History repeats itself as Scots record second straight shutout

Release Date: October 13, 2004

MONMOUTH, Ill. — Several members of Monmouth College’s Class of 1974 were back on campus last weekend to celebrate their 30th reunion during Homecoming Weekend. They observed several new facilities and hundreds of new faces at Monmouth, but as for the football team, it probably didn’t seem like anything had changed at all.

In 1974, the Fighting Scots closed their season with two straight shutout victories. In one of the games, a 56-0 pasting of Northeastern, Hall of Fame running back Ron Baker rushed for 172 yards and Mike Schumacher added 146 (for good measure, Lou Vitali totaled 103 yards). That is believed to be the last time two Monmouth backs each gained more than 100 yards and combined for at least 300 yards in the same game.

Flash forward to 2004, and the Fighting Scots are enjoying exactly the same type of success. Monmouth’s 24-0 Homecoming victory over Grinnell was the team’s second straight shutout and the first time they had recorded back-to-back goose eggs since 1974. Additionally, running backs Ed McCracken (172 yards, one TD) and Todd Sabean (128 yards, two TDs) hit the 300-yard mark right on the button.

The accomplishments came despite the fact that Grinnell entered the game with a potent offense featuring the conference’s leading running back and quarterback and also despite the Pioneers’ anticipation of Monmouth’s running attack.

“We knew going into this game that we had to play the run well,” Grinnell coach Greg Wallace told a reporter following the game. “And run the ball is exactly what Monmouth did. They ran straight ahead power all day long. We switched to a five-man front to be ready for it. But we just couldn’t stop it. I think Monmouth just wore us down.”

Thankfully, McCracken was ready to play Saturday, or Sabean might have been the one who wore down. While McCracken rested an injury, Sabean got 34 carries on Oct. 2 in a 14-0 win over Lake Forest, but he only had to tote the ball 20 times vs. the Pioneers while a much healthier McCracken had 22 carries.

“Ed was really running extremely well,” said MC coach Steve Bell, who saw his team improve to 5-1 with the win. “The week off obviously helped him. He wasn’t going down on the first contact. There were very few times he was tackled by the first guy. In the second half, we did a better job of getting him into the second level untouched and making Grinnell’s linebackers have to tackle him.”

The other half of the Scots’ victory equation was defense, and Sean Pfalzer would be a good one to ask about what wrong for Grinnell. Pfalzer entered the contest averaging a league-best 263.8 passing yards per game, but the sophomore would not even reach 63.8 yards on the day, as Monmouth held him to five completions in 24 attempts for just 32 yards.

“Our defense is just playing with a lot of energy and emotion,” said Bell. “They’re flying around and making plays. If a guy misses a tackle, there’s a guy right there to get his back.”

When asked about Grinnell’s difficulty through the air, Bell said, “We got into the quarterback’s face early. It wasn’t always a sack (although Monmouth did have three for negative 28 yards), but we made him throw the ball quicker than he wanted. (Defensive coordinator Chad Braun) did a good job of mixing it up with some different pass rushes and zone coverages. Grinnell just wasn’t able to get off.”

Nor was Grinnell able to rack up much possession time. In keeping with Monmouth’s game plan, the Pioneers had the ball for just 23:58, while the Scots’ methodical ground game resulted in possession time of 36:02.

“We didn’t want to get into a passing shootout with them,” said Bell. “We wanted to try to keep them off the field as much as we could.”

With the defense on such a roll, Bell was asked if the Scots could record their third straight shutout when they travel to Appleton, Wis., this weekend to meet Lawrence University.

“It would a nice feather in your cap if you could do it again,” said Bell, who quickly added, “I don’t know how Lawrence hasn’t won more games than they have. They’re tough to defend. They run a lot of different things.”

The Vikings looked like they might be on to something when they opened the season with a 30-7 victory over Knox. However, that remains Lawrence’s only win, and the Vikings have been held to 12 points or less in three of their five losses, including Saturday’s 52-7 setback against St. Norbert, which remains atop the conference standings at 5-0.

Gone from the LU attack are two first team All-MWC selections – running back Justin Behrens and wide receiver Zach Michael – but Bell is still concerned about the personnel that remains, including running back Adrell Bullock, who has run for 429 yards and six TDs. Other Lawrence leaders include quarterback Eric Aspenson (786 yards, seven TDs) and receiver Nick Korn (20 catches, 274 yards, three TDs).

The Monmouth coach is even more concerned about Lawrence’s defense, which he said “is playing faster” than the Vikings have in the past. The Vikings’ lone returning All-MWC player on that side of the ball is defensive back Tyler Krzewina, who is tops on the team in tackles with 50. He also leads LU in interceptions with three.

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