Scots hope to bounce back in MWC opener vs. Ripon

Release Date: September 12, 2003

MONMOUTH, Ill. — For the second straight season, Loras College started the Fighting Scots football season on a down note, as the Duhawks posted a 38-21 victory at Bobby Woll Memorial Field Saturday.

Particularly damaging was a second quarter blitz that saw Loras score 24 points, including a pair of backbreaking TDs in the final four minutes. Back-to-back TD strikes from senior quarterback Rob Purlee to senior receiver Jason Killion closed the gap to 31-21, but Loras receiver Nick Brown capped a brilliant performance with a 59-yard TD grab to ice the game. Brown finished with 235 receiving yards and two TDs.

“Loras’ offense was able to take advantage of a couple of our weaknesses,” said MC coach Steve Bell. “Give them credit, they went to the well often and created a lot of big plays because of our weaknesses.”

While Monmouth’s new secondary was exposed by Brown and Co., Bell felt his team’s resiliency was a positive that can be taken from the setback.

“A positive was that we got down 24-7, but we came off that negative of giving up that many points at the end of the second quarter,” he said. “We got back within 10 at 31-21, and we still had a shot. That’s a positive. Some teams might have folded up.”

Bell was concerned going in about Loras’ physical style of play, and the Duhawks had the better of the running game on both sides, gaining 225 yards on 48 carries and holding the Scots to 40 yards on 28 attempts.

“We’ve got to play technically correct,” said Bell, when assessing the situation in the trenches. “If you’re using improper technique and freelancing, their physicality is going to be multiplied. It’s not that we were outmatched, but it doesn’t matter how strong you are – if you’re not aligning properly or using the right technique, you’re going to get beat. As coaches, we have to shoulder some of the responsibility for that.”

Another positive from the loss, said Bell, is that the Loras game prepared Monmouth very well for this week’s Midwest Conference opener against Ripon at Bobby Woll Memorial Field at 1:30 p.m.

“Like we told the team, our goal is not to win the non-conference championship,” he said. “We want to take care of business in the conference, and that starts this Saturday. We want to focus on learning from our mistakes and on our conference schedule. The Loras game was really a glorified scrimmage.

“One of the reasons we play Loras is because they’re physical and they run the ball, which is what we’re going to see from the top teams in the conference,” Bell added. “Ripon is at the top of our league. They’re very athletic, as always, and they’re extremely well-coached. They had a tough one against Grinnell in their opener, but that’s not going to give us a false sense of security.”

The Red Hawks escaped with a 26-21 victory. Nick Marcelle had 96 yards on 24 carries and scored three TDs, while receiver Tim Roehrig caught four balls for 120 yards.

Bell also noted that “their quarterback, Matt Trickey, is a nice athlete, and we’re going to have to contain him and not make big plays. Up front, they’re big and physical, and they return their (defensive) front seven pretty much intact.”

A year ago, that front seven limited the Scots to just 24 yards on 22 carries in a 41-7 Ripon victory in Wisconsin.

Although the Loras game was a “glorified scrimmage,” the statistics do count, and that’s good news for senior Nathan Gaskill, who became the all-time leading kickoff returner at Monmouth with his 155-yard day. He now has 981 kickoff return yards, and his single-game total was the second-highest in school history. Before the season is over, Gaskill could hold most of the Scots’ career marks for kickoff returns, total returns and receiving.

“Nathan’s a protypical return man,” praised Bell. “He’s a very fast straight-line runner. That’s how you have to return kickoffs. He’s shifty at full speed.”

Hopefully, though, Gaskill will have fewer chances to return kicks against Ripon than he did against Loras.

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