JACKSONVILLE, Ill. - The Illinois College football team continued its quest to the top of the Midwest Conference standings by hosting Grinnell College Saturday afternoon for Senior Day. The Bluesboys dominated the Pioneers by the final score of 93-0 to move to 7-1 overall and 6-1 in MWC play. IC currently ranks in a tie for first place with Lake Forest for the top spot in the MWC standings.
Prior to the game, the IC football coaching staff recognized 30 senior student-athletes, seven football operations members, and two student-trainers for their decidation to the program.
The Blueboys displayed great dominance in all three phases of the game and broke three school records in the shutout victory. IC's
Destin Chance had another great performance as completed 20 passes for 408 yards and seven passing touchdowns. With the seven touchdown performance, Chance broke the single-season passing touchdown record with 35 touchdowns. In the past three MWC games, Chance has thrown for 1,367 yards and 21 touchdowns.
The current leader in NCAA football for receiving yards and touchdowns in
Collin Brunstein had a fantastic game as he hauled in five catches for 178 yards and three touchdowns. Brunstein etched his name deeper in the IC record books as he broke the all-time career receiving touchdown record with his 40 career receiving touchdowns.
The anchor of the Blueboys defense in
Charlie Patterson displayed his talents as he finished with game-high nine tackles that includes three tackles for loss. In the first quarter, Patterson broke the IC single-season tackle for loss record with his 23.5 tackles for loss this season.
Toby McTamney displaced great accuracy in rain and went 11-of-12 on extra-point attempts.
On the opening IC drive, Chance connected with Brunstein for a short pass when Brunstein blew past the defender for a 75-yard touchdown for the early 6-0 lead. The Blueboy defensive held the Pioneers to a three-and-out situation where IC took over near midfield. Chance led the offense into the redzone when he found
Grant Stegman for a 16-yard touchdown to go up 14-0.
The Grinnell defense force a punt from IC's
Zack Banovz when he pinned the Pioneers to the one-yard line on a 40 yard punt. Two plays later,
Garrett Bearden sacked GC's quarterback Grayson Woodhouse in the endzone for a safety that made the score 16-0. Chance led the Blueboys into Grinnell territory when the drive was capped off with a four-yard rushing touchdown from
Thomas Little. IC increased the lead to 18-0 on a successful two-point pass from
Cameron Lewis. On the next Grinnell drive, IC's Mike Stivers blocked the punt attempt by Nick Rhinehart and recovered it for a 15-yard touchdown that made the score 31-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Less than two minutes into the second quarter, Chance connected with
William Campbell for a 28-yard touchdown. Shortly later, IC's
Drake Stuart forced a fumble from GC's Daniel Quirk where IC took over near midfield. After back-to-back carries by Little for 22 yards, Chance found Brunstein for an 18-yard reception where he was tackled at the two-yard line. After a false start by IC, Chance dotted a pass to Brunstein for a seven-yard touchdown that made the score 45-0.
After a forced three-and-out from the Blueboys defense, IC took over on their own 17-yard line. Chance marched the offense down the field where the drive was capped off with a five-yard receiving touchdown by Campbell for his second of the day. IC cruised into halftime with the 51-0 advantage.
The Blueboys received the ball to start the second half. On the first drive and after back-to-back completions to Stegman for 31 yards, Chance connected with Brunstein for a 44-yard touchdown. The Bluesboys defensive earned two consecutive defensive touchdowns; a 15-yard scoop and score by
Derrick Jones and 45-yard fumble recovery touchdown by Bearden that was forced by Patterson that made the score 72-0. IC added two additional touchdowns in the quarter that featured a three-yard receiving touchdown from
Jordan Bethany and five-yard rushing touchdown from Little for his second of the game. The senior running back in Colin Dubois added the final touchdown of the game with an eight-yard receiving touchdown from quarterback Tyson Elliot.
For the game, IC had 638 total offensive yards while the Blueboys defense held the Pioneers offense to just 50 total offensive yards.
The Blueboys will continue MWC play with a visit to Cornell College on Saturday, November 4 with kickoff scheduled for 1:00 PM in Mount Vernon, Iowa.
