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Favored Fighting Scots to pursue,
not defend, conference crown
Release Date: August 22, 2006
MONMOUTH, Ill. — Although several
key components of last year’s wildly successful 10-1 season are
gone, the buzz created by the first playoff season in Monmouth
College football history is still reverberating. MC fans are certain
that the Fighting Scots won’t have to wait another 113 seasons for
their next trip to the playoffs, and the Midwest Conference coaches
have tabbed Monmouth as the league favorite.
Count coach Steve Bell among those who believe the Scots can win
another title, but he’s taking a different approach.
“I’ve stressed to the team that we’re not defending a conference
championship, we’re pursuing one,” said Bell. “We’re striving to
raise our standard of play to a high level for 60 minutes per game
for 10 regular season games.”
Before being eliminated by St. John’s in the opening round of the
NCAA Division III playoffs last November, Monmouth put together a
dream 10-0 regular season, capturing the school’s first outright MWC
title since 1972. Led by Mitch Tanney and Justin Zigler, the
league’s Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, the Scots won
their games by an average score of 44-16. Both players have
graduated, leaving big shoes to fill in terms of on-field
contributions and overall leadership.
Said Bell, who has a 43-18 record in six seasons at Monmouth, “We
need to solidify a couple positions before the season starts. If we
can fill in those gaps, we have a chance to be very successful.”
No matter who plays quarterback for the Fighting Scots this fall,
the first snap they take against Wartburg on Sept. 2 will be their
first intercollegiate varsity play for Monmouth. Sophomore Steve
Zidow is joined in the quarterback mix by four players in their
first season in an MC uniform – C.J. Feller, a junior transfer, and
freshmen Jared Mundt, Keegan Jones and Brandon Davis.
“All five guys are competing,” said Bell. “The guy who is the most
consistent, makes the right decisions and is the most poised will
win the job.”
Quarterback inexperience is definitely the question mark for
Monmouth on the offensive side of the ball. The good news, however,
is that there are several exclamation points, including Monmouth’s
all-time single season receiving leader and the fastest man in
school history.
Pre-season All-American Evan Haffner put his name in the No. 1
position in the record books last season by catching 70 passes, 13
of them for touchdowns. He is already the career leader in TD grabs
(24) and will take over the top spot in the other two career
categories with 13 more catches and 324 more yards.
“Haf’s a special player,” said Bell. “He’s got to be ready to play
at an extremely high level.”
While getting the ball to Haffner might be more difficult for the
new quarterback than it was for Tanney, the new signal-caller should
have no trouble handing off the pigskin to Dante Daniels. Last fall,
Daniels rushed for 887 yards on 174 carries and scored 12 TDs. In
the spring, he turned his attention to track and broke Monmouth’s
100-meter dash record, qualifying for the national meet with a time
of 10.49 seconds.
“He’s looked really good,” said Bell, who agreed that it was
surprising that Daniels’ longest run last year was only 33 yards.
“Part of that was due to him getting back into his groove on the
football field after a two-year layoff, and part of it was things
like our downfield blocking or our offensive line play. He has the
ability to make game-changing plays. We’ve got to get him into
space.”
It’s unlikely that the Scots will throw for 2,673 yards as they did
a year ago, so more of the burden should fall to Daniels and to
second-string tailback Bobby Gibbs, who had 327 yards on the ground
last year and rushed for four TDs. Jeff Davis, who started last year
in a two-man rotation with Daniels, is also fighting to get into the
tailback mix, as are Aaron Daverin, Chris Evans and Jacob Mueller.
Jess Miller and Shane LaDew are battling for the starting fullback
spot, which is primarily a blocking position in Bell’s offensive
scheme.
The new quarterback will find a great deal of depth in Monmouth’s
receiving corps, as All-MWC pick Dan Morrison (34 catches, 513
yards, six TDs) and Aaron Hogan (29 catches, 332 yards, two TDs)
join Haffner to form a veteran corps. They’ll be joined by transfer
J.D. Holeman, returners Tomas Alvarez, Emmanuel Minter and Nick Long
and a top-notch recruiting class.
“We’re extremely solid at the receiver position,” said Bell. “We’re
very veteran there, and that’s important, because limited mistakes
for the receivers with what we have at quarterback is premium.”
Tight end Shane Gordon earned all-conference honors after catching
17 passes for 219 yards and three scores, but his main role, and
that of second tight end Jarrod Martin, will be to block along with
the Scots’ veteran corps of offensive linemen. That group includes
All-MWC first team left tackle Joe Freitag, as well as returning
starters Tony Russo and Brad Reinhart. After a one-year absence, Joe
Pilger is back to lay claim to the right tackle spot. Competing for
the other guard position are Trevor Zumwalt, Zach Howerter and Josh
Kotecki.
