ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Illinois College football team overcame a fourth-quarter comeback from Macalester College to defeat the Fighting Scots for the second year in a row in snowy conditions on the road on Saturday afternoon.
Glen Gibbons Jr. caught his second touchdown of the day for the winning score and
Dalton Merry sealed it with an interception to give IC the 35-28 win. The Blueboys conclude the 2018 season with an overall record of 4-6.
The Illinois College defense set the tone early on in the game, forcing Macalester to punt on its first three possessions. The Blueboys were held in check on their opening two drives but broke through on their third opportunity with the ball. Taking over on their own 17-yard line, IC worked the ball past midfield and into Macalester territory before
Jason Barbour broke through the line for a 45-yard touchdown run. The
Zack DeWitt extra point made it 7-0 after one quarter of play.
Two more Macalester drives came and went with nothing to show for it, but Henry Chaussee's punt early in the second quarter was able to pin Illinois College inside its own five-yard line. The Blueboys couldn't gain any yardage and the Fighting Scots regained possession on the Blueboy 40. After converting on a third-and-long, Macalester got on the board as Cody Petrich connected with a sliding Jonathan Knee for a 20-yard touchdown pass to tie the score midway through the second quarter.
The game really picked up from there. Illinois College took the ensuing drive 70 yards in four plays, with the final 59 yards coming from Gibbons Jr. on an over-the-shoulder grab to take a 14-7 lead. Following an
Eric Hasquin interception, the Blueboys doubled their lead on an
Austin Patton touchdown catch from 19 yards out. The big target caught a ball over the middle and fought his way over the goal line despite the gang-tackling efforts of a handful of Macalester players to give IC a 21-7 advantage at the half.
Macalester looked to its backup quarterback in the second half and the move paid off on the second drive of the third quarter. Grady Munro found Jack Streibich for consecutive completions covering 57 yards before hitting Alec Beatty on a crossing pattern from 10 yards out to pull the Fighting Scots within a touchdown at 21-14.
The Blueboys wasted no time in formulating a response. Illinois College picked apart the Macalester defense before scoring on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Chance to
Allen Smith, putting IC back in front by 14 points, 28-14.
Munro continued to find open receivers as the fourth quarter began. After a
Logan Smith punt went into the end zone, Macalester had to drive 80 yards to score, but four straight completions meant that the drive only took 1:47 off the clock. Beatty's second touchdown of the day pulled the Fighting Scots back within seven at 28-21 with 10 minutes to play. Macalester then regained possession with under seven minutes left and Munro hit Beatty on a slant pattern that Beatty took to the house from 84 yards out to knot the score at 28-28.
Taking over with under six minutes to play, Illinois College looked to its bread-and-butter. Helped by an offsides penalty that picked up a first down, the Blueboys completed four straight passes from Chance to Gibbons Jr. to march downfield. The fourth of those completions included a 15-yard personal foul on a sideline tackle to move IC into the Macalester red zone. On a second down, Chance completed yet another ball to Gibbons Jr. and the sophomore tip-toed his way along the sideline and into the corner of the end zone to put Illinois College back on top, 35-28, with 3:25 to play.
Munro was now forced to take some chances as the clock worked against Macalester. On the third play from scrimmage, Munro lofted a ball downfield and Merry got underneath it to end the Fighting Scot drive with 2:34 left. Three straight rushes from Barbour picked up a first down and burned the last of the Macalester timeouts, allowing Illinois College to end the season in the victory formation.
Chance ended the day going 24-of-34 for 295 yards and four touchdowns through the air. Gibbons Jr. hauled in 11 catches for 141 yards and two of those touchdowns. On the ground, Barbour ended his college career with a career-high 192 yards on 33 carries.
The Illinois College defense was led by
Mike Koos with eight tackles, including two for a loss and a sack.
Logan West was all over the field as well, ending with four tackles which included two sacks and four quarterback hurries.
Tanner Stockton also ended with four tackles, as well as a pair of pass breakups and
Jaylin Swan joined West with four quarterback hurries in the contest.
IC's win over Macalester marks the second straight win for the Blueboys in the brief four-game series with the Fighting Scots. The Blueboys also defeated Macalester in Week 10 of the 2017 season and they have now tied the series at 2-2 all-time.
