Francois Runs for Three Scores, Scots Hold Off Chicago 40-37

Monmouth Moves to 4-0 in Midwest Conference

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (10/10/2021) — The Monmouth College football team built a big lead on Saturday and then had to hang on for a 40-37 home win over the University of Chicago. The game was a battle of undefeated conference teams with the Maroons getting votes in this week's poll. At the end of the day it is the Fighting Scots (4-1, 4-0) who remain unbeaten in Midwest Conference action at the halfway point.

"It took every guy on the team and every fan in the stands today," said coach Chad Braun. "Was it our best game? No. But it was a complete team effort and our guys showed a lot of heart and character today."

Chicago took an early lead as their first drive covered 76 yards on six plays and ended in a 35-yard touchdown run. Monmouth answered immediately with a 10-play, 58-yard drive. Devin Lawrence (Hawthorne, Florida) plunged into the end zone from 1-yard out and the game was tied 7-7.

The Scots forced punts on the next four Chicago drives, including one that started at the 3-yard line after a muffed kickoff return. The Scots took advantage as they scored on each succeeding possession. A 6-play, 51-yard drive ended in a 4-yard score from Lawrence for a 14-7 lead.

Then running back Henderson Francois (Naples, Florida) took over. He scored from 1-yard out for a 21-7 Scots lead on a drive that began on the Chicago 34. Monmouth took over on the Chicago 27 after another punt and following a penalty on the Maroons, Francois scored from 17-yards out. The extra-point was blocked and Monmouth led 27-7.

"We got rolling and built a big lead," said Braun. "The offense did a great job answering after it was 7-0 and a strong way to end that quarter."

Following a muffed punt recovered by the Maroons, Chicago kicked a field goal to cut the lead to 27-10. The Scots embarked on a 10-play, 75-yard drive to take their largest lead of the day. Quarterback Riley Fetterer (Milan, Illinois) capped the drive with a 15-yard touchdown run for a 33-10 lead as the extra-point was missed.

Chicago didn't go away as they went to the air with the wind at their backs. They scored on the first play of successive drives with a 78-yard pass and run touchdown and a 32-yard touchdown reception to cut the Scots lead to 33-24. Chicago got another chance at the end of the half but Michael Lord (LaHarpe, Illinois) intercepted Philip Martini's pass at the goal line to end the half.

Monmouth's first drive of the second half ended on downs at the Chicago 26 with Jake Uryasz (Farmington, Illinois) coming up inches short on 4th and 8. The Maroons went down the field on three plays and scored to cut the Scots lead to 33-30 as the extra-point was missed.

After Monmouth punted, Kaleb Plattenberger (Mount Carroll, Illinois) intercepted Martini in the end zone to end the next Chicago drive. Devin Graham (Monticello, Illinois) picked off Martini on the next Chicago drive with the Scots taking over at their own 15.

"Our defense came up big with those two interceptions deep in our territory," said Braun. "Both were in traffic, huge plays that could have been big plays for them. Kaleb made a great catch in traffic and then Devin got his with a guy draped all over him, big, big plays for us.

The first Monmouth drive of the fourth quarter stalled at the 37 and Addison Fletcher (Monmouth, Illinois) blasted a 63-yard punt for a touchback. Chicago's drive ended on downs at the Monmouth 37 as Graham broke up a pass. The Scots took the ball down the field on a 7-play, 63-yard drive that took nearly four minutes off the clock. Francois ran the ball into the end zone from 30-yards out to put the Scots up 40-30 with 3:37 to play.

The Scots nearly iced the game with a safety but Martini escaped and picked up a first down. They moved across midfield with a 39-yard pass play and scored on the ninth play of the drive to pull within three.

Monmouth recovered the onside kick at their own 49 with just under a minute to play. The Scots were able to run out the clock, despite Chicago using two timeouts and Fetterer chucked the ball down the field while getting hit late as the clocks hit 0:00.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Tevin Baker (Kewanee, Illinois) led the Scots with nine tackles while adding one sackKorbyn Personett (Pittsfield, Illinois) had two tackles for loss, one sack and eight tacklesBrant Baltes (Lisbon, Iowa) had his first sack of the seasonJustin Douglas (Carol City, Florida) and Rashun Hurst (Cartersville, Georgia) shared a sackThe Scots ran for 304 yards but passed for just 55Fletcher punted five times for 207 yards with an average of 41.4 and a career-best long of 63Francois ran for 137 yards and three touchdowns while Fetterer had 116 yards and Lawrence had 62Monmouth ran for all six touchdownsFetterer completed seven passes to five different receiversThe only player with more than one reception was Uryasz who had three catches for 20 yardsThe Scots will be at Beloit College next Saturday with a 1 p.m. kickoffThe next home game is Homecoming on Saturday, Oct. 23 with a 2 p.m. contest against Cornell.