Chad Braun had a happy return to his alma mater Saturday, leading Monmouth to a 45-13 win at Illinois College on the Blueboys' Homecoming.
 
Monmouth's string of shutout quarters ended at 13, but the Scots stayed in a tie atop the Midwest Conference South Division standings with Lake Forest after the win over Braun's college team. Hayden Nelson passed for 272 yards and two TDs – hitting Jacolby Maxwell for a 48-yard scoring strike to get Monmouth on the board midway through the first quarter. Maxwell finished the day with a game-high 150 receiving yards. The Scots tacked on three more touchdowns in the second quarter – one on an 80-yard interception return by defensive end Lamar Watson, the fifth-longest interception return in program history. The pick-six gave the Scots a 28-6 lead going into the locker rooms at the half.
 
The Scots added two more TDs in the second half – one by freshman Devin Lawrence – while Joey Biel nailed a 40-yard field goal for the rest of the Scots' scoring. Lawrence netted 55 yards in his first college start at running back and averaged over three yards a carry.
 
Clark Gaden led the defense with 15 total tackles and Thomas Lesniewski inched closer to the all-time sacks record with one QB sack, giving him 31.5, just 3 shy of  breaking the career record which has stood since 1990.
 
Monmouth returns home next Saturday to host Cornell in a 1 p.m. kickoff at April Zorn Memorial Stadium.