Beloit College Buccaneers (2-1)
at Lake Forest Foresters (0-2)
Saturday, September 26, 2015, 1:00 p.m.
Farwell Field, Lake Forest, Illinois
The Buccaneers head back to the road for the third time in four weeks, playing the Foresters of Lake Forest. The Bucs are coming off a 49-34 Homecoming Game win over Lawrence last Saturday while LFC was idle last weekend after falling at Gustavus Adolphus College 49-0 back on September 12…
The Series: The Buccaneers and Foresters are meeting for the 80th time in a series LFC leads 36-32 with 11 ties. Beloit has won four of the last five meetings, including the last three home meetings, a stretch that followed Lake Forest winning 11 of 12 from 1996-2007. The programs first met in 1891, a 10-4 Lake Forest win. Notable in the series is the 11 ties all-time. The teams tied 0-0 in three straight meetings from 1923-28 and had another streak of three straight ties from 1931-33. The most recent meeting last season went into overtime…
The Bucs Most Recent Game: The Buccaneers made sure a big crowd of some 2,500 Homecoming Game fans liked what they saw, which was a 49-34 win over Lawrence University in the 100th meeting between the two programs last Saturday. The Buccaneers raced to a 21-0 lead in the first nine minutes of the game. Mason Dixon hit paydirt from 38 yards away just over two minutes in to start the scoring before Danny May hit Mike Nolden with a 49-yard scoring pass at the 8:33 mark. Dixon capped the big opening quarter with a 77-yard TD run at 6:17 to complete the outburst. Nolden made it a four-touchdown lead at 6:38 of the second quarter on a six-yard pass from May before the Vikings dented the scoreboard two minutes later on a short two-yard run. Ryan Sughroue caught a 25-yard scoring toss from May with 3:03 remaining in the half and Nolden grabbed his third TD pass of the first 30 minutes from May with 19 seconds left, making it 42-7 at the break. Dixon had 187 yards rushing, May 215 passing yards and Nolden six catches for 116 yards in the first half as the Buccaneers piled up 408 yards of offense. Dixon scored his third touchdown from 12 yards away at 9:32 of the third for the only score of the quarter, making it 49-7. LU got going in the fourth, scoring four TDs while shutting down the Buccaneer back-ups for the final score. The Bucs finished with 524 total yards, 284 on the ground. Dixon finished with 218 yards, his second straight 200-plus yard game, the first Buccaneer to hit the 200-yard rushing mark four times in his career. May had 233 yards passing and Nolden had 134 yards receiving on seven catches. Defensively, Danny Quijas had seven tackles and also recovered a fumble. Riley Pearson had six tackles. Antonio Jones intercepted his third pass of the season and Quin Dixon had a sack, a forced fumble and and a fumble recovery. Jack Sommer had the team's other sack.
Bucs' Last Time vs. the Foresters: The Buccaneers definitely saved the best for last in a come-from-behind 27-24 Homecoming overtime win over Lake Forest College at Strong Stadium on September 27, 2014. Kam Sallee forced the extra play with a 37-yard field goal 59 second before the end of regulation and then won it with a 33-yarder in overtime for the big win in front of 1,500 fans. The Bucs struck first with a quick seven-play, 88-yard drive in the opening quarter on an 18-yard pass from Evan Phillips to Ryan Sughroue at 12:39. LFC tied it up at five minutes later on a 22-yard pass play from Anthoney Prestly to Willie McIntyre. The Foresters took a halftime 10-7 advantage on the only scoring in the second quarter - a 23-yard field by Jon Gurchak at the 10:33 mark. Lake Forest added to their lead on the first play from scrimmage after halftime with a 68-yard scoring pass from Prestly to Mike Rantis but Mason Dixon cut the deficit back to 17-14 at 2:25 of the quarter with a 15-yard run. A 15-yard interception return midway through the fourth quarter by Brendan Power made it 24-14 before the Buccaneers started their comeback. Dixon's four-yard scoring run capped a 10-play, 45-yard drive with 3:53 left to make it 24-21 and set the stage for Sallee's first field goal to force overtime. The Foresters had the ball first in OT and missed a 40-yard field goal after three plays. Beloit countered with three Dixon rushes before Sallee hit the game-winner. Dixon finished with 130 yards rushing on 30 carries while Phillips threw for 196 yards. Michael Nolden caught three passes for 95 yards, Riley Holt had two catches for 56 and Sughroue four grabs for 42. Sallee, in addition to his field goals, averaged 46.7 yards on seven punts, including a 67 and 66-yarder. Prestly threw for 239 yards to leade the Foresters, with McIntyre catching six passes for 75 yards and Rantis two for 75. Antonio Jones and Dewight Walker led a strong defensive effort with 10 tackles apiece, Jones also grabbing an interception. Derell Carter and Daniel Quijas had sacks while Tyler Coleman also had an interception and Alan Ham a fumble recovery. Joey Kropp and Jake Julius both had 10 tackles for LFC. Power, Chris Rantis and Pat Clark all had interceptions…
Notes & Notables: Mike Nolden got his name in the Beloit Record Book with his three TD catches, becoming the fifth Buccaneer to grab three scores, the first since Julian Ross did it against Lawrence in 2009…Danny May, who's 367 passing yards at Concordia Chicago in the season opener was the fifth-most in a game in program history, tied the record for TD passes with four, all coming in the first half. He connected with Nolden once in the opening quarter and twice in the second quarter. He found Ryan Sughroue other TD in the second quarter. The last to throw four in a game for the Bucs was Brian Maughn against LU in 2009…The Buccaneers have put up 40-plus points in three straight games for the first time in over 60 years. The last time they had three straight such games came in the 1950 finale against Grinnell (49-20), the 1951 opener vs. North Central (61-20) and the second game of the 1951 season vs. Dubuque (55-14)…Mason Dixon's 218-yard effort Saturday vaulted him over the 3,000-yards career mark, just the fifth Buccaneer to hit the milestone. He now has 3,111 in 23 career games. Saturday he leaped over Shane Stadler, who had 3,054 from 1988-91. Up ahead is Brian Balick, who rushed for 3,261 from 1995-98…
Up Ahead for the Bucs: Beloit returns to Strong Stadium to begin the October portion of their schedule, hosting Monmouth College on October 3 at 1:00 p.m. They then have a bye week before traveling to Minnesota to face Macalester College on October 17.