Fighting Scots one win away from first-ever national berth

Release Date: October 26, 2005

MONMOUTH, Ill. — In what was arguably their most complete game of the year, the Monmouth College Fighting Scots improved to 8-0 with a 45-0 Homecoming victory last Saturday against Illinois College. The Scots’ 15th consecutive win pushed them within one victory of clinching the Midwest Conference title and an automatic berth in the national playoffs.

Monmouth will seek that win and the school’s first national playoff berth this Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Carroll College in Waukesha, Wis.

“Definitely our guys were prepared and focused,” said MC coach Steve Bell of the decisive triumph over the Blueboys. “It was great to see that we played with a lot of energy. The guys were jacked. I could tell in warmups.”

In addition to putting on a good show for a large Homecoming crowd, both the offense and the defense had extra reasons to be primed to play.

“Our defensive kids had some motivation because of what (Jarid Crain) did to us last year,” said Bell, referring to Crain’s 192-yard, two-TD peformance in the Scots’ 31-17 win.

This time around, the Crain never got on the tracks, being held to 40 yards on 17 carries. Of the Blueboys’ 12 possessions, half were three-and-outs.

“There was a lot of hitting going on out there, and much of it came from our guys,” praised Bell.

Meanwhile, MC’s Mitch Tanney came out firing, and Bell addressed his senior quarterback’s mindset entering the game.

“Eight of 10 quarterbacks would have been satisfied with the game Mitch had last week (vs. Lawrence),” he told a reporter. In that game, Tanney threw 10 incompletions, was picked off once and failed to pass for 200 yards for the only time this season. “But he has higher expectations for himself.”

Tanney led the Scots on scoring drives the first four times Monmouth had the ball. He punctuated the first series with a 33-yard scramble for a score, and he then threw two TD passes to Evan Haffner and a third to Matt Hammer.

Tanney then led the Scots to the 2-yard line on Monmouth’s next possession.

“Normally, I would kick a field goal in that situation, but I went for it, because at some point this season, we’re going to have to make a fourth-and-one,” said Bell.

Dante Daniels was stopped for no gain on fourth down, but it worked out all right for the Scots, as the defense kept IC pinned back. Following a punt, Monmouth took over on the Blueboys’ 26, and Daniels capped a quick five-play drive with a four-yard run, also on fourth down, for a 35-0 halftime lead.

After intermission, Bobby Gibbs scored on a seven-yard run and Nathan Palkovic booted a 39-yard field goal. Palkovic, who punted three times for an average of 44.3 yards, broke his own school record for PATs in a season when he kicked his 41st of the year following Gibbs’ score.

“We were very efficient in what we were trying to do,” said Bell of the Scots’ offense. “Mitch did a great job of commanding the team. He was very poised.”

In addition to his 212 passing yards on 22-of-28 accuracy, Tanney also rushed seven times for 68 yards, the most he’s gained at Monmouth. For his efforts, he was named one of the Midwest Conference’s Offensive Performers of the Week.

Tanney will be part of an interesting quarterback matchup this Saturday, as his counterpart, 2004 All-MWC honorable mention pick Chris Rogers, is also having a strong season. Rogers is 137-of-213 for 1,623 yards and 15 touchdowns, while Tanney, who is currently the third-ranked passer in Division III is 157-of-211 for 1,885 yards and 26 scores. He’s thrown only three interceptions, compared to nine for Rogers.

Rogers’ top receiving target is Adam Fletcher, a two-time All-MWC selection. Fletcher has 40 catches this season for 540 yards and five TDs this season.

“Carroll’s very talented, and they’ve got some good skill kids,” said Bell. “Their quarterback is one of the best athletes in the conference, and the Fletcher kid is also a nice athlete.”

Another skill player having a good year is running back Bryce Crocker, who is tied with Haffner for the most TDs on the season with 13. He’s gained 736 yards on 140 carries. Kicker Brian Jachimek has booted a conference-best seven field goals and is 31-of-33 on PATS.

Other returning All-MWC players for Carroll include inappropriately named offensive lineman Andy Midgett (6-foot-2, 280 pounds), defensive lineman Bill Rather, linebacker Chris Albanese and defensive back Isaac Hamilton, the MWC’s reigning Defensive Performer of the Week, who had TDs on an interception return (56 yards) and a kickoff return (83 yards) last week in Carroll’s 40-13 victory over Lake Forest.

Bell said his team is not looking ahead to what a victory might mean Saturday. They are just going to follow a formula that has proven to be very successful so far.

“We’ve got to do what we do, control what we can control and, hopefully, good things will happen to us,” said Bell.

NOTES: Monmouth College is ranked 21st in the nation by AFCA, 26th by the National Weekly Football Gazette and 34th by D3football.com.

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