Scots Celebrate Senior Day with 56-13 Win over Ripon

Szelc breaks career extra-point record in win

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (11/03/2024) — The Monmouth College football team honored a group of successful seniors on Saturday with a 56-13 Midwest Conference win over Ripon College in the regular-season home finale. The Fighting Scots (7-1, 7-0) scored 49 points in a row as seniors Cody Szelc (Riverview, Florida) and Nate Thornton (Peoria, Illinois) put their names in the record books

"I'm really happy for our seniors to go out and ein their final game at April Zorn Stadium," said head coach Chad Braun. "This group has provided great leadership and a lot of great memories on and off the field. It really is a special group,"

Monmouth punted on their first drive and muffed Ripon's first punt, giving the visitors the ball on the MC 35. Ripon took advantage with a trick play down to the one and a QB sneak made it 6-0. The Scots bounced back and responded to take the lead. Brayden Deem (Andalusia, Illinois) got the offense going with a 15-yard pass to Thornton and the two hooked up for 34 more and a touchdown two plays later. Szelc.hit the extra point for a 7-6 Monmouth lead.

Nate Wrublik (Lemont, Illinois) and Angel Duarte (Mt. Sterling, Illinois) did the heavy lifting on the next drive with early runs into Ripon territory. Deem hit Lucas Kessinger (Cambridge, Illinois) for 34 and found Gabriel Zeigler-Harris (East Peoria, Illinois) for an 11-yard touchdown. Brant Baltes (Lisbon, Iowa) wrecked the next Ripon drive with a sack for a 12-yard loss. The Scots started near midfield and the running game accounted for 22 yards before the quarter ended.

On the second play of the second quarter, Deem ran 24 yards for a touchdown and a 21-6 lead. Anthony Cikauskas (Oswego, Illinois) had a sack to force a Ripon punt and Monmouth went back to work. Duarte ran for 11 before Deem found Thornton for 36 yards and 24 yards on consecutive plays. The second catch was Thornton's second score of the day as Monmouth went on top 28-6.

Cikauskas had another sack and Monmouth got the ball back at their own 43 but had to punt after four plays. An interception by senior Zane Beebe (Davenport, Iowa) gave Monmouth the ball at the Ripon 48. Deem hit Thornton and Zeigler-Harris for first downs before Wrublik scored for a 35-6 lead. Monmouth got the ball back with 1:39 to play in the half and Deem hit Kessinger for 23 yards and Zeigler-Harris for 37, down to the Ripon 21. A penalty gave the Scots 2nd and 25 but Deem found Chase Newman (Morrison, Illinois) for a 35-yard touchdown and a 42-6 lead.

The teams traded punts early in the third quarter before Jeremiah Hardnett (O'Fallon, Illinois) picked up a sack. Wrublik ran for 40 yards on three plays, out to the midfield. Deem hit Kessinger for 15 and Thornton for 11 before Duarte ran for nine and into the red zone. Deem found Thornton for a third score on the day, this time from 20 yards out. Szelc drilled his seventh extra-point of the day and 167th for his career, tying the all-time Monmouth record.

With most of the starters on the bench, Monmouth got the ball back in the fourth quarter with a 49-13 lead. Senior Ashton Summers (Mt. Zion, Illinois) connected with Jeremiah Williams (Oviedo, Florida) on a jet sweep for 48 yards and Blake Regenold (Downs, Illinois) ran for 12 yards. Summers and Williams hooked up again, this time on a 9-yard touchdown over the middle. Szelc drilled the extra point to set a new career Fighting Scots record with 168 makes in a 56-13 win.

Deem completed 17-of-27 passes for 337 yards and five touchdowns while also rushing for 24 yards and a touchdown. Wrublik ran for 94 yards and a touchdown while Duarte finished with 53 yards on the ground. Thornton caught seven passes for 154 yards and three touchdowns while Zeigler-Harris caught four passes for 71 yards and a score. Kessinger also tallied 71 receiving yards while both Williams and Newman scored through the air.

Cikauskas led the Scots with two sacks while Baltes had one and both players tallied 3.5 tackles for loss. Baltes led the Scots with 10 total tackles while Beebe had an interception.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Szelc broke Joey Biel's career extra-point record with 168 makes ... Szelc is 168-for-180 in his career, a 93.3% success rate ... His 234 career points rank third all-time among kickers and seventh for all players ... Thornton has 42 career touchdowns in 40 games, one behind Michael Blodgett's career record ... His 252 career points ranks sixth in school history ... Thornton has a career-high 15 touchdown receptions this season, second on the single-season list and three behind Blodgett's record from 2011Thornton went over the 800 yard mark, the 13th time that has been done in a single-season in MC history ... Thornton's 90 points on the season is tied for 10th on the single-season list ... Deem has 20 touchdown passes in the last four games ... His 29 TD passes on the season are tied for fifth on the single-season list with Tanner Matlick ... His 2062 passing yards are 12th on the single-season list, 14 behind Matlick for 11th ... Cikauskas passed Korbyn Personett for fourth on the career sacks list with 27.5 and he also moved past both Greg Bennett and Matt Lerner into fourth on the career tackles for loss list with 47.5 ... Tevin Baker (Kewanee, Illinois) and Rockyen Spinks (Galesburg, Illinois) moved into a tie for fourth with Nick Harris (Winter Haven, Florida) and Scott Stanton for fourth on the career list with 22 pass break ups ... The Scots honored 19 seniors in a pre-game ceremony .... The seniors are 33-7 overall with a 31-3 MWC recordMonmouth is 36-1 at home in MWC action under Braun and 40-5 overall at April Zorn ... The Red Hawks lead the all-time series 35-30-3 but the Scots have won seven in a row and 11 of the last 12Monmouth is 18-5 in November under Braun ... The Scots are 63-3 under Braun when allowing less than 20 points and 45-0 when scoring at least 40Monmouth plays at Lake Forest (8-0, 7-0) next Saturday at Noon with the winner taking command of the MWC race.