By: The Blueboy offense was effective at times, but the defense paved the way for IC’s first road win this season.
Box Score GRINNELL, Iowa – The Illinois College football program is known for its explosive offense, and for good reason. The Blueboys are among the nation's elite in total yards per game and scoring offense. But the fourth quarter of last week's win over Monmouth showed that if the offense ever wasn't clicking, there was an equally strong defense to fall back on. That was on display once again on Saturday as Illinois College held Grinnell to less than 200 yards of total offense in a 35-10 road win. IC improves to 4-2 (2-0 MWC South) with the victory.
A fumble in the red zone on Illinois College's opening drive cost the Blueboys a chance at an early lead and gave Grinnell the ball from its own 13. In one of their longest drives of the day, the Pioneers took it 40 yards downfield into IC territory. On a third and 10 play from the Illinois College 47-yard line, Grinnell quarterback Sam Poulos threw deep but was intercepted by Denari Ellis, giving possession back to the Blueboys from their two-yard line.
What followed was possibly the best offensive possession of the season for the Blueboys. Chewing up yardage at will, Illinois College moved 98 yards in 11 plays. After
Michael Bates ran for eight yards on a third-and-eight play to move the chains, the final 55 yards all came through the air on four straight completions to four different receivers.
Logan Uyetake,
Josh Gentile and
Kyle Obertino all had receptions to bring the Blueboys down to the Grinnell three-yard line. The final three yards went to
Adam Ausmus to put IC on top. Uyetake followed with the extra point for a 7-0 lead. The touchdown pass was the 89th from Bates in his career, breaking Mitch Niekamp's school record of 88.
The Pioneers were set up in good field position on their next possession but couldn't convert it into points, giving the ball back to Illinois College at the IC 29. Bates connected with Gentile three times on the subsequent drive for 61 yards to move the ball into the Grinnell red zone. There, Bates hit Obertino with a 10-yard touchdown pass, making it 14-0. Before the half ended, Grinnell was able to make some progress on the offensive end, kicking a field goal in the final minute to come within 14-3 at the break.
Receiving to start the second half,
Greg Cross took the opening kickoff 69 yards to set up Illinois College at the Grinnell 31-yard line to start its first drive. After three plays netted the Blueboys three yards, IC went for it on fourth down rather than try a long field goal. The faith in the offense paid off, with Bates hooking up with Obertino for a 28-yard score, Obertino's second touchdown of the day.
The rest of the third quarter went by quickly. Though Illinois College wouldn't add onto its lead, the defense remained in total control of the game, forcing the Pioneers into four consecutive three-and-outs.
The final nail in the coffin for Grinnell came early on in the fourth quarter when IC wrapped up a six-play, 42-yard drive with a 15-yard strike from Bates to
Bryce Heaton to give the Blueboys a 28-3 cushion. The teams would trade touchdowns in the closing minutes. Grinnell answered back with its longest drive of the day, slicing the lead to 28-10 with a 71-yard drive that ended with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Harrison Hoegh to Zach McGriff. On the other end, Illinois College scored on a 29-yard drive after forcing a Grinnell turnover on downs.
Brady Huber completed a 26-yard pass to Ausmus to set the Blueboys up at the three-yard line and
Dyllan Bailey took the ball in from there to make it 35-10.
Bates ended the day 26-of-35 for 324 yards and four touchdown passes. Heaton was the leading receiver in the game with eight catches for 82 yards and one score. Obertino had five catches for 66 yards and the first two touchdown catches of his career. Gentile had 93 yards on seven receptions.
Following up on his huge performance last weekend,
James Dambacher had three of Illinois College's six sacks.
Chris Evans added two sacks in the game.
Dylan Schuler was the leading tackler with 8.5 tackles (six solo), while
Dylan Ringhausen added eight of his own. Ellis and
Phil Irace had interceptions for the Blueboys.
Illinois College returns home next weekend, looking to maintain at least a share of the lead in the Midwest Conference's South Division that it currently holds along with Cornell College. The Blueboys will take on Lake Forest on Oct. 25 at 1 p.m. from England Stadium.
