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SCOTS SCOOP
– Oct. 24, 2007
– Vol.
8, No. 12
BIG PLAYS KEY 41-19 VICTORY
The most prolific pass-catch duo in MC football history is the Rob
Purlee-Nathan Gaskill combination. For a single season, the honor
belongs to Mitch Tanney and Evan Haffner.
It might not be long before those successful quarterback-receiver
tandems are overshadowed by Alex Tanney (Lexington, Ill./Lexington) and
Matt Shepherd (Leesburg, Fla./Leesburg). Or maybe it will be Tanney and
Mike Blodgett (Appleton, Wis./North).
Either way, Fighting Scots coach Steve Bell has to like the prospects
of his star freshman quarterback having two talented targets from the
same recruiting class. All three players shined Saturday as Monmouth
avenged one of its losses from last season by knocking off Lake Forest
41-19.
Tanney, Shepherd and Blodgett weren’t around for last season’s 12-8
defensive struggle. They certainly helped change the tone this fall,
with Tanney completing 29 of 45 passes for 369 yards and three TDs,
including two to Blodgett and one to Shepherd. Tanney is now the passing
leader in the Midwest Conference with 2,169 yards. His single-game total
vs. the Foresters was the fifth-highest in school history, trailing only
marks posted by himself (405), his brother (405) and Purlee (383 and
374).
"Especially in the second half, I thought he really managed the game
well," said Bell. "He managed down and distance, which ultimately helped
us put points on the board. He’s getting better every game. Sometimes,
we have to taper him down a little, but that’s a good attribute to have.
We’re very pleased with where he’s at, but this is also very expected."
Blodgett caught four passes for a team-high 102 yards, including a
72-yard fourth-quarter TD that officially sealed the win and a six-yard
touchdown in the third quarter. He now has 24 catches this season for
335 yards.
"He was our leading receiver against Ripon, too," said Bell. "Both
times, he listened to what we talked about all week and then took it out
to the field. He’s just a good football player, and he’s becoming more
confident. He’s only going to get better."
Shepherd, who hauled in a 54-yard TD pass, also made a name for
himself in the return game vs. the Foresters. He took the opening
kickoff of the second half 86 yards for a score, and he added punt
returns of 40, 27 and 16 yards. His 190 return yards for the game is
second on Monmouth’s all-time list, and he received the Midwest
Conference’s Special Teams Performer of the Week honor. In the receiving
category, Shepherd is now up to 17 catches for 294 yards, and his
average of 17.3 yards per catch leads the team.
"He’s very explosive," said Bell. "He’s still a bit raw in terms of
running routes, but once he gets that down, look out. A switch really
went on for him in the last few games. You could see the light click on.
He’s beginning to show us what we saw from him on film in high school,
which was a lot of big plays."
On the kickoff return, which was the first such TD runback in Bell’s
eight years at Monmouth, "He hit the hole very, very fast, made one good
move on their kicker, and he was gone."
The big plays in the passing game came when both Shepherd and
Blodgett connected mentally with Tanney, realizing they’d been in
man-to-man coverage vs. linebackers. Tanney got them their first 20
yards or so through the air, and the rest came on yards after the catch.
It’s certainly much too early for Tanney, Shepherd and Blodgett to be
thinking about career records, but they are all ahead of the pace of
some of Monmouth’s recent heavy hitters. Purlee threw for 1,034 yards
his rookie year, Gaskill had 69 receiving yards as a freshman and
Haffner barely saw the field on offense his first season, amassing no
receiving statistics. Mitch Tanney didn’t join Monmouth’s program until
his junior year.
But make no mistake, Monmouth’s success in the passing game is not
limited to freshmen. Sophomore Kyle Wantland (Fisher, Ill./Fisher)
caught 10 passes for 95 yards, moving him past junior Bobby Gibbs
(Roseville, Ill./Roseville) as the team’s leading receiver with 494
yards on 47 receptions. Gibbs has 42 catches for 381 yards, and
sophomore Nick Wright (Canton, Ill./Canton) leads the team with four TD
grabs. He’s caught 24 passes for 341 yards.
