Monmouth, Knox to do battle on gridiron for 115th time

MONMOUTH, Ill. — The Monmouth College Fighting Scots have already clinched second place in the Midwest Conference and, even with a loss by league-leading St. Norbert, cannot advance to the NCAA Division playoffs. So, really, there’s not much at stake in their final game of the 2003 season. Right?

Uh, did we mention that the opponent is Knox?

When the Bronze Turkey element is added in, suddenly everything’s on the line for the Fighting Scots for their 1 p.m. game at the Knox Bowl on Saturday. Here’s a brief list:

• Head coach Steve Bell and his first recruiting class have never lost to Knox. With arguably the best team that Bell has fielded at Monmouth, those seniors, which include record-setting performers Rob Purlee and Nathan Gaskill (see statistics at end of story), have no intention of losing now.
   
• There is talk on campus of a “Drive for Five,” as Monmouth has actually posted four straight wins over Knox, dating back to a 27-26 victory in Kelly Kane’s final game as MC’s coach in 1999.
   
• Despite no chance at the postseason, Monmouth would like to call itself the MWC co-champions. The Scots would need a win over Knox and a St. Norbert loss at Lake Forest to earn that distinction. Because of St. Norbert’s 38-15 win over Monmouth, though, the Green Knights would receive the league’s automatic playoff berth.
   
• The Prairie Fire’s goal is to win their final two games and equal last year’s 6-4 record. Nothing would delight Monmouth more than denying Knox that satisfaction.

“Our focus is on winning another game,” said Bell, whose team has put together a six-game winning streak to stand at 7-1 in the league and 7-2 overall. “Things get pumped up a bit because of who it is that we’re playing, but we don’t want to over-hype it. It could be Knox, it could be IC – we still want to come out with a victory.”

Bell did acknowledge, however, that it would be a “nice accomplishment” for his seniors to go 4-0 vs. Knox in their career. He also said that a possible piece of the MWC title and an 8-2 final record were extra incentives for his team.

Speaking of records, Monmouth’s four-game winning streak against the Prairie Fire has improved the Scots’ lead in the series to 54-50-10. The schools have met on the gridiron almost every year since 1888, and this year’s game marks the rivalry’s 58th straight season. With the exception of the span from 1943-45, they have also met at least once every year since 1919.

From an Xs-and-Os standpoint, Monmouth got a good preview of what to expect from Knox by playing at Carroll last weekend. The Scots hung on for a 42-35 victory, withstanding 52 pass attempts by the Pioneers’ Marcus Koronkiewicz, who threw for 434 yards and four TDs.

“We better get some things corrected,” said Bell of the narrow victory. “Knox is going to come in chucking it. It should be very similar to the Carroll game, because they haven’t been running the ball extremely well.”

Bell acknowledged that Knox receiver Tom Neagle (55 catches, 738 yards, 11 TDs) was one to watch, but he said the Prairie Fire are by no means a one-man show.

“The tough thing about their passing game is that they have Neagle, but they’ve got (Jesse) Abbott (38 catches, 685 yards, 7 TDs), too,” said Bell. “It’s tough to say you’re going to double one guy. What we want to do is force them to check down the ball and limit the amount of yardage they get after the catch. We don’t want to give up the deep pass.”

From a balance standpoint, the Scots appear to have the edge offensively. Purlee, Gaskill & Co. are a definite threat through the air, but the Scots also boast two backs, Oscar Scott and Todd Sabean, who have been running well during MC’s six-game winning streak. Scott, who had his yardage against Carroll upgraded from 34 to 93 after several mistakes were corrected, is averaging over 100 yards per game, with 824 yards in eight contests. Sabean has 572 yards, and he and Scott have combined for 14 of Monmouth’s 18 rushing TDs. The balanced Scots also have 22 TDs through the air. By contrast, Knox has 18 passing TDs and just six on the ground. The Fire have rushed for just 580 yards this season.

Defensively, Andy Stumpf and Justin Zigler were singled out by the coaches for their fine play against Carroll. It will be Stumpf’s job to assist with pressuring Knox quarterback Andy McClenathan, who has thrown for 1,707 yards this season. Meanwhile, Zigler and fellow linebackers Rob Rogers and Greg Monn figure to play a pivotal role in both stopping the run and also in covering Knox’s short passing game.

One thing that Monmouth won’t have to correct is the temptation to look ahead a week. The Scots had at least a two-touchdown lead for much of the game against Carroll, but then, said Bell, “I think we relaxed a little bit with the lead on both sides of the ball. I thought our guys relaxed, and that’s our fault as coaches.”

With a rivalry as strong as Monmouth-Knox, however, it’s human nature that MC players may have started thinking too early about the upcoming showdown. Unfortunately for this year’s Scots, there’s no tomorrow, so they might as well focus all of their attention on a victory in the Bronze Turkey game and all the spoils that go along with it.

As the Fighting Scots enter their final game of the 2003 season, here is a list of individual season milestones that are within reach:

• Oscar Scott, 824 rushing yards – needs 176 yards vs. Knox to become Monmouth’s first 1,000-yard rusher in 10 years.
   
• Rob Purlee, 143 completions – needs nine completions to equal his 2002 school record.
   
• Rob Purlee, 238 pass attempts – needs 41 attempts to equal his 2002 school record.
   
• Rob Purlee, 60.1 completion percentage – school record is 56.3 by Matt Shaughnessy in 1979.
   
• Rob Purlee, 2,240 passing yards – needs 203 yards to equal his 2002 school record.
   
• Rob Purlee, 2,179 yards of total offense – needs 154 yards to equal his 2002 school record.
   
• Nathan Gaskill, 717 receiving yards – needs 130 yards to equal school record of 847 by Andrew Tyra in 1999.
   
• Jason Killion, 7 receiving TDs – needs two touchdowns to equal school record of nine, held by two players.
   
• Nathan Gaskill, 493 return yards – needs 165 yards to equal his 2002 school record.
   
• Nathan Gaskill, 1,210 all-purpose yards – needs 195 yards to equal school record of 1,405 by Kevin Matarelli in 1993.

Fifteen Monmouth seniors will be playing in the final game of their collegiate career. They include Andy Full, Rob Purlee, Jason Killion, Dustin Schaibley, Ryan Wood, Phil Pullen, Oscar Scott, Rob Rogers, Brett Black, Ken Smith, Justin Fenton, Steve Crabtree, Jon Newcomb, Tyler Snyder and Nathan Gaskill.

Career records already held or in range for some of these seniors include:

• Rob Purlee, 7,406 yards of total offense – SCHOOL RECORD
   
• Rob Purlee, 497 completions – SCHOOL RECORD
   
• Rob Purlee, 932 pass attempts – SCHOOL RECORD
   
• Rob Purlee, 7,696 passing yards – SCHOOL RECORD
   
• Rob Purlee, 79 passing TDs – SCHOOL RECORD
   
• Nathan Gaskill, 115 receptions – SCHOOL RECORD
   
• Nathan Gaskill, 2,063 receiving yards – SCHOOL RECORD
   
• Nathan Gaskill, 18 receiving TDs – needs one to equal school record of 19 by Andrew Tyra.
   
• Nathan Gaskill, 55 kickoff returns – needs one to equal school record of 56 by Randy Williams.
   
• Nathan Gaskill, 1,232 kickoff return yards – SCHOOL RECORD
   
• Nathan Gaskill, 71 total kick returns – needs one to equal school record of 72 held by two players.
   
• Nathan Gaskill, 1,346 total kick return yards – SCHOOL RECORD
   
• Rob Rogers, 248 tackles – needs 11 to equal school record of 259 by Justin Oertle.