Scots Score Nine Touchdowns to Beat Beloit 63-3

Monmouth tallies eight rushing scores

by Nathan Baliva

Please Note: Nine got autocorrected to none in the first sentence.

MONMOUTH, Ill. (10/16/2021) — The Monmouth College football team scored on nine of their first 10 possessions on Saturday and dominated Beloit college 63-3 for a road win. The Scots are now 5-1 on the season and 4-0 in Midwest Conference play.

After forcing a three-and-out on the first Beloit drive, the Scots needed just three plays to get on the scoreboard. Henderson Francois (Naples, Florida) ran for nine yards on first down before Carter Boyer (Carthage, Illinois) found Nathan Thornton (Peoria, Illinois) for 45 yards to set up first and goal. Francois scored from 2-yards out to get the scoring started.

"I thought our guys handled the trip really well," said head coach Chad Braun. "We could've had a big let down after the big win over Chicago but we got off to a great start."

The teams traded punts, Monmouth's only one of the day, before the Scots third drive started on the Beloit 43. Jalen Williams (Lakeland, Florida) recovered a fumble forced by Michael Lord (LaHarpe, Illinois). Four plays later, freshman Josh Bozzaco (Winter Springs, Florida) scored on a 6-yard run for a 14-0 lead.

Beloit got on the board with a field goal before the Scots used an 8-play, 46-yard drive to score again. Bozzaco capped off the drive with a 1-yard touchdown plunge for a 21-3 lead. Following a Beloit punt, Francois scored from 13-yards out and the Scots got the ball right back when Kaleb Plattenberger (Mount Carroll, Illinois) recorded his second interception in as many games. Seven plays later Boyer found Thornton for a 12-yard touchdown pass and a 35-3 Scots lead.

Monmouth's longest drive of the game came to start the third quarter. They marched 73 yards down the field on 15 plays and took 6:03 off the clock before Bozzaco scored from 4-yards out. The next drive was an 8-play, 40-yard drive that resulted in a Boyer 4-yard touchdown run.

"I thought Carter played really well in his first extensive time since the injury," said Braun. "Conor McCormick operated really well too in the fourth quarter."

The Scots started the fourth quarter with a 49-3 lead and switched most of their offensive players. Conor McCormick (Sherman, Illinois) took over at quarterback and completed two passes on a 10-play, 62-yard drive. Senior Chris Kimble (Naples, Florida) capped the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run.

Freshman McKade Brooks (Astoria, Illinois) ripped off a 42-yard run on the next drive to set up first and goal. After a false start penalty, sophomore Devin Pinkard (Wildwood, Florida) scored from 13-yards out to give the Scots a 63-3 lead. Monmouth took the ball down to the Beloit three on the next drive but took a knee on consecutive plays instead of scoring a 10th touchdown.

"It was nice to get our young guys into the game and they really played with a lot of energy and executed really well," said Braun.

Boyer completed 21-of-28 passes for 250 yards and a touchdown. McCormick was 2-for-2 for 12 yards. Brooks led the Scots on the ground with 95 yards while Bozzaco had 64 yards to go with three touchdowns. Nathan Graham (Monticello, Illinois) led the Scots with seven catches for 92 yards while Thornton had four catches for 69 yards and Jake Uryasz (Farmington, Illinois) had four catches for 42 yards.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: The 63 points are the most for the Scots since a 69-7 win at Illinois College on October 22, 2016This was the first game against Beloit since 2016 and the Scots have won seven straight in the seriesMonmouth leads the Bucs 14-1 since the start of the 2003 seasonMonmouth has scored at least 40 points in five straight against Beloit but the 63 marks the most scored by either team in the 58 games, tying the output by the Scots in 2011...The Scots have 14 rushing touchdowns over the last two games...The Scots defense had four sacks, 10 tackles for loss, one forced fumble and one interceptionMonmouth had 34 first downs and only allowed fiveThe Scots held Beloit to 33 rushing yards on 27 attemptsBeloit completed 8-of-16 passes for just 48 yards.Overall Monmouth outgained Beloit 512 to 81The Scots were 8-for-10 on third down while holding Beloit to 3-of-12The next Scots game is Homecoming on Saturday, Oct. 23 with a 2 p.m. contest against Cornell.