Boom, boom, boom: Here come the Scots

Release Date: October 9, 2003

MONMOUTH, Ill. — When one thinks of the Fighting Scots’ offense, images of Rob Purlee chucking long scoring passes to Nathan Gaskill or Jason Killion come to mind. But while such sudden strikes are much appreciated by MC fans, head coach Steve Bell likes it better when the Scots take their time.

Spinning off of Monday Night Football’s John Madden, Bell said one of the keys to Saturday’s 21-14 victory at Lake Forest was the Scots’ third scoring drive of the game, a nine-play, 72-yard series that took 4:21 off the clock.

“We ran the ball boom, boom, boom all the way down the field,” said Bell, who saw tailback Oscar Scott gain 32 of his team-high 118 yards on the drive. “We chewed up a lot of the clock. Even though Lake Forest was able to come back and score with just a few seconds left in the half, that drive set the tone for the second half, because we knew what we could do.”

The Foresters used three pass plays of 18 yards or more to move quickly down the field and answer with just 24 seconds left in the half to close within 21-14. Little did either team know that those would be the last points of the game.

A big reason for the absence of second-half scoring was Monmouth’s ball-control – yes, we said “ball control” – offense. The Scots put together drives of 14 plays (7:35) and 12 plays (6:15) to finish with an amazing 39:10 of possession compared to just 20:50 for the Foresters.

“The key was time of possession, which is a tribute to both our offense and our defense,” said Bell. “The defense limited Lake Forest’s opportunities, and our offense was able to produce some big number drives in terms of plays.”

Monmouth’s first scoring drive, however, was very short, and it ended on a 60-yard pass play from Purlee to Tyler Snyder.

“Tyler got to the numbers on his route and turned it upfield while their corner sat on an out route,” said Bell. “Rob made a little move to avoid the rush and hit Tyler in stride.”

For the game, Purlee finished with 229 yards on 15-of-25 passing. He hit Gaskill from 24 yards out for the Scots’ other TD. Snyder led in receiving yards with 76, while Gaskill caught five balls for 55 yards and Killion had 56 yards on three catches.

Defensively, Rob Rogers had six solos for the Scots and Justin Zigler had four tackles, half a sack, an interception and two pass breakups.

“I thought we played really well on both sides of the ball,” said Bell. “Defensively we played extremely well, discounting the drive at the end of the first half. We were flying around and making big hits. We did what we wanted to accomplish, which was taking away their run and making them predictable.”

Two years ago, the Scots visited Lake Forest and held LFC to nine rushing yards. The results were nearly as good this year, as the Foresters gained just 35 yards on the ground.

Meanwhile, Bell was impressed that the Scots had a 100-yard rusher against a Forester team that entered the game ranked 21^{st in the nation against the run.}

“(Omar) Pickering still got in a lot of tackles, but he was making them four or five yards downfield,” said Bell.

Although the Scots have now finished what is widely viewed as the tougher half of their season, Bell realizes that future wins will still be hard to come by for his team, which is now 3-1 in the Midwest Conference and 3-2 overall.

“Grinnell is coming off a big win,” referring to this weekend’s opponent, which is fresh off a 48-6 victory over Macalester. “We have to take things one game at a time and take care of business. Grinnell, Lawrence and Carroll all had big wins last weekend, so we know we still have a lot of tough games ahead of us.”

What makes Grinnell tough, said Bell, is a spread offense featuring good skill players and an aggressive defense, led by end Delwin Pickens, who has three sacks. The Pioneers’ top skill players include running back Adam Wallace (351 rushing yards, 155 receiving yards), quarterback Trey Raney (five TDs) and receivers Jake Peterson (14 catches, 157 yards) and Matt Teeters (10 catches, 166 yards). Grinnell enters the game seeking its first MWC win. The Pioneers are 1-3 overall.

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