CALL INTERFERES WITH SCOTS’ VICTORY HOPES

While a key call late in the game led directly to Monmouth College’s 27-20 loss at Ripon on Saturday, Fighting Scots coach Steve Bell said there were certainly other factors that caused his team’s second straight defeat in the Midwest Conference.

"We had opportunities to put 14 points on the board in the third quarter, and we didn’t do it," he said, referring to a pair of first-and-goal opportunities that eventually led to failed field goal attempts. "We weren’t able to run the ball when we absolutely needed to. That makes us one-dimensional, and that’s not good."

On the possessions in question, a penalty helped stall the first drive, and the Scots had two rushes for no yards and a fumbled snap on the other.

"I put that on myself," Bell said of the latter sequence. "I should have thrown the ball in the end zone, and I didn’t do it. That was bull-headed on my part."

While Monmouth didn’t move the ball on the ground, the Red Hawks did, and that was another key factor in the game.

"Defensively, we didn’t stop the fullback," said Bell. "Schematically, we did, but technically, we didn’t execute. Running the fullback is where the option play starts. Until you stop it, they’ll just keep running it."

Ripon’s Scott Perkins gained 101 yards on 27 carries, and the Red Hawks picked up 258 yards on the ground in all.

"You’ve got to be assignment-sound," said Bell. "We’d break down in our assignments, and our kids would try to do too much, and that’s when the option can burn you in other places."

Yellow hankies also weren’t the Scots’ friends. The red zone holding call was one of several that put Monmouth in first-and-long situations. The key penalty of the game, though, came in the closing minutes after Ripon had taken over on its own 47 with the score tied at 20.

Red Hawk quarterback Tygh Walters lofted a 30-yard pass attempt that overshot his receiver and was intercepted by Aaron Payette, who ran it back 36 yards to put the Scots in great field position. But Payette was flagged for interference, and Ripon kept the ball, advancing to the Monmouth 38 on the penalty. A 27-yard run put them on the doorstep, and the Hawks cashed in four plays later with just 25 seconds remaining in the game.

"To say the least, it was controversial," said Bell when asked about the call. "Our kid was in perfect position as their kid backpedaled for the ball. Their kid falls back on his back and our kid intercepts it. One hundred times out of one hundred, I’d tell him to play it the same way."

Bell certainly didn’t pin the loss on that momentum swinger, though, citing instead his team’s failure to run the ball, stop the run and put points on the board with special teams, as three missed kicks prevented seven points from scoring. Included was a missed PAT that snapped Nate Palkovic’s streak of conversions at 32.

Monmouth’s points came on three Alex Tanney touchdown passes. The freshman was 16-of-29 for 199 yards. Matt Shepherd, Kramer Matzen and Bobby Gibbs had the TDs, and Mike Blodgett led all receivers with six grabs for 102 yards. Jeff Davis rushed for 90 yards on 20 carries and Marc Artozqui and Wes Levy led the defense, combining for 18 tackles. Willy Mason added nine stops.

The defense will certainly receive a challenge this Saturday at Lake Forest, going up against the Foresters’ pass-catch duo of Jeff Ziemnik and all-conference receiver Dan Carter. Ziemnik threw for 328 yards and two scores in last week’s 28-14 victory over Grinnell. For the year, Ziemnik has thrown for 1,616 yards and 14 TDs, with Carter leading the team in receptions (36), yardage (553) and touchdowns (7). Running back Will Christensen also has 36 catches, good for 340 yards, and Tom Cirone, another All-MWC pick in 2006, has 27 receptions for 417 yards and five scores.

"Their quarterback is a terrific athlete," said Bell. "He makes a lot of plays with his feet, and Carter is a very talented receiver."

On defense, All-MWC corner Ed Kidd has been solid for the Foresters, breaking up five passes and making 37 tackles, good for fifth on the team. Kidd is also the Foresters’ top return man. Chad Zimborski is the leading tackler with 70, and Lorenzo Ramirez and All-MWC selection Matt Lawler have combined for 89 tackles and seven interceptions.