Monmouth’s kicking game was also a component of the victory, as
senior Nate Palkovic’s two field goals were the difference at halftime.
He wound up being perfect on the day, as he was 5-for-5 on PATs to
finish with 11 points, and he added a 48.8-yard average on five punts,
including a 72-yarder that didn’t stop rolling until it hit the end
zone.
Lake Forest nearly matched Monmouth through the air, as Jeff Ziemnik
was 29-of-44 for 301 yards. Look for another aerial battle this Saturday
in the Scots’ Homecoming game at 1:30 p.m. at Bobby Woll Memorial Field,
as visiting Illinois College brings in an attack led by quarterback Joe
Reed. The former Carthage High School star has taken over for another
gunslinger, the injured Pete Jennings, and he threw for 282 yards and
four scores last week in the Blueboys’ 49-21 victory over Grinnell. That
earned Reed a share of the MWC Offensive Performer of the Week honor.
"Both Jennings and his backup are out, but we’re not fooled," said
Bell. "We know that Reed is a very good athlete. He’s extremely capable
of playing quarterback at the college level. He’s a tremendous football
player, and we know his team will rally around him."
Previously, Reed was an all-conference receiver, and he was leading
IC in that department this season with 563 yards. Now that honor goes to
Michael Jennings, who has 34 catches for 591 yards and six TDs. Justin
Menke (20 catches, 392 yards, six TDs) is also a threat to rip off big
yardage in the passing game.
On the ground, the Blueboys have three backs who have between 206 and
255 yards, led by Kyle Leeman.
Defensively, cornerback Jason Murphy, free safety Jake Weller and
linebacker Antwan Byrd earned All-MWC honors last season. Linebacker
Michael Kilgus figures to be honored this year, as he leads the Blueboys
with 77 stops. Defensive end Pete Vaughn has four sacks among his 54
tackles.
"They’re a very good football team defensively," said Bell. "Coach
(Aaron) Keen has done a very good job recruiting."
For the Scots, leading rusher Jeff Davis (625 yards) should be back
in the lineup. Although Bell anticipates that Monmouth will again throw
the football, he said, "I’m not guaranteeing we’ll throw the ball all
over the yard. I still believe we’ll be able to run the ball."
If Monmouth (5-3) wins its remaining games against Illinois College
and Knox, it will finish second in the MWC.
SPIKERS ARE ALMOST IN
Scots Scoop tried hard –
we really did –
to decipher the Midwest Conference volleyball race, which has just five
days and 10 matches remaining. With 3-0 wins in the past week over Knox
and Illinois College, Monmouth has certainly strengthened its position,
as the Scots are now 4-3 and solidly in fifth place. Six teams will
advance to the Nov. 2-3 conference playoffs.
However, there are still too many "ifs" out there to say Monmouth is
in for sure. The Scots definitely will be in with one more victory,
whether it comes Friday against Beloit or Saturday vs. Lake Forest. Both
matches will be part of Homecoming weekend festivities at MC.
But if the Scots do fall twice and slip to 4-5, there are scenarios
that would leave them at home for the postseason.
Still, Tuesday night’s victory at Illinois College was a big one.
Monmouth simply couldn’t afford to lose, and the Scots got progressively
better each set, posting a 30-27, 30-24, 30-20 triumph.
Senior Ashley Yeast (Sciota, Ill./West Prairie) was the hitting star,
smacking 14 kills with no errors in 24 attempts for a hitting percentage
of .583. Junior Samantha Robinson (Milan, Ill./Rockridge) and senior
Kendra James (Fulton, Ill./Fulton) also had error-free hitting
performances, and they each delivered eight kills.
Last Thursday at Knox, Yeast was again error-free, slamming eight
kills and hitting .533. Robinson had 10 kills and three blocks and
senior Jessica Travis (Washington, Ill./Washington) added nine kills.
In between those conference wins, Monmouth played four matches at the
Mississippi River Challenge in Dubuque, Iowa. The Scots closed their
play there with a 3-0 win over Maryville, but they fell to Coe, Dubuque
and Loras.
