JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College football team played its latest home game in school history on Saturday night, but the Blueboys still managed to put Beloit College to bed early in a 63-20 romp. The game under the England Stadium lights – the 1,000th game in the history of the program – was a 49-0 dismantling at halftime and didn't get much better for the Buccaneers in the second half. With the win, Illinois College goes to 1-3 on the season.
The Blueboys kicked off to start the game, but didn't have to wait long to open the scoring. After an opening fumble pushed Beloit back to its own 10-yard line, the Buccaneers punted after three plays. On the punt attempt, a bad snap threw the rhythm of the play off and Illinois College burst through the line to block Andy Berlin inside the five-yard line.
Dylon Ross was among the group of players in the vicinity and he scooped it up and needed only a couple steps to find paydirt.
Zack DeWitt's extra point made it 7-0 with just 78 seconds gone off the clock.
Later in the first quarter, a
Jaylin Swan sack pinned Beloit back on its one-yard line. Berlin was able to get this punt away, but Illinois College took over in Buccaneer territory. After a big fourth-down conversion run from
Drew Chance kept the drive going,
Shak Johnson carried the ball over the goal line from 11 yards out to make it 14-0.
The Blueboys weren't done in the first quarter just yet. After the IC defense turned Beloit over on downs, a 66-yard drive ensued. Chance was 4-for-4 on the drive and his last completion went 30 yards to
Mason Farris, making it 20-0 after 15 minutes.
On the first play of the second quarter, Illinois College earned possession of the ball back after an
Eric Hasquin interception. Chance again went to the air, needing only two plays to put the ball in the end zone. After a penalty put them on their own 46, the Blueboys got 30 yards on a pass to
Austin Patton and the last 24 on a completion to
Glen Gibbons Jr. IC then went for two and another pitch-and-catch from Chance to Gibbons Jr. made it 28-0.
With the game beginning to get out of hand, Beloit was desperate for some offense but Illinois College had other plans. The Blueboys again forced the Buccaneers off the field in three plays and Berlin sent a punt 42 yards downfield where it hit the England Stadium turf and began to bounce around before Gibbons Jr. took a chance and picked it up at his own 27-yard line. After making a couple defenders miss and zooming up the sideline, the sophomore wideout ended up with a 73-yard punt return and a place in the record books with the longest punt return in school history.
Midway through the second quarter, Gibbons Jr. was at it again. Completions from Chance to
Allen Smith and Patton had moved Illinois College onto Beloit's side of the field. Then a screen pass to Gibbons Jr. opened up a huge path for him to run through. Though a hustling Caleb Wachal was able to tackle him before he got to the end zone, the Blueboys were still in business at the Beloit two-yard line. One play later,
Jason Barbour took it home out of the Wildcat formation and DeWitt's extra point made it 42-0.
The final touchdown of the first half featured a healthy dose of
Seth Ferguson out of the backfield. On a third down, the powerful back for IC picked up seven to move the chains. He then reeled off runs of eight yards and 11 yards to push the Blueboys inside the red zone. Two plays after that, Chance went up top to Patton for 16 yards and the score to make it 49-0 at halftime.
With the game out of reach, Illinois College was able to mix and match lineups throughout the second half. Beloit got on the board first with a 51-yard drive that ended with a touchdown pass from Erick Mitchell to Tyler Korous. That was quickly answered by a 50-yard touchdown pass from Chance to Gibbons Jr. to make it 56-7 midway through the third quarter.
Beloit reached the end zone twice early in the fourth quarter to make it 56-20 before Illinois College put the final nail in the coffin with an 11-play, 66-yard drive that took over five minutes off the clock.
Trevor Nott and
Deavon Puck were workhorses on the drive, pounding the Beloit defensive front. The drive ended with a 14-yard pass from Puck to
Bryce McKinney to make the score 63-20. IC would end the game with an interception from
Ben Rakers before running three plays out of the victory formation.
Chance ended the game 18-for-27 for 278 yards and four touchdowns through the air. Patton ended as the top target with eight catches for 91 yards and a score, while the big-play ability of Gibbons Jr. was again on display with six catches for 132 yards and two touchdowns. Illinois College had its best game of the season on the ground, carrying 32 times for 131 yards as a team. Nott and Ferguson each ended the game with seven carries for 35 yards.
Jaris Dalman was IC's leading tackler with six stops on the day.
Matt Graef led the Blueboys with 2.5 tackles for a loss and Swan ended with two sacks that pushed Beloit back a total of 22 yards.
Midwest Conference South Division play begins next week as Illinois College travels to Mount Vernon, Iowa to take on Cornell College on Sept. 6 at 1 p.m.
