JACKSONVILLE, Ill. –
Trevor Smalls ran for 240 yards and five touchdowns as part of a 407-yard day on the ground for the Illinois College football team in a 56-17 romp over Cornell College to open Midwest Conference South Division play on Saturday. The win improves IC to 4-1 (1-0 MWC South) on the season.
The game started off rough for the Blueboys as Cornell scored a touchdown in the opening minute of the contest on a 45-yard run from quarterback Isaak Hahn. Illinois College had a big kickoff return from
Zach Thompson to set up shop in Ram territory and Smalls answered on IC's first play from scrimmage, a 45-yard touchdown run of his own to knot the score at 7-7 with only 1:04 elapsed.
After a Cornell punt, Smalls nearly scored on his second touch of the ball. Only a shoestring tackle in the Cornell secondary limited him to a 36-yard pickup, but he jaunted in from 16 yards out on the next play to help make it 14-7. Just a couple minutes later,
Trevor Nott got in on the action with a 21-yard touchdown run for a 21-7 lead after the first quarter of play.
As the second quarter began, the Rams were unsuccessful on a short field goal, giving the ball back to Illinois College on the IC 20-yard line. On the second play from scrimmage, Nott burst up the middle and went 56 yards before being brought down in the Cornell red zone. Three plays later, Smalls waltzed in from 14 yards out for his third touchdown of the game to make it 28-7. The IC offense began to stall the rest of the half and the Rams cut it to 28-17 by the halftime break.
The second half was all Illinois College. With the opening possession of the third quarter, the Blueboys milked more than five minutes off the clock, going 75 yards in 11 plays and taking a 35-17 lead on Nott's second touchdown of the game, this time from six yards out. An attempt by Cornell to answer on its next drive was negated by an interception by
Bobby Carr II in the end zone.
The score remained 35-17 until the middle of the fourth quarter when IC busted it wide open. Following a
Jasaun King interception, the Blueboys took over on the Cornell 41-yard line. Facing a 3rd & 1 at the 32, Smalls got past the line and found nothing but green in front him, going the distance to make it 42-17.
Ju'Qui Womack then nabbed a Hahn pass to quickly give the ball back to Illinois College. Again, Smalls found an opening and went the distance, this time from 49 yards out. Late in the game,
Devin Tynan trucked over a Cornell defender to hit paydirt from 59 yards out.
In total, Illinois College racked up 538 yards of total offense.
Drew Chance was an efficient 12-of-17 for 131 yards in the passing game. With five touchdowns on the ground, Smalls came up one touchdown shy of matching a school record for rushing TDs set back in 1914. Besides his huge day, Nott ended with 92 yards on 11 carries.
Kyle Lane and
Eric Hasquin led the defense with 12 tackles each.
Konner Schuckman was a perfect 8-for-8 on PATs.
Illinois College goes on the road next Saturday to face Monmouth College at 2 p.m.
