JACKSONVILLE, Ill. - The Illinois College football team continued Midwest Conference play as the team hosted Knox College for the homecoming game Saturday afternoon. The Blueboys earned a dominate victory over the Prairie Fire by the final score of 61-7. IC now improves to 5-1 overall and 4-1 in the MWC.
The Blueboys offense featured numerous student-athletes achieving career-best performances.
Destin Chance led the explosive offense as he threw for a career-best 488 passing yards and six touchdowns. IC had four receivers achieve 100-yards receiving game led by
Collin Brunstein with 12 receptions for 259 yards and four touchdowns. With those 259 receiving yards, Brunstein surpassed 1,000 receiving yards this season with a total of 1,110 yards.
William Campbell hauled in a career-best five receptions for 122 yards and three touchdowns that included a long of 63 yards.
Grant Stegman was active in the passing game as the tight end collected four receptions for a career-best 116 receiving yards. Junior wide receiver,
Cameron Lewis hauled in a career-best 10 receptions for 103 yards and one touchdown. Backup quarterback,
Tyson Elliott had a career-best performance as he threw for 127 yards and two touchdowns. First-year running back Keith Gilchrese Jr scored his first career touchdown on a nine-yard carry.
Defensively, IC had three-student athletes that recorded at least 10 tackles led by
Charlie Patterson with 12 tackles while
Cory Walbert and
Drake Stuart each contributed 11 tackles.
Keegan Robbins,
Cameron Jones and Patterson each added an interception in the victory.
On the opening IC drive of the game, Chance connected with Lewis on four receptions for 38 yards that was capped off with a six-yard receiving touchdown by Brunstein. On the second play on the following Knox drive, Robbins intercepted the pass from Knox's quarterback Kaile Williams which was his first career interception. Two plays later, Chance connected with Brunstein for a 44-yard touchdown that went up 13-0. After a successful extra point from
Toby McTamney, IC went up 14-0 after the first quarter.
In the second quarter, IC broke the game wide open by scoring 20 points in the quarter. Less than 30 seconds into the quarter, Gilchrese Jr bulldozed his way into the endzone for a touchdown. On the following Knox drive, the Prairie Fire drove down the field for 40-yards when Jones intercepted the ball at midfield. After back-to-back carries by Chance for 16 yards, Chance connected with Brunstein for a 34-yard touchdown to made the score 28-0. With a just over a minute remaining in the half, Chance found Campbell for a two-yard touchdown reception. IC went into halftime with a 34-0 lead.
On the opening drive of the second half, Chance marched the offense down the field and connected with Lewis for a 10-yard touchdown reception. On the following drive, Chance found Brunstein deep down the field for a 45-yard touchdown which was Brunstein's fourth touchdown of the day. Midway through the quarter, Knox added their only score of the game on a four-yard rushing touchdown from Izayiah Hawes that made the score 47-7. In the fourth, Elliot entered the game at quarterback as he connected with Campbell for a two touchdowns; a 63-yard and 15-yard receptions that made the final score 61-7.
For the game, the Blueboys had a total of 749 offensive yards that averaged to 10.5 yards per play. The defense held the Prairie Fire to 235 total yards for an average of 3.5 yards per play. McTamney went seven-for-nine on extra point attempts.
The Blueboys will travel to Lawrence University on Saturday, October 21 for a MWC matchup starting at 11:00 AM in Appleton, Wisconsin.
