Streaking Scots hope to add Lawrence to list of victims

Release Date: October 11, 2005

MONMOUTH, Ill. — For one week, the Monmouth College football team’s defense was the talk of the team after a 34-0 blanking of Lake Forest that featured two defensive touchdowns.

The Fighting Scots’ offense could only take the back seat for so long, though, busting loose on Saturday to score the fourth-most points in school history in a 69-14 triumph at Grinnell College. The victory improved Monmouth to 6-0 on the year and 5-0 in the Midwest Conference.

Leading the charge was quarterback Mitch Tanney, who was 17-of-21 through the air for 237 yards and four touchdowns. Tanney also reached the end zone on a 42-yard run to open the scoring.

“It was set up to be a pass play off a naked bootleg,” explained MC head coach Steve Bell of the longest scoring run by a Scots quarterback since Jon Baikie scampered 63 yards in 1999. “Their defensive backs ran with all of our receivers, so when Mitch got outside, no one was there. No one even saw him until he was at the 20. It wasn’t the way the play was drawn up, that’s for sure.”

Of course, Tanney is known much more for his passing prowess, and he should be beginning to get some national attention after rising to the No. 1 spot in Division III in passing efficiency. Tanney’s already high completion percentage and touchdown-to-interception ratio improved to 76.1 and 21-to-2 during the Grinnell game.

“It’s a pat on his back, but I don’t care about it, and I know he doesn’t care about it,” said Bell of Tanney’s No. 1 ranking. “It’s just good recognition for him for all the hard work he’s put in. He’s really done a great job of distributing the ball, and when that happens, we’re even harder to defend.”

Tanney’s favorite target, of course, is Evan Haffner, who had two of the four TD catches, raising his total to nine receiving TDs on the year. But it was on a punt return that Haffner showed what makes him such a special player.

“Four guys had him pinned down on the sideline,” said Bell of Haffner’s 81-yard return, his second TD return of the year. “He stopped on a dime and made a move that broke the ankles of one of their defenders. Then he got some nice blocks down the field, including one from Jason Myers.”

Bell also credited starting defensive backs Ryan Bast and Aaron Payette for blocking Grinnell’s “gunners” on the play. Although Haffner, Myers, Bast and Payette are all starters for Monmouth, Bell noted that the special teams have also been getting strong contributions from other less heralded players, including Greg McGraw and J.P. Kenley.

Overall, Bell was pleased with Monmouth’s efforts on both sides of the ball, stating “We did what we needed to do. Except for the last drive of the second quarter (when Grinnell drove 55 yards to score with two seconds left), we did very well defensively against their quarterback (Sean Pfalzer), who’s a very nice athlete.”

And the offense? The Scots did so well that they had 62 points on the scoreboard with 7:38 left to play in the third quarter. Tanney added scoring strikes to Dan Morrison and Aaron Hogan, and running backs who reached the end zone during the game included Myers, Dante Daniels, Bobby Gibbs and Ben Hunter. Daniels again led the way, rushing for 120 yards.

Monmouth’s next opponent, Lawrence University, has lost games to Ripon, Beloit and St. Norbert, which are all teams the Scots have defeated. In addition, Monmouth put a 60-0 thumping on the Vikings a year ago. Tanney threw three TDs in the game, including a 95-yarder to Haffner.

On the other hand, Lawrence owns a 38-36 victory this year against a Carroll team that still has MWC title hopes and, said Bell, “Lawrence is very unique offensively. They run a lot of option out of the shotgun, and they have a very good running quarterback, Eric Aspenson (351 rushing yards, 693 passing yards). We’ve got to be very disciplined and tackle well in the open field.”

Aspenson was injured in last week’s 44-15 loss to St. Norbert and his status for the Monmouth game is in question.

Craig Ebert leads Lawrence’s ground game with 428 yards, while Nick Korn is the top receiver with 23 catches for 248 yards.

Continued Bell, who has now guided the Scots to 13 victories in a row, “Defensively, their head coach, Chris Howard, is St. Norbert’s former defensive coordinator, and he gave us fits schematically when he was at St. Norbert. He’s got his guys flying around to the football, just like he did at St. Norbert. (Defensive back) Tyler Krzewina is a good player for them, and we’ll have to be aware of where he’s at.”

Kickoff at Bobby Woll Memorial Field is set for 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.

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