Monmouth College

Football Builds 30-0 Lead, Wins Homecoming Game v. Luther

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (10/11/2026) — The Monmouth College football team scored on five of their first drives to build a 30-0 lead in an eventual 30-13 homecoming win against MWC newcomer Luther College. The Fighting Scots (3-2, 3-0) had four different players find the end zone on Saturday.

"I thought our games came out and played three tremendous quarters to start the game," said head coach Chad Braun. "We let them off the hook with a penalty in the fourth quarter and we had to fight to finish them off at the end. Until that penalty we played the cleanest football we've played this year"

Nate Wrublik (Lemont, Illinois) got the ground game going right away on Saturday with rushes for five and 15 on the first two plays. Silas Braun (Monmouth, Illinois) ran for six on a QB keeper and Wrublik ran for another first down. Hudson Ault (Fairview, Illinois) ran for 27 to get the ball inside the 10 and Braun put the Scots up 6-0 with a sneak from the one. Aidan Sensabaugh (East Moline, Illinois) capped the 11 play drive with an extra point.

Kaden Foglesong (Ipava, Illinois) ended the first Luther drive with a sack. Braun ran for 16 on third down and hit Jeremiah Williams-Gregory (Oviedo, Florida) for five yards. A long touchdown run was called back on a holding penalty but a facemask on Luther helped move the chains. Wrublik ran for six and Braun hit Gabriel Zeigler-Harris (East Peoria, Illinois) for a 35-yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

The next Luther drive stalled on a sack by Brylan McHood-Jones (Decatur, Illinois) and the Scots started the second quarter with the ball. Wrublik ran for seven and Braun hit Williams-Grergory for 11. A pass to Chase Newman (Morrison, Illinois) picked up six but a holding penalty killed the drive and Monmouth punted.

On the next Monmouth drive, Wrublik ran for seven before Braun added 12 on the ground. Ault got the Scots across midfield and Braun hit Da'Von Patterson (Ponte Vedre, Florida) for 31 yards down to the Luther one. After a timeout, Braun found Gunner Bryant (Curryville, Missouri) in the back corner of the end zone for a 21-0 lead.

Luther went 3-and-out as Nick Huston (Monmouth, Illinois) and Foglesong combined on a tackle for loss. Passes to Williams-Gregory and Patterson put the Scots at the Luther 22 with six seconds left in the half and Sensabaugh drilled a 39-yard field goal for a 24-0 halftime lead.

"They are a physical football team but so are we and we showed that in the first half," said Braun. "We couldn't have played a better first half and really proud of the effort to get the field goal before the half."

Kevin Soivilien (Miami, Florida) stopped the first Luther drive of the second half with a tackle at the line of scrimmage on third down. Wrublik ran for a first down into Norse territory before Braun completed passes to Newman, Bryant and Williams-Gregory down to the 10. Wrublik found the end zone but the extra point was blocked for a 30-0 lead.

On the first play of the next drive, Adrian Raabe (Poplar Grove, Illinois) picked off the Luther pass and Monmouth had the ball on their own 41. Wrublik ran for 39 yards on the first four plays but fumbled on the Luther 24. A sack by Jeremiah Hardnett (O'Fallon, Illinois) and Armani Santos (West Palm Beach, Florida) ended the Luther drive but the Scots missed a field goal on their final possession of the third quarter.

Luther had a drive extended by a roughing the punter penalty and they took advantage to get on the board. After their 18-play, 80-yard drive ended with a touchdown, Luther recovered an onside kick at midfield with just over seven minutes to play. In six plays they scored another touchdown but failed on a 2-point conversion.

Leading 30-13 the Scots picked up a pair of first downs through Wrublik but had to punt with 4:21 left. Tashawn Ruffin (Bloomington, Illinois) forced and recovered a fumble at midfield with 3:48 left but Luther forced another Monmouth punt. Huston sacked the Norse quarterback on the 42 and the Scots stopped a fourth and six play with 45 seconds left.

Braun completed 16-of-24 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 65 yards and a score. Wrublik ran 30 times for 156 yards and a touchdown and Ault added 45 yards on three carries. Williams-Gregory caught six balls for 45 yards, Patterson caught three passes for 62 yards while both Zeigler-Harris and Bryant had touchdown receptions.

McHood-Jones, Carson Strating (Morrison, Illinois) and Hardnett all had seven tackles. McHood-Jones, Huston and Fogelsong all had 1.5 tackles and one sack. Ruffin forced and recovered a fumble while Raabe had an interception.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Wrublik is the seventh player in school history with at least 500 rushing attempts ... He has 12 games with at least 100 rushing yards in his career ... In two MWC games, Wrublik has 545 rushing yards and eight touchdowns ... Newman is the 11th player in MC history with at least 1500 career receiving yards ... The Scots deflected five passes, had four sacks and forced two turnovers ... Monmouth ran for 269 yards and held Luther to 84 yards on the ground ... The teams had never met before Saturday ... The Scots head to Beloit next Saturday for a 1 p.m. start ... The next home game is against Chicago at 1 p.m. on Oct. 24.