PALKO’S THREE-RUN BOMBS LIFT SCOTS

Left fielder Nate Palkovic (Peoria, Ill./Woodruff) hit two three-run homers, including one in the top of the ninth, to lift Monmouth College to a 6-3 victory Saturday at Carroll.

Wait. Check that. Let’s try again.

Kicker Nate Palkovic booted two field goals, including a 25-yarder with 4:28 remaining in the fourth quarter, to lift the Fighting Scots to a 6-3 victory over the host Pioneers Saturday in Waukesha, Wis.

Although the first scenario is fictitious, it’s certainly plausible. Palkovic, after all, did belt two homers in a Monmouth baseball game earlier this year. The April contest with Knox ended with the Scots winning by the football score of 16-12.

So why, exactly, did Saturday’s football action produce a baseball score, especially when Monmouth’s last two trips to Carroll have resulted in 42-35 and 35-27 victories?

"The norm up there is that our offense puts up a lot of points, but our defense struggles," said Monmouth head coach Steve Bell. "This game, it was flipped, and it was like there was a lid on the end zone."

More specifically, said Bell, "We didn’t run the ball well, and that does not bode well for the future. We can’t be inconsistent like that, having one game on and one game off. It’s not one thing or one player or one position. We’ve got to come together on offense and develop consistency."

Where the offense’s problems were magnified were on Carroll’s end of the field. Five times, the Scots put together drives of 42 yards or more. However, only one ended with points, when Palkovic kicked his first field goal, a 36-yarder, with 2:49 left in the first half. In all, Monmouth ran 13 plays from Carroll’s 30-yardline or closer, but those plays produced just 28 yards.

Defensively, the picture is much brighter for Monmouth, which has now held three straight opponents to seven points or less. If not for a fourth-quarter TD drive surrendered by second-teamers vs. Lawrence, the Scots would have held three straight opponents out of the end zone. In holding Carroll to just three points, Monmouth allowed only 15 yards on 10 plays inside its own 30.

"I’m extremely pleased with the way our defense played," said Bell. "When Carroll got inside our 30, we really tightened up. We had multiple guys make big plays."

There were big plays throughout the contest, but the game’s final nine minutes provided several huge moments. The first came with a 3-3 score at the 8:32 mark, when Palkovic’s 44-yard punt was downed at the Carroll 2-yard-line. The Pioneers couldn’t move from the shadow of their goal posts, and their ensuing 24-yard punt was downed at the Carroll 29. Monmouth moved the chains once, but on fourth-and-two from the Carroll 8, Palkovic was called on to boot his go-ahead field goal.

Isaac Hamilton broke a 55-yard return on the kickoff to set the Pioneers up at the Monmouth 44, but junior T.C. Olsen’s big sack forced a Carroll punt with 2:56 to play. Monmouth figured to need one first down to run out the clock, but a holding penalty stalled the offense, leading to a Palkovic punt with 1:53 left. Once again, Hamilton had a nice return, and Carroll set up shop at the Monmouth 41. A 25-yard pass play moved the Pioneers to the Scots’ 25, but sophomore Nick Leffler (Virginia Beach, Va.) broke through to force an intentional grounding that left Carroll at the Monmouth 38. After an 11-yard pass sparked hope among the Pioneers faithful, senior Aaron Payette (Shannon, Ill./Eastland) nearly picked off a third-down pass and sophomore Sean Wells (Heyworth, Ill./Heyworth) broke up Carroll’s game-winning attempt in the end zone.

"A win’s a win," said Bell, whose team improved to 3-0 in the Midwest Conference and remained in first place. "We’ll take them anyway we can get them."

Besides its defense, which is ranked 27th nationally in points allowed, one way Monmouth is winning is by taking care of the football. Freshman quarterback Alex Tanney (Lexington, Ill./Lexington) has thrown just one interception through four games, making Monmouth 12th in the nation in that statistic. The Scots are also 35th in turnover margin and 17th in turnovers lost. Palkovic, who earned his second MWC Performer of the Week honor and is receiving Aztec Bowl consideration, is also a factor, as he is 17th in the nation in both field goals per game and punting average. Figuring in punt returns, the Scots are 45th nationally in net punting.

By comparison, Monmouth’s Family Weekend opponent, Grinnell, is not a national power in many departments. What the Pioneers do offer is a hard-playing team with a solid scheme on offense. All-MWC players returning for Grinnell include offensive linemen Andrew LaRue and Jon Antrim and quarterback Ben Remington, who was an all-league tight end last fall.

