Scots hope to put it all together vs. Lake Forest

Release Date: September 30, 2004

MONMOUTH, Ill. — Sunday’s NFL slate featured a very enjoyable Colts-Packers matchup that saw quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Brett Favre combine for nine TD passes. Manning was particularly on fire, throwing for scores on each of the Colts’ four first-quarter possessions.

Monmouth College quarterback Mitch Tanney can relate. He was “dialed in” throughout the Fighting Scots’ 45-23 victory over Beloit and especially in the fourth quarter, when he connected on three of his five TD passes on the day. He finished 18-of-30 for 290 yards with no interceptions, as he equaled a school record for scoring passes that had been set four times previously, including three times in recent years by Rob Purlee.

If you liked the show that Manning and Favre put on Sunday, this weekend’s Monmouth-Lake Forest contest could be up your alley. While the Scots were surpassing the 40-point plateau for the third time this season, the Foresters were winning a 45-41 shootout against Ripon to improve to 4-0 on the year. Anthony Gebhart’s fourth TD run of the game put the Foresters up by four with 5:36 remaining. Ripon responded by driving to the LFC 37 before being turned back with two minutes left.

Gebhart finished with 106 yards rushing, while Forester quarterback Matthew Mahaney was 27-of-44 for 365 yards and two TDs. Nick Hildreth caught eight passes for 120 yards.

With bigs days by Tanney, running back Ed McCracken (107 yards) and wide receiver Evan Haffner (six catches, 148 yards), the Scots also had their best offensive production of the season, and Bell was also pleased with Monmouth’s defensive effort.

“Our defense got us the ball in very good scoring position,” said MC head coach Steve Bell, who saw his team post scoring drives of 42 and 12 yards in the final quarter. “I think we definitely made strides, especially coming off our previous week. We got back to where we needed to be. Mitch threw the ball much better than he did against St. Norbert. He made the improvement I knew he would make.”

Bell pointed to a “tremendous” throw that Tanney made on the first play of the fourth quarter as perhaps the game’s biggest moment. He lofted a beautiful long ball to Haffner, who caught the ball inside the Beloit 20 and took it into the end zone, completing a 60-yard play.

“That was big, because we kind of stalled in the third quarter,” said Bell. “Up until that point, we hadn’t really done anything in the second half.”

The touchdown put Monmouth ahead 31-17, and Tanney then hit fullback Adam Chorazy on two short scoring plays to cap the Scots’ final two short scoring drives.

“The thing that I was happy with was the way we responded (to the St. Norbert loss),” said Bell. “I told them that it would be a character game. I believed that we would bounce back, and it was good to see us do that.”

Still, the fifth-year Fighting Scots coach is anxious to see what can happen when his team clicks on all cylinders for an entire game.

“I’m very interested to see how we are when we actually put it all together on both sides of the ball in conjunction with our special teams,” he said.

Lake Forest will present a stiff challenge, as the Foresters are “very, very good defensively,” according to Bell, with an offense that is more balanced than it’s been in the past.

“They’re well-deserved of their record,” said Bell of Lake Forest’s 4-0 mark.

A year ago, Monmouth won what turned out to be the battle for second place in the MWC by posting 21 first-half points and hanging on for a 21-14 win. The Foresters, who ultimately finished 7-3, were also undefeated going into that game.