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Scots fall in second round Release Date:
Nov. 29, 2008
MONMOUTH, Ill. -
With just seven
seconds remaining on the clock, quarterback Nick Yordi connected with
wide receiver Justin Vetter to allow Wartburg College to complete a
30-28 come-from-behind victory over Monmouth College in round 2 of the
Division III playoffs.
“I was at a loss for words--I didn’t know what to say,” said Wartburg
head coach Rick Willis shortly after the game. “We talk all the time
about playing 60 minutes and keep battling and it doesn’t get any better
example of a team battling than that. It was a great job of our team
hanging in there.”
Monmouth, which came into the game with a 14-game winning streak, led
the entire contest, after jumping out to an early 14-0 lead in the first
quarter. Sophomore quarterback Alex Tanney threw touchdown passes to
Kramer Matzen at 10:42 and two Kyle Weyeneth at 0:58. A missed field
goal by Spencer Herzber at 7:46 preserved Monmouth’s shutout.
Early in the second quarter, running back Alex Boom brought the Knights
closer with a two-yard run, but less than five minutes later, Caleb
Pratt punched the ball in for the Fighting Scots, giving them a 20-7
lead, after the extra point by Kyle Tuor failed.
In the second half, the Knights effectively shut down Tanney’s passing
attack while mounting their own dogged offensive campaign. Monmouth took
the opening kickoff, advancing from its own 17 to the Wartburg 36. On
third and eight, Wartburg’s Jake Braun recovered a Scots fumble. Nine
plays later, the Knights cut the lead to 28-21.
In the first play of the fourth quarter, Wartburg punted, backing the
Scots up to their own 2-yard line.
On the ensuing play, the Scots fumbled, setting up a Knights’ field
goal, bringing Wartburg to within four.
Monmouth started its final drive with 5:53 remaining in the quarter.
Tanney was efficient, completing passes to Steve Zidow, Matt Shepherd
and Mike Blodgett, setting up a first-and-10 on the Wartburg 20, and
forcing Wartburg to take a timeout with 1:49 remaining. A six-yard rush
by Caleb Pratt took the Scots to the 17-yard line, and Wartburg took its
final timeout at 1:42.
A false start by Monmouth, followed by an incomplete pass to Shepherd,
set up a fourth-and-6 at the 16-yard line and a delay of game penalty
pushed the Scots back to the 21. On fourth-and-11, Tanney threw an
incomplete pass, allowing Wartburg’s Yordi to begin his victory march up
the field with 1:34 remaining on the clock.
With the Scots playing a zone defense to protect against a big play,
Yordi got the Knights to their own 40-yard-line before throwing two
consectuitve incomplete passes. On third-and-10, however, he got loose
and rushed for 19 yards to the Monmouth 41. Two more completions set the
Knights up on the Monmouth 23-yard line with time winding down.
On third and 10, Yordi threw to the end zone, with Vetter making a
game-winning leaping grab.
“I wasn’t really worried,” said Yordi, whose 276 passing yards made him
the career top-passing quarterback in Wartburg history. “We do
two-minute once or twice a week to prepare for situations like this.
Obviously it’s hard with no time outs to throw a ton of balls down the
middle, but the team did a great job, the line protecting all the way
down. The clock was ticking there and Justin made a heck of a play.”
Vetters, who had dropped two key passes earlier in the game, felt
relieved. “It feels great,” he said. “I really still can’t believe it.
After I dropped that one earlier I was kind of down in the dumps. It was
a roller-coaster ride. I just had to push those out of my mind and then
on that last play I saw the ball in the air and I went and got it.”
Monmouth coach Steve Bell, who was seconds away from seeing his team
win its second playoff game ever, was philosophical about the loss,
defending his decision to loosen the defense during Wartburg’s final
drive. “What we did was the right thing to do,” he said. “The kid made a
heck of a catch, so you’ve got to give credit on that one.”
Football
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