Bucs Look for Rebound as Monmouth Comes to Strong Stadium
Beloit College Buccaneers (3-4, 3-3 MWC)
vs. Monmouth College Fighting Scots (4-3, 4-2 MWC)
Saturday, October 23, 2010, 1:00 p.m.
Strong Stadium, Beloit, Wisconsin
The Game: The Bucs stay at home for a second straight week as they host the Fighting Scots of Monmouth College.
The Teams: The Buccaneers hung with league-leader Ripon College before falling 35-20 at Strong Stadium last Saturday. The Fighting Scots took control in the second quarter on the way to a 27-10 win over Lake Forest College in Monmouth last Saturday.
The Coaches: Chris Brann is in his fifth season as head coach of the Buccaneers. He is 0-4 against the Fighting Scots, 0-2 in Strong Stadium. Steve Bell is in his 11th season as head coach of the Fighting Scots. He is 8-2 against the Buccaneers, 3-2 at Strong Stadium.
The Series: The Buccaneers and Fighting Scots are meeting for the 51st time in a series Monmouth leads 29-20 with one tie. MC has won seven straight in the series and eight of nine, going back to the 2001 season. Beloit's most recent win in the series came on September 28, 2002, a 44-28 Homecoming Game victory in Beloit. Prior to the current Monmouth streak, Beloit had won five straight. The series began in 1906 with an 11-0 Fighting Scots victory.
Buccaneers Last Time Out: Beloit battled toe to toe with league-leader Ripon College last Saturday at Strong Stadium before the Red Hawks used their run game to get some scoreboard separation as the Bucs fell 35-20. Beloit lit the scoreboard first late in the opening quarter when Brian Maughn hit Derek Carrier on a 12-yard scoring pass. That lead held up until Ripon capped a drive with a three-yard TD run with 14 seconds left in the half to make it 7-all at the break. The Buccaneers retook the lead five minutes into the second half on Dillon Hess' five-yard TD run. The kick hit the right upright and Beloit led 13-7. The Red Hawks grabbed the lead for good with 2:44 remaining in the third quarter, capping a 14-play drive with a one-yard scoring run. They held that 14-13 lead entering the fourth quarter. A nine-play drive by RC in the first three minutes of the fourth finished with a five-yard scoring run to put Ripon up 21-13 with 12:30 left. They then made it 28-13 five minutes later on a 39-yard scoring run. The Bucs battled back, pulling to within eight at 28-20 with 6:26 left when Maughn connected with Andrew Christensen on a 31-yard scoring play. But the Red Hawks ate up another five minutes of the clock, scoring from six yards out at the 1:21 mark to regain their advantage at 35-20. The Bucs drove to the Ripon five on their ensuing possession but turned the ball over on downs with nine seconds left. Offensively Beloit finished with 192 yards through the air while Ripon ground out 350 yards rushing. Terence Steward led the Buccaneer rushing attack with 61 yards on 15 carries. Maughn was 12-29 for 192 yards. Christensen caught four passes for 85 yards and Carrier five passes for 72 yards. Defensively, Tony Baratti had a game-high 14 tackles, 11 solo, while Matt Fogerty had 12, eight solo. Joe Carmody recovered a fumble to go along with nine tackles.
Last Time vs. the Fighting Scots: Beloit ran into a buzz saw on September 19, 2009, in Monmouth, Illinois, falling to 11th-ranked Monmouth College 58-0 in a Midwest Conference game. The Fighting Scots scored three TDs in each of the first two quarters and added a field goal to lead 45-0 at the break. Terence Steward led the rushing attack with 48 yards on 13 carries while Brian Maughn was 12-28 passing for 127 yards. Julian Ross caught five of the passes for 64 yards. On defense, Tony Baratti led the way with 11 tackles while Vince Salucci had nine and Chris Juels eight. Valde Raizys had a sack and Eric Ritts and Mark Coogan split a sack.
Individual Accolades: Derek Carrier is one TD catch away from tying the single-season mark of eight held by teammate Julian Ross (2009) and Mike Meteyard (1994)…Tony Baratti became the first Buccaneer to surpass 400 career tackles last Saturday when he recorded 14. He now has 407. He also needs 17 tackles to record his third straight 100-tackle season…Andrew Christensen is just 90 yards away from becoming the second Beloit player with 5,000 all-purpose yards. All-time leader Shane Stadler had 5,903 from 1988-91…
Up Ahead for the Bucs: The Buccaneers head back on the road for the final time this season, playing at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, on Saturday, October 30. Kickoff is at 2:00 p.m. The Bucs then return to Strong Stadium to close out the 2010 season on November 6 against Illinois College on Senior Day.
