By: A late series of defensive stands allowed Illinois College to withstand a comeback attempt from Monmouth College and earn the South Division victory on Homecoming Weekend.
Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – It seemed that in the blink of an eye, a game that Illinois College had under control in the first half was teetering on the edge of disaster. Tied up at 24-24 entering the fourth quarter, the Blueboy defense refused to give in and fed off the energy of a rabid Homecoming crowd, forcing three Monmouth College turnovers in the final 15 minutes and paving the way for a 31-24 victory. The win improves IC to 3-2 (1-0 MWC South) on the year.
After leading 24-7 in the second quarter, the game looked like it could turn into a waltz for the Blueboys. IC got into the end zone on its first two possessions, making the Scots look overmatched along the way. A field goal gave Monmouth just a little momentum heading into halftime and the Scots came out re-energized in the third quarter, pounding the ball on the ground and tying the game at 24-24 before the Illinois College defense took charge.
After receiving the opening kickoff, it took less than two minutes for Illinois College to put points on the board. The Blueboys went for the home run ball on a first and 10, with
Michael Bates connecting with
Logan Uyetake on a 61-yard touchdown pass. A winded Uyetake then lined up for the extra point and was able to convert to put IC up, 7-0.
The first Monmouth drive ended with a
J.J. Wang interception, setting up the Blueboys in excellent field position inside the Scots' 35-yard line. Illinois College had a first-and-goal within three plays, and Bates finished it off on a snaking eight-yard touchdown run through a stretched Monmouth defense. Uyetake again supplied the extra point for a 14-0 edge.
Monmouth running back Trent Rains began to find some daylight on the next possession. He helped move the Scots into IC territory for the first time before
James Dambacher forced a fumble from him that was recovered by
Dylan Ringhausen and returned to the 50-yard line. Dambacher again made a big play to keep the Scots off the board late in the first quarter, combining with
Chris Evans for a 10-yard sack as Monmouth went for it on fourth down just outside the IC red zone.
A long Illinois College drive that bridged the first and second quarters was capped by a 31-yard Uyetake field goal – the first of his career – to put IC on top, 17-0. Monmouth wasted no time with a response. A 68-yard kickoff return set up the Scots with the ball at the IC 21-yard line and quarterback Tanner Matlick hit C.J. Shields with a touchdown pass on the first play to make it a 17-7 contest.
The quarter would end with another quick-hitting touchdown drive from the Blueboys. Illinois College went 63 yards in seven plays with Bates finding
Bryce Heaton over the middle for the final 24 yards. A Monmouth field goal in the final minute cut it to a 24-10 game at the break.
A rejuvenated Monmouth team emerged in the third quarter. The Scots went 58 yards in eight plays on the opening possession of the half with Rains taking it in for the final two yards to cut IC's edge to 24-17. Illinois College's attempt to answer stalled out after picking up one first down and the Blueboys had to give the ball back to Monmouth. Starting with the ball inside the IC 40, the Scots went down the field in seven plays before Matlick hit Raysean Parker with a four-yard strike to knot the game up at 24-24.
Both offenses hit the skids for the remainder of the quarter. Monmouth had chances to take the lead, but sabotaged its chances with an interception thrown to
Ralf King and a third down pass to Matt Trainor that came up short of the first down after a huge open-field tackle from
Zack Hanlon. As the fourth quarter began, IC had possession but was struggling to put anything significant together.
A punt from IC early in the fourth quarter again gave the Scots a chance to take the lead. Rains netted 24 yards on the first two plays from scrimmage, but with the ball at the 50-yard line, Matlick had a bad option pitch that was recovered by Dambacher to force another Monmouth drive to stall out. The teams then traded punts, with Monmouth unable to play the field position game effectively after a Jeremy Collier punt made its way into the end zone for a touchback.
Taking possession on its own 20-yard line with exactly eight minutes remaining, Illinois College got back to its bread-and-butter passing attack. Bates connected with Uyetake for two straight completions that moved the ball ahead to the IC 40. A screen pass to
Josh Gentile then broke open for a 28-yard gain to the Monmouth 32-yard line. Completions to
Brendan Finley and Heaton advanced the ball down to the Monmouth three-yard line and
Dakota Lammy did the rest, plowing in to score and giving the Blueboys a 31-24 lead with 4:33 to play.
Dambacher was a man on a mission in the final minutes of the game. With Monmouth searching for the tying touchdown, the senior defensive lineman had a five-yard sack of Matlick on a fourth and three to end one chance. After IC milked a minute off the clock and forced the Scots to use their remaining timeouts, the Blueboys punted back to the Monmouth 19-yard line with 1:45 remaining. Dambacher sacked Matlick again on first down for a loss of eight yards. On second down and long,
Dylan Schuler picked Matlick off and clinched the game for IC.
With 296 yards in the game, Bates became the leading passer in Illinois College program history, moving ahead of his predecessor, Mitch Niekamp. Bates now has 9,367 yards through the air in his career and is third all-time in Midwest Conference history in the category. He was also the leading rusher for the Blueboys on the afternoon, running 19 times for 64 yards. Lammy rumbled for an additional 55 yards. Gentile was the leading receiver in the contest with 11 catches for 111 yards. Uyetake set a career high with 82 receiving yards.
Ringhausen ended the game with a team-high seven tackles (five solo), while Dambacher had 6.5 tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Hanlon led the secondary with three pass break-ups.
Illinois College continues South Division play next weekend, traveling to Grinnell College (1-4, 0-1 MWC South) for a 1 p.m. kick-off.
