Football Falls at IC on Saturday

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (09/30/2023) — The Monmouth College football team scored on their first two drives but were held to just three points in the second half in a 20-17 loss at Illinois College on Saturday. The Scots (2-2, 2-1) will host Grinnell College next Saturday for homecoming.

Illinois College kicked a field goal from the Monmouth two on their first drive. The Scots moved right down the field on their first drive. McKade Brooks (Astoria, Illinois) ran for 34 yards on two plays and a holding penalty on the Blueboys converted a fourth down for the Scots. Carter Boyer (Carthage, Illinois) completed a pass down to the five and scored on a 3rd and goal run from the six. Cody Szelc (Riverview, Florida) made the extra point for a 7-3 Scots lead.

IC scored on a four-play drive to go on top 10-7. Monmouth's offense got back to work after a touchback. Boyer found Brendon Bishop (Sherman, Illinois) for 21 yards and then hit Jackson Bergren (Monmouth, Illinois) for 28 yards into IC territory. As the second quarter began, Boyer found Nate Thornton (Peoria, Illinois) for a 13-yard touchdown as the Scots went back on top 14-10. The Scots stopped IC on 4th-and-goal and took over on the Monmouth 2-yard line. A roughing the punter penalty extended the Scots drive but IC got an interception on their own 45 to end the drive. They kicked a field goal to cut the Scots lead to 14-13 and neither team scored the rest of the half.

Monmouth got the ball to start the third quarter. Boyer completed three straight passes to Bishop for gains of 5, 10 and 10, moving the ball across midfield. Nate Wrublik (Lemont, Illinois) ran for 11 yards and a pass interference penalty gave Monmouth a first down inside the 10-yard line. The Scots went backwards and Szelc kicked a 26-yard field goal for a 17-13 lead. The hosts used an 11-play, 65-yard drive to score a touchdown and take a 20-17 lead with 5:37 to play in the third quarter. Monmouth went 3-and-out and then forced a punt from the Blueboys. However, that punt return was fumbled and IC recovered the ball on the Scots 17. The Monmouth defense answered the call and again stopped the Blueboys on fourth down inside the five as Anthony Cikauskas (Oswego, Illinois) and Jermaih Glenn-Louis Charles (Bloomington, Illinois) combined on a sack.

Monmouth started the fourth quarter with the ball but had to punt from their own 18. The defense forced another IC punt but the Blueboys picked off Boyer at the Monmouth 47. The teams traded punts on the next two drives and Monmouth got the ball with 3:24 to play, trailing by three. Brooks ran for 8-yards on the first play and Boyer hit Bishop for 33 yards down to the IC 42. On 3rd-and-14, Boyer found Nick Obsaint (Naples, Florida) for five yards to the IC 41 but a fourth down pass intended for Thornton was incomplete. IC picked up a first down inside a minute and took a knee to finish off the game.

Boyer completed 15-of-37 passes for 181 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Brooks ran 15 times for 53 yards. Bishop had seven catches for 118 yards while Bergren had four catches for 44 yards. Glenn-Louis Charles led the Scots with 11 tackles while Tanner Tomaschke (Greenville, Illinois) had 10 tackles and Cikauskas had 3.5 sacks.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Monmouth is 46-14-2 all-time against IC and had won seven straight and 25 of the last 30IC had 264 yards passing and 419 total yards while Monmouth had 248 total yards. Monmouth hadn't allowed a sack all season before giving up three sacks on Saturday. The Scots were 4-of-16 on third down, 0-for-8 in the second half. Boyer moved into sixth on the Scots career completions list, seventh on the attempts list and he is tied for 10th in games played by a QB with 30. Boyer went over 5000 career passing yards in the game joining Alex Tanney, Rob Purlee and Tanner Matlick in the 5000 yards club. With 10 rushing touchdowns, Boyer is tied for eighth on the rushing TD by a QB list. With his 19th career touchdown reception, Thornton is tied for sixth on the Monmouth career list. He also passed Jacolby Maxwell for sixth on the career receiving yards list 1,925. The Scots host Grinnell at 2 p.m. next Saturday for homecoming