By: Jacob Homann had three interceptions as part of a six-turnover effort from the Illinois College defense.
Box Score
GRINNELL, Iowa – The Illinois College football wasn't as sharp offensively as they have been at times this season, but with the IC defense forcing six turnovers, it didn't cost the Blueboys too much.
Jacob Homann had three interceptions by himself and the offense got going enough as the game went on to claim a 30-7 victory on the road at Grinnell College. Illinois College evened its record at 4-4 (3-1 Midwest Conference South Division) on the season, dropping the Pioneers to 1-7 (0-4 MWC South).
Grinnell took possession first to start the game, but the Illinois College defense forced the Pioneers off the field in three plays. The Blueboys then took over in Grinnell territory after a short punt and drove into the red zone before a sack and two IC penalties pushed the Blueboys back.
Zack DeWitt missed a 47-yard field goal the keep the game scoreless.
The Pioneers took over on their own 30 to start their second possession, but Tony Bergida was picked off by
Vincent Vanhorne on an overthrown ball and the linebacker returned the interception into Grinnell territory. On IC's first play,
Drew Chance connected with
Logan Uyetake on a long ball inside the Pioneer 5-yard line. Though the drive stalled out, DeWitt put the Blueboys up, 3-0, with a 25-yard field goal.
Grinnell was moving the ball effectively on its third drive before Homann came up with his first interception of the day. On a third down from the IC 30, Bergida had a pass bounce off the hands of his intended target and Homann made a shoestring grab on the sideline before falling out of bounds.
Homann supplied the Blueboys with his second interception early on in the second quarter to end a Grinnell drive that had reached midfield. This time he made an aggressive break on an out route and again got low to pick a ball off before it hit the turf. Taking over on their own 46, the Blueboys turned this turnover into points with Chance burning the Grinnell defense with a stop-and-go route to Uyetake covering the final 31 yards to make it 10-0. Illinois College forced two more turnovers before the intermission. The first came with the Pioneers driving in the IC red zone.
Ryan Torrance came up with a hit that jarred the ball loose and
Josh Brooks made the recovery. In the final seconds of the half,
Steve Reyna ended a Pioneer drive with the defense's fourth interception of the day.
A touchdown drive on the opening series of the third quarter by Illinois College made a Grinnell comeback less and less likely.
Greg Cross busted loose on the outside for a 17-yard score to increase IC's edge to 17-0. The Blueboys followed that up by forcing the Pioneer offense back to the sidelines and the offense quickly turned a short field into a 24-0 lead. Following a critical third-down conversion to get the ball to the 1-yard line,
Daniel Modelski powered in for the final yard.
A Pioneer drive spanning the end of the third quarter and the opening minutes of the fourth quarter got the home side on the board after a 21-yard touchdown pass from Bergida to Trent Mayfield. Grinnell then recovered an on-side kick, though the IC defense held and Grinnell was unable to convert a fourth down from the Blueboy 27-yard line.
Two plays after getting the ball back, Illinois College struck paydirt again. The target was Uyetake as a defensive miscue left the senior uncovered down the sideline for 71 yards. Though the point after was pushed wide, the score still gave the Blueboys a comfortable 30-7 lead. To add insult to injury, Homann recorded his third interception of the day late in the game after a Bergida pass once again tipped off the hands of his receiver.
Chance ended his day 22-of-30 for 335 yards with two touchdowns, both to Uyetake. Uyetake hauled in 10 passes for 216 yards.
Glen Gibbons Jr. added six catches for 68 yards. On the ground,
John Whitworth had nine carries for 33 yards and Cross had four rushes for 29 yards along with his score.
Torrance had 17 tackles on the afternoon, 10 of which were solo.
JD Roesch tacked on 11 tackles (seven solo). Along with his interception, Vanhorne had 1.5 sacks. Brooks had a sack along with his fumble recovery as well.
Illinois College will be back at home for its final two games of the 2017 season. On Nov. 4, the Blueboys take on Lake Forest College at 1 p.m. The outcome of that game will determine the opponents for each team on Nov. 11. IC and Lake Forest enter next week's contest with identical 3-1 records in the MWC South. The winner of the game will be the No. 2 seed in the South, while the loser will be the No. 3 seed. Depending on how next week plays out, the Blueboys are in line to play Macalester College, Ripon College or the University of Chicago on Nov. 11.
