By: The Scots went for 291 yards and four TDs on the ground and the IC offense couldn’t keep up on Saturday afternoon.
Box Score MONMOUTH, Ill. – The Illinois College football team struggled to gain any traction in its Midwest Conference South Division opener on Saturday afternoon, falling to Monmouth College by a score of 35-7. The Blueboys dropped their fourth straight, falling to 1-4 (0-1 MWC South), while Monmouth improved to 4-1 (1-0 MWC South).
Illinois College was forced into a three-and-out on its opening possession and the Scots immediately were in command of the field position battle, starting off on the IC 27-yard line after the return. The Scots took five plays to reach the end zone for a 7-0 lead, with DeAndre Wright plunging in from two yards out for the opening touchdown.
The Blueboys were much more effective on their second drive.
Brady Huber hit
Dyllan Bailey for three straight completions to get close to midfield, then found
Austin Ellsworth for a third-down conversion that took IC into Monmouth territory. After a pass interference set Illinois College up with a first down on the Monmouth 34, Huber went to Ellsworth again for the tying touchdown, making it 7-7 halfway through the first quarter.
That was unfortunately as good as it would get offensively for IC on the day. Monmouth would get the lead back on its next drive. Quarterback Tanner Matlick went deep to Brock Thoms for 46 yards after the Blueboys had jumped at the snap, giving the Scots a free look downfield. That touchdown made it 14-7. The lead would jump to 21-7 at the end of the first quarter on a 50-yard drive by Monmouth that ended with a two-yard Austin Ray run.
On their first drive of the second quarter, the Scots went 67 yards in 13 plays to up the lead to 28-7. The Blueboys were unable to answer, gaining only 38 yards in the quarter and giving 10 of those yards back on a penalty.
With IC unable to establish a rhythm in the third quarter, quarterback Danny Modelski got his first look behind center for the Blueboys. While he would end 3-of-9 passing for 12 yards, he did show the ability to evade the rush, gaining 83 yards on the ground on 12 carries.
After a scoreless third quarter and more than half of the fourth quarter gone, Monmouth put to rest any doubt with a 41-yard touchdown run from Ray with less than four minutes to play. The Blueboys would reach the Monmouth red zone in the dying moments of the game, but were stopped short of the end zone.
Huber ended the game 13-of-18 for 94 yards with a touchdown pass. On the ground, Bailey led the Blueboys with 92 yards on 18 carries. Ellsworth was the top target through the air on the day with six catches for 74 yards.
Defensively,
Matt Graef had eight solo tackles and ended with a total of 11 for the game, including two for a loss of yardage.
Papa Sagna had seven solo tackles and a total of 12 on the day.
Adam Jackson had four solo tackles, including IC's lone sack of the game.
Illinois College will try to even its record in the MWC's South Division back home at England Stadium next weekend, taking on Grinnell College (1-4, 0-1 MWC South) at 1 p.m.
