The Monmouth College football team scored 55 unanswered to stay unbeaten in conference play and knock off Beloit College 55-3 on Saturday. The Fighting Scots (5-1, 5-0) had touchdowns from seven different players in the home win.
“We did what we needed to do to get a win today,” said head coach Chad Braun. “I’m really happy with the dominant defensive performance. Our offensive line did a really good job of neutralizing their defense as well.”
Monmouth fumbled on the first play from scrimmage with a backward pass recovered by Beloit. The visitors picked up 19 yards on four plays and kicked a 34-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. Brayden Deem (Andalusia, Illinois) got the offense going with a 9-yard pass to Nate Thornton (Peoria, Illinois). Deem ran for 14 before hitting Jackson Bergren (Monmouth, Illinois) for 10 and Lucas Kessinger (Cambridge, Illinois) for 10. The Scots got into the red zone on a 16-yard pass to Bergren and Nate Wrublik (Lemont, Illinois) ran the ball down to the Beloit goal line. Deem punched it in on 4th and goal before Cody Szelc (Riverview, Florida) made it 7-3 with the extra point.
The Scots forced a punt later in the first quarter with Beloit on their own 40. Geramyah Porter (Tarpon Springs, Florida) fielded the punt on his own 22, made a cut to the outside and sprinted down the sidelines 78 yards for a touchdown and a 14-3 lead.
Monmouth’s first drive of the second quarter started on their own 21. Deem hit Bergren for 20 yards and later found Thornton for a first down. Wrublik caught an 8-yard pass before running for five more and a first down. With 4th-and-4, Deem hit Bergren for a 29-yard catch and run touchdown and a 21-3 lead. Monmouth forced another 3-and-out and went to work on their own 36. Angel Duarte (Mt. Sterling, Illinois) ran for seven before Deem hit Bergren for 15 and 14 on two separate plays. Deem finished the drive with a 27-yard touchdown pass to Kessinger for a 28-3 lead. The Scots got the ball back with 1:57 to play in the half. Deem ran for 12 before completing passes to Bergren, Wrublik and Chase Newman (Morrison, Illinois). With 12 seconds left in the half. Deem hit Kessinger for an 18-yard touchdown and a 35-3 lead.
Beloit started the second half with the ball but turned it over on the third play. Anthony Cikauskas (Oswego, Illinois) forced the fumble on a sack and recovered the ball as well on the Beloit 25. Three plays later Wrublik scored on a 4-yard run for a 41-3 lead. Monmouth added one more score in the quarter for a 48-3 lead as Deem hit Thornton for a 2-yard touchdown with 34 seconds left in the quarter.
Rockyen Spinks (Galesburg, Illinois) got the ball back for Monmouth early in the fourth quarter with an interception. Silas Braun (Monmouth, Illinois) took over as quarterback with Duarte rushing for 22 yards into Beloit territory. Blake Regenold (Downs, Illinois) ran for 16 and Elijah Cherelus (Kissimmee, Florida) ran for 15 to get the ball inside the 10. However, a fumbled handoff gave the ball back to Beloit.
Cherelus ran for 17 to open the next dive and Regenold added 16 to move the ball inside the five. The Scots went backwards on a penalty but Ashton Summers (Mt. Zion, Illinois) connected with Jeremiah Williams (Oviedo, Florida) on a 16-yard jet sweep for a touchdown and a 55-3 lead.
Deem completed 23-of-36 passes for 244 yards and four touchdowns. Duarte led the ground game with 92 yards on nine carries while Regenold had seven carries for 42 yards. Bergren caught nine passes for 119 yards and a touchdown while Kessinger had four catches for 53 yards and two scores.
Cikauskas led the Scots with three tackles for loss and two sacks. Tevin Baker (Kewanee, Illinois) added 2.5 TFL while Carson Strating (Morrison, Illinois), Brant Baltes (Lisbon, Iowa) and Zane Beebe (Davenport, Iowa) all had two TFL. Beebe led the Scots with 10 tackles.
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Williams and Porter scored their first career touchdowns … Monmouth’s last punt return for a TD was by Nick Harris (Winter Haven, Florida) in Nov. 12, 2022 at Knox ,,, The 112 punt return yards by Porter is the fourth most in a game in MC historyDeem has 15 touchdown passes in the last three games … Thornton has 39 career touchdowns, four behind Mike Blodgett’s career record … Bergren moved into eighth on the career receiving yards list with 1906 and he also ranks 10th with 122 receptions … Cikauskas has 25.5 career sacks, jumping over Baker into a tie for fifth on the career list … Baker has 44.5 career TFL while Cikauskas has 44 and the both passed M Club Hall of Famer Justin Ziegler on Saturday into sixth and seventh respectively … Szelc moved past Nate Palkovic for second on the extra points made list with 161, six behind Joey Biel’s record … Monmouth leads the all-time series 40-21 and the Scots have won 10 in a row against the Bucs … The Scots are 35-2 under Braun in October … The Scots play at home against Ripon next Saturday with a 1 p.m. kickoff … The Senior Day ceremony begins at 12:40 p.m. honoring seniors from football, marching band, pipe band, dance and cheer.
***Courtesy of Nathan Baliva, Monmouth College***