"The game is at their place, and they’ll be juiced up," said Bell. "They’re a very good football team. We found that out last year (a 12-8 Homecoming loss), and they’re starting to play better again this year."

However, said Bell, the Scots’ focus will not necessarily be on what Lake Forest can do but, rather, what Monmouth needs to do to close its season with three straight victories.

"Our mentality is, we’ve got to get back on track," he said. "We’ve got to get back to what Monmouth does well. We haven’t made plays in the last two games. We need to strengthen our leadership and our ability to take care of assignments. We need to trust that if we do what we’re supposed to do, we’re good enough to win ballgames."

Monmouth will take a 4-3 record into the game, while the Foresters are 3-4. The teams are 4-2 and 3-3, respectively, in the MWC.

Shimmin was referring to Monmouth’s current standing in the MWC. Six teams qualify for the Nov. 2-3 tournament, and the Scots are tied with two other teams for fifth with a league mark of 2-3. The Scots play both of those teams next week, as well as a match against the fourth-place school, Beloit.

"I liked our consistent play on Sunday and the way we were ready to play right from the beginning of the match," Shimmin added. "We’re really happy with what we saw."

Individually, Shimmin also saw good things that included the improved play of Jessica Travis (Washington, Ill./Washington). Shimmin said the senior, who injured her ankle early in the season, "played the best she has since she’s been back," pounding 29 kills at the tournament.

Senior setter Colleen Wilkin (Fulton, Ill./Fulton) was also on, earning all-tournament honors with her 96 assists and solid floor play.

"Colleen was consistent all through the weekend," praised Shimmin. "She showed good leadership skills and really helped us win those tight matches on Sunday with what she was saying on the court and how she was leading."

Junior middle hitter Samantha Robinson (Milan, Ill./Rockridge) was impressive, too, posting team highs in kills (39) and blocks (18) while hitting at a .374 clip.

"That’s the best blocking I’ve seen from her," said Shimmin. "That’s an area she has really worked on since her freshman season."

Other leaders for Monmouth in the attack were right-side hitters Ashley Yeast (38 kills) and Tanesha Hughes (29). Junior Crystal Myers (Byron, Ill./Byron) added a team-high 99 digs.

Monmouth returns to action Thursday against winless Knox before playing Coe, Loras, Dubuque and Maryville at a tournament in Dubuque, Iowa, this weekend.

TENNIS TEAM PLACES SEVENTH IN MWC

What’s the difference between a fourth-place finish in the Midwest Conference and a seventh-place result? As it turns out, it was one set of tennis on Sept. 9.

Had the Scots been able to pick up one more victory against Lake Forest that day, they could have reversed their 5-4 loss, leapfrogged the Foresters in the South Division standings and qualified for the MWC playoffs. Doing the latter would have assured them of no worse than a fourth-place finish in the league.

Instead, the highest Monmouth could place at last weekend’s championships was fifth, but the Scots’ accumulation of 31 points left them in seventh behind fellow non-playoff qualifiers Beloit and Lawrence.

"Overall, we played well as a team, especially in singles," said coach Kerry Frantz. "I was particularly happy with how the bottom of our singles order played. That had not been our strongest point during the regular season, but they really worked hard in those lower bracket flights."

Monmouth’s top performances of the weekend came from the No. 1 doubles team of juniors Cassie Frantz (Macomb, Ill./Macomb) and Brittany Donnelly (Metamora, Ill./Metamora) and from freshman singles player Emily Isaacs (Rock Island, Ill./Rock Island). Both reached the semi-finals before losing to the eventual champion. Another semi-finalist was freshman Anne Speer (Macomb, Ill./Macomb). Frantz and Donnelly were Monmouth’s highest seed at No. 2, but they fell to the third-seeded team.

