MONMOUTH, IL (10/05/2019) Oct. 5 – A special teams touchdown opened the door as Monmouth scored all their points in the second quarter to run past Ripon 20-0 on the Red Hawks home field.
Playing in on-again, off-again rain, Brandon Graeff was in the right place at the right time when Brad Buchner blocked a punt on Ripon’s fourth-and-nine at their own 27. Graeff got the scoop-and-run, scoring the first points of the afternoon on the eight-yard return. Two Red Hawk fumbles on their next two possessions – the first caused by Clark Gaden and the second, recovered by Gaden – gave Monmouth a short field.
It took the Scots’ one touch after the second Ripon fumble to score when Henderson Francois scampered in from 18 yards out to give Monmouth a 13-0 lead. After a Ripon three-and-out on their ensuing possession, quarterback Brennan White sprinted 47 yards to the Ripon 18, setting up the Scots’ final score when Alec Cooley punched it in from the six-yard line.
The two defenses took it from there as the Scots held a slight 190-164 total offense edge on a wet Saturday that accounted for six fumbles between the two teams. Monmouth’s defense tallied 13 tackles for loss, surrendering only 93 yards to the Red Hawks’ ground attack.
It was Monmouth’s final game before heading into Midwest Conference divisional play on Oct. 19 after the schedule division-opener with Grinnell was cancelled due to the Pioneers ceasing their season due to low roster numbers.