“We are one year more experienced there,” said Bell. “Joe Pilger was
our top offensive lineman recruit two years ago, and it’s good to
get him back.”
When it comes to hits from graduation, the defense took more shots
than the offense, losing first team selections Ryan Bast and Tyler
Dihle and second team pick Nick Bush in addition to Zigler. Two
other starters, T.J. Scruggs and Josh Schaver, were lost due to
injury and illness, respectively.
But that doesn’t mean the unit is void of playmakers. Preseason
All-American defensive end Anthony Goranson made a name for himself
in his rookie campaign with 11 sacks and eight other stops behind
the line among his 58 total tackles.
“Anthony is a tremendous physical talent,” said Bell. “He’s a
big-time playmaker. We need him to be at 100 percent and to go 100
miles an hour on every play.”
Goranson earned All-MWC honors last fall, as did weakside linebacker
Phil Kleckler, who posted 75 tackles. Middle linebacker Jason
Goldsworthy, who had a team-high 14 tackles in the Scots’ regular
season finale, could take over the team’s tackle lead from Zigler.
“He’s a very instinctive player,” said Bell of Goldsworthy. “He was
tremendous at the end of the year, and we look for him to be an
integral part of our defense this year.”
The secondary returns two starters – Aaron Payette and Doug Stichter
– and Payette was also an All-MWC pick at cornerback, giving this
year’s Scots three defenders with all-league honors, and one at each
level of the defense.
Topping the list of challengers for Bast’s vacant cornerback post
are Kyle Harmon, Willy Mason and transfer Rick Goffron. Cole Norman,
who stepped up late last year, should take over the other safety
spot alongside Stichter.
“To improve defensively, that level of our defense has to improve
for us,” said Bell. “Losing a player like Ryan Bast is never easy,
but we feel we’ll be better and can improve as a whole.”
At Zigler’s strong side linebacker spot, Danny Weiden, T.C. Olson,
Matt Morgan and Luke Sandrock are the leading contenders.
Up front, Zach Kirchner (36 tackles, eight for loss) will start
again, possibly at tackle, as the Scots welcome back another strong
player, end Wes Levy. Also likely to see action in the interior line
are Nick Hoffman and Matt Czuba. Hoffman was a Shrine Game
participant this summer, as were offensive line recruit Steve
Phillips and wide receiver Marc Barczak.
Monmouth’s special teams are in exceptionally good shape, with
Haffner and Gibbs back to do the bulk of the return work. Haffner,
who also earned preseason All-American honors as a return man after
scoring on punt runbacks of 55 and 81 yards last fall, is one of the
best to ever play special teams for MC. He will catch the career
kick return yardage leader with 79 more yards and should also take
over the career record for all-purpose yardage, needing 835 rushing,
receiving or return yards to pass legendary Hall of Famer Ron Baker.
Multi-talented junior Nathan Palkovic is back to handle the punting
chores and most, if not all, of the placekicking. Last year,
Palkovic earned second team All-MWC honors for both specialties,
averaging 37.7 yards per punt and converting 52 PATs and six field
goals. Palkovic has averaged 68 kicking points his first two
seasons, and with 70 more points, he will become Monmouth’s all-time
leading scorer, passing Hall of Fame quarterback Mark Reed. Other
possibilities at kicker are Casey Evans and Kyle Tuor.
The Scots’ lineup questions will be answered by the time Monmouth
travels to Waverly, Iowa, for its Sept. 2 opener at Wartburg
College. Bell said he was pleased to add such a quality team to the
schedule.
“I have emphasized to the team and will re-emphasize that our
opening game is very tough,” said Bell. “That’s a good football team
we’re going to be playing. With the level we’re at, that’s the kind
of team we need to be playing. We’re going to need to be clicking
early.”
Besides the Wartburg contest, another key road game on the Scots’
schedule is their trip to De Pere, Wis., where they will try to
repeat last year’s thrilling victory over perennial power St.
Norbert. Home game highlights are many, including the MWC opener on
Sept. 9 against Lawrence, a Sept. 23 home date vs. rising power
Carroll, Homecoming on Oct. 21 vs. Lake Forest and the regular
season finale on Nov. 4 against Knox for the Bronze Turkey.
Bell concluded, “Our challenge is to week-in and week-out play to
the highest level we can play. We want to develop a very consistent
level of play throughout our 10-game schedule.”
And if they do that, Monmouth’s schedule will wind up being at least
11 games, and maybe several more.
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