Speer and junior Maddy Ethington (Orland Hills, Ill./Andrew) won the consolation championship at No. 3 doubles, and Donnelly and Ethington were consolation finalists at No. 3 and No. 6 singles, respectively.

Monmouth finished the dual meet portion of its season with a 7-5 mark, equaling the school win record set in 1983. Donnelly (13-8) and Frantz (11-10) posted winning singles records for the Scots, and they were 12-8 in doubles.

"Our season was phenomenal overall," said Frantz, citing the record-tying total of matches won. "We’re looking forward to a new mini-schedule next spring, as well as to next season, when we’ll everybody back from this year’s team."

PACK IMPRESSES HAYNES AT TUCKER INVITE

Normally, when Monmouth runners compete in a named invitational meet at a college, they have little idea of the significance of the event’s namesake.

Not so at last weekend’s event at Loras, which is named for 1965 Monmouth graduate Bob Tucker, who had a long coaching career at the Dubuque, Iowa, school. Tucker has also made a name for himself recently in Monmouth with his popular All-Sports Camp.

The MC runner who made the biggest name for herself at the Tucker Invite was sophomore Katie Staab (Batavia, Ill./Batavia), who placed 13th out of 55 runners in 24:36. Her 6K time was not far off the runner-up pace clocked by teammate Mary Kate Beyer (23:48).

"Katie Staab closed the gap between her and Mary Kate," said coach Roger Haynes. "She had a substantial improvement and dropped 30 seconds off her best time."

Also scoring for the women, who placed fourth out of five teams, were sophomores Amy Aghababian (26:18), Kaile Schreiner (26:29) and Jayme Ayers (27:00).

The men placed second out of five teams, led by sophomore Clay Staley (26:19), who placed third. Also scoring were senior Adam Rodriguez (27:38), sophomore Brad Begyn (27:42), junior Damon Bautista (27:45) and sophomore Matt Peharda (28:18).

"I thought our 2-6, 2-7 runners were pretty solid," said Haynes. "Our frontrunners weren’t outstanding. They were good, but not great."

The Scots will take the upcoming weekend off before competing Oct. 27 at the Midwest Conference Championships in Jacksonville, Ill.

SCOTS POST GOAL, BUT END BUSY WEEK AT 0-2-1

Odds are, when the Monmouth College men’s soccer team takes the field this season, someone’s going to get shut out.

However, the hosts netted the equalizer shortly before halftime, then scored the decisive goal in their 2-1 win on a penalty kick awarded in the 65th minute when Monmouth was whistled for handball in the box.

The loss capped a busy stretch for the Scots and put their overall record at 3-7-3. It was the first time that Monmouth and its opponent had both scored in a match since the second contest of the season, a 1-1 tie with Mt. Mercy.

Saturday at Illinois College, neither team scored in a 0-0 double-overtime tie. At 16-14, shots were slightly in IC’s favor, but one quality Monmouth opportunity nearly pushed the Scots in front. However, the blast caromed harmlessly off the crossbar, leaving the Scots with a 1-3-1 mark in the Midwest Conference.

Monmouth also didn’t score in its 4-0 make-up game at Grinnell last Wednesday. The Scots suffered defensive breakdowns on three of the goals. Challenged by coach George Perry to raise their level of play in the second half, the Scots did just that, holding the host Pioneers to a slim 8-7 edge in shots and only allowing one score, which came with 7:16 left to play.

MITCHELL A 20-GAME WINNER (IN HOOPS)

(Editor’s Note: This is the third of five profiles of former Monmouth College athletes who will be inducted into the M Club Hall of Fame on Oct. 27 during Homecoming Weekend festivities.)

Mitchell’s 530 points that year were the second-most in school history and helped him finish with 1,277 points, good for No. 5 on MC’s scoring list the year of his induction. He was an All-MWC first teamer in both 20-win seasons and made the second team in 1988, when the Scots won the first of two league titles with Mitchell on the floor.