The Monmouth College Fighting Scots football team dominated the 133rd Turkey Bowl from start to finish with a 56-0 win over rival Knox, clinching a three-way share of the Midwest Conference title. Unfortunately for the Scots (8-2, 8-1), Lake Forest will take the MWC’s automatic berth to the NCAA Playoffs as the Foresters won the three-way tiebreak.
The conference title is the 21st overall for the Scots and their 16th in the Midwest Conference. The Scots have won four MWC titles under coach Chad Braun since the start of the 2016 season. Monmouth last shared a regular season title in 1976, finishing in a three-way tie with Cornell and Knox.
Knox took the ball to start and moved into Monmouth territory before the Scots got a stop on 4th and 4. Devin Lawrence (Hawthorne, Florida) ran 69 yards on the first play from scrimmage to put the Scots inside the 10. Two players later, Carter Boyer (Carthage, Illinois) scored on a QB run from the nine and Cody Szelc (Riverview, Florida) made the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
Knox punted the ball and Monmouth took over on the Prairie Fire 29. Boyer hit Jake Uryasz (Farmington, Illinois) for 25 yards and Lawrence ran the ball twice, scoring from 2-yards out for a 14-0 lead. Knox turned the ball over on downs again and Boyer hit Nate Thornton (Peoria, Illinois) for a 3-yard touchdown to end a short drive. Knox fumbled the kickoff and the Scots took a 28-0 lead on another touchdown rush by Lawrence.
The Scots took a 35-0 lead early in the second quarter when Nick Harris (Winter Haven, Florida) returned a punt 68 yards for a touchdown. Later in the second quarter, Monmouth scored on a 2-play drive when Boyer hit Uryasz for a 62-yard touchdown pass and a 42-0 lead. After another Monmouth punt, the Scots used a 5-play, 59-yard drive to score again. Boyer again found Uryasz for the touchdown and a 49-0 lead at halftime.
Monmouth got the ball to start the third quarter but didn’t score after a 10-play, 50-yard drive down to the Knox seven. Knox took over on their own 20 but Tevin Baker (Kewanee, Illinois) forced and recovered a fumble to give the ball back to the Scots. Marcus Albers (Galesburg, Illinois) scored on a 3-yard rush for a 56-0 lead. The Scots ran clock for the rest of the third quarter and all of the fourth with zero pass attempts and they took multiple knees on their final drive of the game.
Boyer completed 19-of-28 passes for 308 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for a touchdown to account for four total touchdowns. Lawrence ran eight times for 85 yards and two touchdowns while Albers also scored a touchdown. McKade Brooks (Astoria, Illinois) ran 10 times for 32 yards.
Uryasz caught six passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns. Thornton also hauled in a touchdown pass while finishing with five receptions for 82 yards. Anthony Cikauskas (Oswego, Illinois) had two of Monmouth’s four sacks. Tanner Tomaschke (Greenville, Illinois) led the Scots with nine tackles. Szelc was 8-for-8 on extra points.
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: The Scots have won 23 straight Turkey Bowls and lead the all-time series 73-50-10…Monmouth hasn’t allowed more than 10 points to Knox since 2012…The Scots last shutout against Knox was 42-0 in 2009…Monmouth has outscored Knox 325-43 under Braun…Boyer is the 12th Monmouth quarterback to play in at least 25 career games…He moved into ninth on the career completions list and topped 250 career completions (233)…He also went over 3,500 career passing yards and threw his 30th career touchdown pass, moving into eighth on the career list in TD passes….Boyer’s rushing score moved him into the top 10 for both rushing yards and rushing touchdowns by a quarterback…Lawrence is now seventh in career points scored and rushing touchdowns…He went over 2,000 career rushing yards and ranks ninth on the career list with 2,042…Thornton is fourth in single-season receptions and also fourth in receiving yards and tie for fourth in receiving touchdowns…Uryasz is fifth in career touchdowns, one behind Thornton who ranks fourth…Uryasz moved into third in career receiving yards and second in career receptions…The Scots went 8-1 in Midwest Conference play, finishing as tri-champions with Lake Forest and Ripon…The Scots have won 21 conference titles in their history.
For the replay of the WRAM radio broadcast of the game, click HERE
***Recap and photo courtesy of Monmouth College Athletic Department***
