Football

Midwest Conference Football Championship Preview

Contact: Lou Groce, Director of Media and Information, 920-229-8157

GRINNELL, Iowa – The Midwest Conference football championship will be held at Schneider Stadium at 1:00 p.m. Saturday when St. Norbert College hosts Monmouth College with the winner earning a trip to the automatic berth in the NCAA Playoffs. 

Both teams feature new head coaches and breezed through their respective divisions undefeated to reach the title tilt.  The Fighting Scots outscored South Division opponents 223-28 and didn’t give up more than seven points in division play.  The Green Knights, ranked 18th in the latest American Football Coaches Association Poll, outscored their North Division foes 190-50, despite trailing at the half of their last game at Macalester College. 

St. Norbert head coach Dan McCarty took the reins of the program after serving as the defensive coordinator for the 2014 season and has been perfect in his first season as a collegiate head coach.  Monmouth’s head man, Chad Braun, has been patrolling the Scots’ sidelines as the defensive coordinator since the 2000 season before taking over as the head coach. 

This isn’t the first time the two programs have met for the Midwest Conference Championship.  St. Norbert beat Monmouth for the league crown three straight times from 1987-89 and holds a 21-7 lead in the all-time series. 

St. Norbert uses a thunder and lightning approach behind sophomore quarterback Jack Becker.  Brad Boockmeier serves as the power back and has ran for a team-leading 664 yards, while Elijah Fort is the speed back and has 636 yards and 16 touchdowns to his credit.  As a first-year starter, Becker boasts a 65.5 completion percentage and has thrown for 1,313 yards and nine scores.  The sophomore is also a threat on the ground, running for another 397 yards on five touchdowns.  His top targets are junior Zach Reeves (32 catches 368 yards) and sophomore Brett Olson (20 catches, 341 yards). 

Defensively, the Green Knights boast the sixth best scoring defense in the country, allowing just 10.2 points per game and a measly 270.1 yards per game.  Linebacker R.J. Callow leads the team with 64 tackles from his linebacker position while Wyatt Veseth has made 59 stops and is the reigning MWC Defensive Performer of the Week.  In the secondary, Frank Laterza has a team-high six interceptions. 

Monmouth’s offense uses multiple backs out of the backfield as DeAndre Wright, Trent Rains and Austin Ray all have reached pay dirt at least four times.  Wright has been the workhorse as of late.  The freshman leads the team with 594 yards and seven scores.  Tanner Matlick has done a tremendous job of orchestrating the Monmouth offense this season.  He has thrown just three interceptions to 17 touchdowns and has ran for 420 yards and six more scores.  Matlick’s go-to guys have been Easton Schaber (44 catches, 441 yards) and junior Brock Thomas (38 catches, 422 yards), but Adam Parr is the home run threat with 16 grabs for 413 yards and six scores. 

Defensively, the Fighting Scots are no slouch themselves.  Monmouth gives up an average of just 249.1 yards per game, good for 10th in the nation.  Freshman defensive lineman Thomas Lesniewski has been a huge addition to the front seven, sacking opposing quarterbacks 11 times and recording 13.5 tackles for loss.  Linebacker Matt Barnes leads the squad with 83 tackles and Micam Smith has made 48 stops from his defensive back position.  Nyle Stevens and Carson Perrero both have two interception apiece.