James was named to the all-tournament team after posting 35 kills, 11
blocks and six digs. She hit .405 during the four-match stretch.
In the victory over Maryville, four hitters combined for 36 kills and
just four errors. They included Travis (.611 percentage, 12 kills),
Yeast (.529, 9), Robinson (.389, 9) and junior Anna Damos (.455, 6).
Monmouth will take a record of 16-11 into its final two regular
season matches.
SCOTS LOSE A HEARTBREAKER
(Editor’s Note: This fall, the women’s soccer updates will be written
in first-person form, as the coach, Barry McNamara, is also the editor
of Scots Scoop.)
As tough losses go, I can’t think of one that hit me quite as hard as
Sunday’s 1-0 setback against Lake Forest. What made it easier to take,
though, was that we certainly gave it our all.
We were able to hold the Foresters scoreless in the first half as
they played with a very strong wind at their back. A big key to that was
the performance of freshman goalkeeper Sarah Wintersteen (Bloomington,
Ill./University), who was called on to make eight saves
– and some other big
plays, too –
as Lake Forest outshot us 13-2 in the opening half.
At halftime, our players and coaches were excited about our chances
in the second half against a team we needed to beat to keep strong
playoff hopes alive. Over the final 45 minutes, we did indeed get the
better of play, outshooting the Foresters 8-3, but they were able to
beat our offsides trap to go ahead 1-0 with 27:13 to play.
As the clock ticked down, we pushed more and more players into the
attack, and we created three excellent scoring chances in the final five
minutes. We hit the post on a shot off a corner kick, forced their
goalie to make a spectacular tip save and then, with the clock
approaching 0:00, put a shot just over the crossbar from close range.
Besides Wintersteen, we felt we also got stellar performances from
players like freshmen Brittney Parker (Waukegan, Ill./Warren) and
Hillary Broms (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods). In the end, however, we suffered
our second 1-0 loss in as many years to the very tough Foresters.
The day before, we were very solid in a 2-0 win over Beloit. The
wind, which wasn’t quite as strong as Sunday, was still a factor. We
decided to have it at our backs in the first half, but we weren’t able
to score, giving slight cause for alarm at intermission. But our players
did even better going into the wind, outshooting the Bucs 11-2 in the
second half and scoring twice off a pair of crosses from freshman Megan
Meeke (Elmhurst, Ill./York).
The first went just off the fingertips of Beloit’s goalie, and
freshman Becca Baur (Jacksonville, Ill./Jacksonville) was there to
hammer the ball home. The second came on a corner kick, as Meeke’s cross
floated over the goalie’s head and found sophomore Tina Rohrbach
(Peoria, Ill./Dunlap) wide open for the easy tap in. It was Rohrbach’s
first collegiate goal.
We’ll conclude our regular season this weekend with matches at Ripon
and Carroll. A victory against either team will clinch a winning season
for our 7-6-3 squad and mean we will finish no worse than fifth in the
league. We still have an outside shot at the playoffs if we can win out
and if Grinnell loses or ties its matches against St. Norbert and
Lawrence this weekend.
SCOTS CAN’T REPEAT SCHLEGEL’S MAGIC
It was great to see Ryan Schlegel at a men’s soccer match over the
weekend. It was appropriate that he picked the Beloit-Lake Forest
doubleheader to return to campus, as he had turned in a memorable
performance against those opponents six years earlier.
During Monmouth’s 2001 season, Schlegel had back-to-back game-winning
goals in overtime as the Scots defeated Beloit and Lake Forest by
identical 2-1 scores. The goals –
which represented half of Schlegel’s scoring output for the year
– were both assisted
by Alex Sandoval, and they propelled the Scots to an MWC playoff spot.
Thanks to a goal by Sandoval, the Scots then defeated Lake Forest 1-0 in
the conference title match and advanced to the national tournament for
the first time in school history.
Six years later, the Beloit-Lake Forest weekend played out in the
same fashion, with Monmouth and both of its opponents tied at 1-1 in the
second half. But on Saturday, Beloit scored with 30 minutes left and
hung on to win 2-1, and on Sunday, the Foresters’ Ben Levy scored in the
second overtime to hand the Scots their third straight 2-1 setback.
