both times. On the first occasion, a TD would have brought Monmouth within one score.

Purlee finished the game 18-of-35 for 241 yards. Senior Nathan Gaskill caught six passes for 83 yards and Oscar Scott was the leading ground gainer, finishing with 56 yards on 12 attempts. In addition to his nice receiving numbers, Gaskill returned five kickoffs for 107 yards, making him the all-time leading kickoff returner in school history.

Another bright spot, according to Bell, was that sophomore Tyler Dihle played well and, he added, “I didn’t think our guys quit. It wasn’t a lack of effort, it was a lack of execution. I’ll take the credit for that.”

The Scots were also able to get reserve quarterback T.J. Gordon some playing time, and he responded with a 10-yard TD pass to Adam Chorazy for the game’s final score.

Up next for the Scots is a 1 p.m. home date against a Beloit College team that has been coached since the late since 1970s by Ed DeGeorge, by far the dean of MWC coaches.

“Beloit’s pretty much a ball-control team,” said Bell of the Bucs and their wing-T attack. “They have a nice athletic quarterback (Nate Skelton) who makes a lot of plays out of the pocket. He reminds me of Rob in a sense. We can’t be so conscious of them running the ball that we forget about him, because they rung us up throwing the ball last year.”

Skelton connected on three TD tosses last season in a 44-28 win over the Scots. He threw for 286 yards and also ran for a score. For Monmouth, Todd Sabean led the way with 193 yards rushing.

This year, Skelton is 27-of-64 passing for 300 yards and three scores for the 1-2 Bucs. His favorite receiver is Tim Mertins, who has 14 catches for 180 yards and all three TDs. Scott Weber and Jon Dupuis have each added three TDs and each average over five yards per carry. Weber has a team-high 259 yards. The Bucs’ leading tacklers are Ted Serafini and Adam Neiffer.

“It’s going to be a physical game,” concluded Bell. “Coach DeGeorge gets the best out of his players, and we’ve got to be ready to strap it up.”

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