"Our focus has to be on Monmouth," said Bell of the matchup. "We need to focus on what we need to do and control what we can control."

If they do that, the Scots shouldn’t need any late-inning, er, fourth-quarter heroics to stay on top of the Midwest Conference.

JV FOOTBALL IS 1-1

The Fighting Scots’ JV football team has shown a knack for putting points on the board, averaging 34.5 through their first two games. The Scots fell 42-35 to Illinois Wesleyan on Sept. 16 and defeated St. Ambrose 34-12 last Sunday.

Sophomore Keegan Jones (Knoxville, Ill./Knoxville) threw for three TDs against St. Ambrose, including an 80-yard bomb to freshman David Johnson (Normal, Ill./University). Jones also connected on scoring strikes with freshmen Nick Goett (Metamora, Ill./Metamora) and Michael Bogguess (Ophiem, Ill./AlWood). Also scoring vs. the Bees were freshmen running backs Mike Ridgway (Dixon, Ill./Dixon) and Nick Law (Heyworth, Ill./Heyworth).

Law added a rushing score vs. IWU and also blocked one of two punts that was returned for a touchdown in that game by Kyle Prout (Chillicothe, Ill./IVC). The other block was credited to Marcus Ruff (Avon, Ill./Bushnell-Prairie City). Junior Steve Zidow (Peru, Ill./LaSalle-Peru) completed a TD pass to Johnson and freshman Justin Hoskins (Moline, Ill./Moline) also scored on a run.

The Scots will complete their JV schedule Oct. 28 against Millikin.

RUNNER STALEY IS RUNNER-UP

Cross country coach Roger Haynes knows that one of the keys to team success in his sport is to have strong frontrunners. At Friday’s Brissman-Lundeen Invitational, hosted by Augustana and contested at the Credit Island course in Davenport, Iowa, the Fighting Scots showed they have big-time frontrunners on both of their squads.

Sophomore Clay Staley (Hanna City, Ill./Illini Bluffs) ran the sixth-fastest 8K time in school history, placing second out of 409 runners with his time of 25:27. His high finish lifted Monmouth to a fourth-place showing out of 32 schools.

On the women’s side, freshman Mary Kate Beyer (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria) broke the school’s 6K record, with her time of 22:49 placing 12th at the meet. It chopped 13 seconds off the previous mark, which was set by Tiffanie York in 2004. Overall, the women took 17th out of 26 teams.

"Clay ran very well," said Haynes. "He was in a group of 10 runners, and he really closed a lot on the first place runner over the last mile."

Of Beyer, Haynes said, "To place that high in a strong field was a nice accomplishment. Grinnell was also at the meet, and they placed seventh in the nation a year ago. Mary Kate ran very well against their runners."

Other performers who impressed Haynes included sophomore Brad Begyn (Rock Island, Ill./Rock Island), junior Damon Bautista (Silvis, Ill./United Township) and freshmen Scott Sheller (Morton, Ill./Morton) and Drew Peterson (LaGrange, Ill./Lyons) on the men’s side and sophomores Kaile Schreiner (Dixon, Ill./Newman) and Amy Aghababian (St. Charles, Ill./Burlington Central) for the women.

Begyn, who finished 28th in 26:58, also ran well against his MWC rivals from Grinnell, while Bautista (27:29), Sheller (28:17) and Peterson (28:48) all had PRs. Schreiner finished third among MC’s women in 26:24 in her first race of the season, while Aghababian was the team’s No. 4 runner in 26:35. Other women’s scorers were sophomores Katie Staab (25:03) and Whitney Maher (26:24), while senior Adam Rodriguez (27:29) also scored for the men.

FRANTZ, DONNELLY LEAD NETTERS TO 3-1 WEEK

Some records, like Nate Palkovic’s recent scoring mark in football, are seen coming head-on by Monmouth’s sports information department. Unfortunately, a handful of others aren’t noticed until they’re in the rear-view mirror, and that is the case with junior tennis player Cassie Frantz (Macomb, Ill./Macomb).

Now, Frantz sets a record every time she wins, which is often. She posted records of 3-1 in both singles and doubles last week, helping Monmouth win three matches to improve to 5-4 on the year. For the record, Frantz now has 22 singles wins in her career, 24 doubles victories and a combined total of 46.