In the latter game, sophomore Patrick Blazer (Franklin Park, Ill./St.
Patrick’s) capped a pretty offensive sequence, scoring in the 66th
minute on assists by classmates Jeremy Doze (Princeton, Ill./Princeton)
and Danny Davis (Batavia, Ill./Batavia).
Defender Bryan Jackson (Princeton, Ill./Princeton) had Monmouth’s
goal on Saturday, coming out of the back to beat two Buccaneers off the
dribble and then blast a great shot into the net off the far post.
The Scots, who are now 3-9-3 on the year and 1-5-1 in the MWC, will
conclude their season this weekend with matches at Ripon and Carroll.
STALEY, BEYER AMONG LEAGUE’S FASTEST
The Fighting Scots cross country teams will participate in the
Midwest Conference Championships on Saturday at Nichols Park in
Jacksonville, Ill.
Entering the race, the Scots have a pair of individuals who are
ranked in the top five in their respective competitions
– sophomore Clay
Staley (Hanna City, Ill./Illini Bluffs) and freshman Mary Kate Beyer
(East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria).
Two other Scots, sophomores Brad Begyn (Rock Island, Ill./Rock
Island) and Katie Staab (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) are solid threats to run
to top 20, all-conference finishes. If Staab accomplishes the feat, she
will be Monmouth’s first repeat All-MWC runner on the women’s side since
1997.
Speaking of repeat, Staley hopes to do at least as well as he did a
year ago, when he placed fourth to help the Scots share the conference
title with Grinnell. Begyn was also an all-league runner last fall.
If Staley and Begyn can continue their success this year and in their
final two seasons, they could join a very exclusive club of four-year
all-conference performers for the men. Comprising that very short list
are Dan Schisler, Mark Luttrell and All-American Zach Barr.
No runner on the women’s team has four consecutive All-MWC finishes,
but Staab could get halfway to that elusive goal on Saturday.
CRAB PEOPLE PLACE THIRD
It’s been a busy month for the MC water polo team, which just
completed its third weekend of major competition by taking third place
at the Heartland Division Championship in Winona, Minn. That concluded a
6-5 season for the first-year club program, which goes by the name of
Crab People.
"Since Macalester College is also the Fighting Scots, we were asked
if we would like to a pick a different team nickname," said sophomore
Eric Pavlacka (Mokena, Ill./Lincoln-Way East), one of the team’s
captains.
That eliminated the confusion when Monmouth and Macalester met in the
tournament’s third place match, which the Crab People won 7-5 for their
second win of the event. The team also posted a 10-5 quarterfinal
victory over St. Mary’s before falling 13-4 to Grinnell in the semifinal
found.
Sophomore Joe Moran (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) scored 10 of
Monmouth’s 21 goals over the weekend, and freshmen Tom Pedersen
(Chicago, Ill./St. Patrick) and Matt O’Rourke (Evergreen Park,
Ill./Evergreen Park) added four apiece. Sophomore Matt Travnik (New
Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) had 31 saves in goal, with freshman
Chris McLoyd (Country Club Hills, Ill./Hillcrest) adding 15.
SEEMAN IS STILL MC’S BEST IN JAVELIN
(Editor’s Note: This is the fifth 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.)
Few track and field athletes in Fighting Scots history have dominated
an event like Karen Seeman Hillis.
At the time of her induction, Seeman owned the top 10 performances in
school history in her main event, the javelin. Since the metric era
began, only one other competitor can make a similar claim in an event
that has been held each year.
Seeman carried over that dominance to the conference level, winning
the javelin all four years to go with three shot put titles (two indoors
and one outdoors). Her school record javelin throw of 147’11 came during
the 1992 season, when she went on to become one of Monmouth’s first
female All-Americans with a third-place finish. She also placed fifth in
the nation as a senior.
Through 2007, Seeman also had three of the top seven indoor shot puts
in school history and she owned five of the top 10 outdoor marks in that
event, including the second-best throw of 43’7. |
