JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – By virtue of each team having finished third in their respective divisions in 2019, the Illinois College football team had the distinction of playing a team twice in a season for the first time since 1984 when Ripon College came to town on Saturday. Following a 35-21 win over the Red Hawks, the Blueboys got to dig even further back into the record books, becoming the first IC team since 1955 to defeat an opponent twice in a season. With the victory, Illinois College ends the season with an overall record of 6-3.
Illinois College threw the ball all over the field in its season finale, ending the day with 362 yards through the air. The running game was what got the game started however. Following a 39-yard completion from
Drew Chance to
KJ Corley,
Trevor Smalls gave IC a 7-0 lead with a two-yard score in the first quarter.
Ripon answered with a time-chewing 13-play drive to knot the score at 7-7 just before the end of the first quarter, but the tie lasted only momentarily. Chance kept an IC drive alive with a four-yard gain on a third down and Smalls scored on first-and-goal one play later to make it 13-7.
Following a Ripon punt that left IC on its own 1-yard line, the Blueboys picked up 79 yards on the first play from a scrimmage with another completion to Corley. The drive was finished off with a three-yard touchdown catch by
Seth Vaughn and a two-point conversion from Chance to make it 21-7. Just before halftime, the Blueboys added onto their lead with a 41-yard touchdown catch from
Zach Thompson.
The Red Hawks had a brief window of opportunity to get back in it early in the third quarter after a long punt return from Kaipo Magsayo, but he fumbled the ball at the end of his return and A'Ron Washington fell on it to give the ball back to the Blueboys. Four plays later, Illinois College would hit paydirt once again as Chance hit Vaughn for a 58-yard touchdown to increase the lead to 35-7.
For a run-reliant team like Ripon, that type of deficit is not an easy one to make up. Though the Red Hawks scored later on in the third quarter, the score would stay 35-14 almost all the way to the end of the game. Ripon found the end zone in the final minute of the contest to wrap up a 35-21 victory for Illinois College.
Chance picked up those 362 passing yards by completing 19-of-27 passes. Corley was Chance's top target on the day with four catches for 160 yards. Chance led IC on the ground with 13 carries for 56 yards.
Mike Koos supplied the Illinois College defense with 10 tackles (six solo).
Jaylin Swan added nine tackles (eight solo), including a pair of sacks and a forced fumble.
