The first Monmouth College night football game at April Zorn Stadium ended at nearly 1 a.m. after a more than three-hour weather delay. Scheduled for a 7 p.m. kickoff on Saturday against Wartburg, lightning right before kickoff sent the game into a delay. The teams finally took the field to warm up again just before 10 p.m. and the game kicked off at 10:20. When all was said and done, Wartburg walked away with a 34-7 win, thanks to a 21-point third quarter.
The Scots had a punt blocked on the first drive and Wartburg started on the Monmouth 26. However, Michael Lord (LeHarpe, Illinois) picked off the first pass of the night by Nile McLaughlin and gave the Scots the ball at their own 41. Neither team found success on the ground in the first half and the game was scoreless after the first quarter.
Wartburg picked off a pass by Riley Fetterer (Rockridge, Illinois) in the second quarter and had a touchdown wiped out by an illegal motion penalty. After Korbyn Personett (Pittsfield, Illinois) recorded a tackle for a six-yard loss, Nick Harris (Winter Haven, Florida) intercepted a pass in the end zone for a touchback.
However the Scots turned the ball over on downs at the Wartburg 35 with 2:57 to go in the half. After the teams traded punts, the Knights moved down the field and broke the scoreless tie with a 28-yard field goal with three seconds left.
The third quarter was all Wartburg as they scored touchdowns on their first three drives. They added another score early in the fourth quarter for a 31-0 lead and kicked a field goal with 8:20 to play.
The Scots got on the board with a seven-play, 69-yard drive. Carter Boyer (Carthage, Illinois) capped the drive with a 42-yard touchdown pass to Nate Thornton (Peoria, Illinois). The Scots put together another drive in the final 90 seconds but Boyer’s pass to the end zone was intercepted to end the game.
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: The Scots ran the ball 31 times in the game for -9 yards.Devin Lawrence (Hawthorne, Florida) led the way with nine yards on 18 carriesWartburg had four sacks to knock 42 rushing yards off the Monmouth totalFetterer was 14-for-26 passing for 116 yards while Boyer was 5-for-9 for 74 yardsJackson Bergren (Monmouth, Illinois) caught eight passes for 70 yards while Thornton had four catches for 71 yards and a touchdownAddison Fletcher (Monmouth, Illinois) punted 7 times for an average of 40.7 yards, including a 61-yard punt in the first half that was downed inside the oneTanner Tomaschke (Greenville, Illinois) led the Scots with 10 tackles while Caleb Endicott (Saint Cloud, Florida) had eightPersonett and Tevin Baker (Kewanee, Illinois) both had 1.5 tackles for lossThe Scots open Midwest Conference play next Saturday with a 1 p.m. kickoff at Grinnell and the next home game is Parents’ Weekend against Illinois College at 1 p.m. on Sept. 17.
***Courtesy of Nathan Baliva, Monmouth College***
