A special teams touchdown opened the door as Monmouth scored all their points in the second quarter to run past Ripon 20-0 on the Red Hawks home field.
Â
Playing in on-again, off-again rain,
Connor Graeff was in the right place at the right time when
Brandon Graeff blocked a punt on Ripon's fourth-and-nine at their own 27. Connor got the scoop-and-run, scoring the first points of the afternoon on the eight-yard return. Two Red Hawk fumbles on their next two possessions – the first caused by
Clark Gaden and the second, recovered by Gaden – gave Monmouth a short field.
Â
It took the Scots' one touch after the second Ripon fumble to score when
Henderson Francois scampered in from 18 yards out to give Monmouth a 13-0 lead. After a Ripon three-and-out on their ensuing possession, quarterback
Brennan White sprinted 47 yards to the Ripon 18, setting up the Scots' final score when
Alec Cooley punched it in from the six-yard line.
Â
 The two defenses took it from there as the Scots held a slight 190-164 total offense edge on a wet Saturday that accounted for six fumbles between the two teams. Monmouth's defense tallied 13 tackles for loss, surrendering only 93 yards to the Red Hawks' ground attack.
Â
It was Monmouth's final game before heading into Midwest Conference divisional play on Oct. 19 after the schedule division-opener with Grinnell was cancelled due to the Pioneers ceasing their season due to low roster numbers.
Â