MONMOUTH, Ill. — The only team standing
between Monmouth College and the 2003 Midwest Conference title was
St. Norbert College. The Green Knights have made De Pere, Wis. – a
suburb of Green Bay – their own little “Titletown,” winning the last
five MWC championships. Last fall, the Knights even won an NCAA
playoff game before losing to St. John’s, the eventual national
champion.
During their five-year title stretch,
Monmouth has thrown two scares at the Knights. The first came in
1999, when the Scots took a 21-14 lead into the fourth quarter in De
Pere before falling 41-28. The other was two seasons ago in the
Scots’ home opener, when they took a quick 14-0 lead before losing
28-21.
In both 2001 and 2003, Monmouth had teams
which would ultimately post 8-2 records, but the Scots were no match
on the road for St. Norbert, falling 31-7 in the rain in 2001 and
losing 38-15 last year.
Is there reason to believe that this season
will be different? Absolutely.
“We’ve opened the season with two wins on
the road, and I’ve been pleased with the way we’ve handled both
trips,” said MC coach Steve Bell. “I’m happy with where we’re at so
far.”
Although many will point to this third week
contest as one which will ultimately determine the success of
Monmouth’s season, Bell isn’t as quick to hype the game.
“It’s just any other week,” he said of the
Scots’ game preparation. “It’s a long year, and we’ve got a good
football team coming in to play us, just like anybody else. We’re
focusing on Monmouth football and what we’re doing, not who we’re
playing. We just want to take care of our own business.”
The Scots have done all right in that
department so far, posting a 52-39 season-opening triumph over a
playoff team from a year ago and then winning on Saturday in Ripon,
Wis., for the first time since 1989. Monmouth recorded a solid 45-21
victory against the Red Hawks, and Bell was pleased with all facets
of the game.
“Our defense played exceptional,” he said.
“If their quarterback doesn’t make an exceptional play on the option
when we had him wrapped up, they don’t score at all in the first
half. The defense played well against a scheme we don’t usually
see.”
Special teams were also a factor. Monmouth’s
Justin Zigler blocked Ripon’s first punt attempt to enable the Scots
to go ahead 14-0, and the next time the Red Hawks tried to punt, the
snap was botched and the Scots were able to score on another short
field to take a 21-0 lead with six minutes still remaining in the
opening quarter.
“Even if it had been a clean snap, we would
have blocked that one, too,” said Bell. “We always talk that in the
first three games, special teams are going to be huge.”
In the opener, Nathan Palkovic was the
special teams hero, and he was solid again vs. Ripon, converting all
six PATs and adding a 20-yard field goal.
Palkovic was able to boot so many conversion
kicks because Monmouth’s offense ran efficiently, committing no
turnovers and generating several big plays, including pass
completions of 66 and 73 yards by quarterback Mitch Tanney. The
first was for a touchdown to Evan Haffner, and the latter play went
to Aaron Hogan to set up a score.
“Ripon was playing a lot of man coverage,
and we took advantage of it,” said Bell. “I thought Mitch threw two
very nice balls. The second one was especially big for us, coming
out of our end zone.”
Monmouth started on their own 2-yard line on
that drive and, three plays after Hogan’s grab, Matt Hammer caught a
25-yard pass from Tanney to give the Scots a 35-7 lead.
Running backs Todd Sabean and Ed McCracken
also got into the scoring act, each adding two TDs. Sabean finished
with 120 yards on 19 carries, elevating his career rushing total at
Monmouth to 1,995 yards. Tanney finished 8-of-14 for 232 yards.
While the Scots have been hitting on all
cylinders, Bell knows that St. Norbert will line up a talented team,
especially on defense.
“They’re very athletic on defense and play
with great speed,” Bell praised. “They try to get a lot of guys to
the ball. On offense, their fifth-year quarterback (Ryan Hartman)
does a nice job of managing the football game. They’re a good
football team, and they’re very well-coached.”
All Jim Purtill has done in his first five
years at the helm is steer the Knights to the playoffs each year.
His record entering this season was 47-7.
The Knights got off to a slow start this
year, falling 41-9 against UW-Whitewater, but they rebounded to win
their MWC opener 39-20 against Beloit on Saturday despite having
four kicks blocked by the Bucs’ Ted Serafini. Hartman threw for 139
yards, while the ground game was led by Casey Meehan, who had 127
yards on 22 carries. He scored four TDs, including one on a 20-yard
pass from Hartman.
Academics
