Monmouth Comes to Strong to Help Bucs Open MWC Play
Beloit College Buccaneers (0-1, 0-0 MWC)
vs. Monmouth College Fighting Scots (0-1, 0-0 MWC)
Saturday, September 8, 2012, 1:00 p.m.
Strong Stadium, Beloit, Wisconsin
The Game: Both the Buccaneers and Fighting Scots come into the Midwest Conference opener off losses in their season opener last Saturday. Beloit fell at the University of Chicago 20-6 on Saturday night while Monmouth lost 33-3 at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Saturday afternoon.
The Series: The Buccaneers and Fighting Scots are meeting for the 53rd time in a series Monmouth leads 30-21 with one tie. MC has won eight of the last nine meetings, with Beloit's 34-27 win in Beloit in 2010 breaking up the streak. The teams first met in 1906, with the Fighting Scots scoring an 11-0 victory. MC won the first three meetings, two by shutout, before Beloit prevailed in 1910 with a 17-0 win.
Buccaneer MWC Openers: Since Chris Brann moved into the head coach chair Beloit is 2-4 in Midwest Conference openers. They are 2-10 in such games during the 21st century…Notable season-opening results include the first one, a 42-0 loss to Carleton College; a conference-opening 24-9 win over Lawrence in 1923, which propelled Beloit to its first MWC Football Championship with a 4-0-1 record; and back-to-back undefeated Conference seasons in 1990 and 1991 as the Bucs won the first two of three straight MWC North Division Championships.
Buccaneers Last Time Out: Beloit dropped a 20-6 decision at the University of Chicago on Saturday night in the season opener for both teams. The Maroons got a field goal on their first drive of the game in the opening quarter and added a short rushing TD late in the second quarter to lead 10-0 at the break. UC upped the lead to 17-0 early in the third quarter on a 35-yard pass play and tacked on another field goal early in the fourth. The Bucs got on the board with 5:19 remaining when Will Coyne scored from one yard out for their lone score. Coyne finished 10-18 passing for 79 yards. Zach Draus led the rushing attack with 22 yards on nine carries. Eddie Boyd caught five passes for 28 yards while Nathan Brault had three catches for 40 yards. Antonio Jones had a pair of interceptions, returning the first one 50 yards. He also had nine tackles. Daniel Collins had a team-leading 11 tackles while Will Mack added nine.
Last Time vs. the Fighting Scots: The Buccaneers did everything they could do to upend 27th-ranked Monmouth College on October 22, 2011, but came up short in a 63-41 loss to the Fighting Scots in Monmouth. The slugfest began midway through the opening quarter when Dillon Hess scored on a ten-yard run at the 7:01 mark. MC got on the board at 5:16 but the kick failed and Beloit led 7-6. Monmouth then grabbed the lead at 13-7 on a 12-yard run with two minutes left in the quarter before the Buccaneers re-took the lead in the final minute of the quarter on a 12-yard Derek Carrier run. The Scots jumped back on top five seconds into the second quarter on a 20-yard scoring pass and then made it 28-14 on a 47-yard pass for a TD and a two-point run for the conversion. The Bucs cut the deficit to 28-21 with 43 seconds left in the half on a nine-yard pass from Brian Maughn to Carrier. The third quarter featured six touchdowns. Monmouth got a 35-pass for a TD at 13:17 to stretch their lead but Bryan Fayer caught a 20-yard pass from Maughn three minutes later to bring the lead back to a TD. A seven-yard run by MC at 7:50 pushed it back up two two scores but Beloit responded with a two-yard run by Terence Steward. But the conversion run failed to make it 42-34. MC then started to build on their advantage as the quarter came to a close, scoring on a 47 and 11-yard run in the final four minutes to lead 56-34 heading to the fourth. Steward scored from three yards out at 10:03 of the final quarter to make it 56-41 before a 27-yard scoring pass accounted for the final scoring of the day. The two teams combined for 1,036 yards in the game. Steward finished with 149 yards rushing while Maughn had 210 yards passing. Carrier caught seven passes for 129 yards. Kenny Williams had 101 yards on six kick returns. On defense, Zach Bock led the team with nine tackles while Derrell Carter, Williams and Vince Salucci each had seven tackles. Carter's seven stops included two tackles for loss and he also recovered a fumble and returned it 21 yards. Calago Hipps grabbed his first career interception in the second quarter.
First Game Success: Several players put up good numbers in their first game on the field for the Bucs last Saturday. QB Will Coyne, a sophomore, got his first game snaps and finished 10-18 for 79 yards. WR Nathan Brault, also a sophomore, caught three passes for 40 yards, including a 16-yard catch for a first down during Beloit's 10-play scoring drive in the fourth quarter. DB Lukeson Versulien returned four kickoffs for 54 yards, including a long of 25. DB Antonio Jones had a big first collegiate game, intercepting two passes, returning one for 50 yards, and making nine tackles.
Up Ahead for the Bucs: The Buccaneers hit the road for a 5:00 p.m. late-afternoon MWC game at Lawrence University in Appleton on September 15. They then return home for back-to-back games at Strong Stadium, with Grinnell College coming in on September 22 and Cornell College visiting for the Homecoming Game on September 29. Both are 1:00 p.m. kickoffs.