One of her most memorable wins came Saturday, when she was involved in the last remaining action vs. St. Ambrose. With eight matches decided, including a win by Frantz and classmate Brittany Donnelly (Metamora, Ill./Metamora) at No. 1 doubles, the teams were deadlocked at 4-4. Frantz was involved in a tight match, but she came through when it mattered most, winning the third set supertiebreaker 10-5 to give Monmouth a 5-4 victory.

Other winners vs. St. Ambrose were freshman Kim Wegner (Dixon, Ill./Dixon) at No. 2 singles, Donnelly at No. 3 and the No. 2 doubles team of Wegner and classmate Emily Isaacs (Rock Island, Ill./Rock Island).

Wegner had an undefeated Saturday, as she also posted both of Monmouth’s points in a 7-2 loss to Augustana.

Earlier in the week, Monmouth recorded 6-3 and 9-0 wins over MWC rivals Knox and Illinois College. Frantz and Donnelly were undefeated together and separately, with one of Frantz’s singles win avenging a loss earlier in the season to IC’s Candace Norville. Isaacs and sophomore Sarah McLinden (Chicago, Ill./Queen of Peace) also won their singles matches vs. IC, and junior Maddie Ethington (Orland Hills, Ill./Andrew) and freshman Anne Speer (Macomb, Ill./Macomb) won at No. 3 doubles. The Lady Blues had to forfeit three other matches.

Against Knox, other winners included Speer and Ethington in singles and the No. 2 doubles team of Speer and Wegner.

Up next for the Scots is a pair of home matches on Saturday against Carroll and Clarke.

Playing against a different visitor from Iowa on Sunday brought a dramatically different result, as the Scots outshot the Rams 21-7.

"From the very beginning, we were doing a good job keeping their attack under control and putting together some very good combinations to create a number of scoring opportunities," said Perry.

The scoring started midway through the first half. Sophomore Pat Blazer (Franklin Park, Ill./St. Patrick) intercepted a ball and sent a through pass down the right flank to freshman Dan Sell (Lake Villa, Ill./Lakes). Sell’s early cross into the far post space found an open Trevor Neff (Morris, Ill./Coal City), who headed the ball into the right side of the net.

"That was a great sequence," said Perry.

About five minutes into the second half, sophomore Danny Davis (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) intercepted a ball and attacked the goal. He and sophomore Lucas Knox (East Moline, Ill./United Township) executed a nice give-and-go, which led to Davis’ third goal of the year. In the game’s final 10 minutes, defenders Bryan Jackson (Princeton, Ill./Princeton) and Joe Howell (St. Louis, Mo./Kirkwood) found themselves far up in the offensive end. Jackson passed the ball to Howell, who beat a defender and neatly put the ball in to the right side of the net.

Robinson, who made a pair of spectacular saves in the shutout, was honored as the Midwest Conference Defensive Player of the Week.

The Scots will open MWC play this Saturday at Knox at 3:30 p.m. It was to be their second league game, but the Grinnell match has now been rescheduled for Oct. 10 at 3:30 p.m. in Iowa.

SHE SHOOTS, SHE SCORES

Kicker Nate Palkovic was involved in a bit of sports confusion over the weekend, playing in a football contest that ended with a baseball-like score. It wasn’t the only such oddity of the weekend to happen to a Monmouth athlete in Wisconsin.

Due to a couple of late absences, Barnard was pressed into duty by golf coach Molly McNamara, who is also an assistant on the women’s basketball team. Barnard’s game had some rust on Saturday when she shot a 122 that didn’t factor into the team’s score of 438. However, she was the leading reason Monmouth cut its Sunday total by 36 strokes, leading the team with a round of 95.

"Lynsey was a pretty good high school golfer, and I’ve talked to her before about playing for the team," said McNamara. "After we learned that Jessica Sackville (Aledo, Ill./Aledo) and Kristin Humpfrey (Plano, Ill./Plano) would not be able to play for us last weekend, I called Lynsey on Friday to see if she would play. We got her eligible, then we went to Wisconsin, via Pekin, to pick up some clubs."

Added McNamara, "She’s a nice ballstriker, and one of her playing partners on Sunday said that she makes more five-foot putts than anybody they’ve ever seen."

Some of those putts no doubt came during a memorable par-birdie-par stretch for the team’s newcomer.

Up next for the Scots is this weekend’s Millikin Fall Invitational. It will be their last meet before the MWC Championships. McNamara is not certain if Barnard will make the trip to Millikin, but she will definitely be counted on at the conference meet, when the team can have six players competing.