The Monmouth College football team used a dominating first half to celebrate Homecoming weekend with a 47-14 win over Cornell College on Saturday. The Scots scored three touchdowns in the first half and led 23-0 at half before cruising to a 30-point win.
 
Henderson Francois (Naples, Florida) got the Scots on the board in their first drive with a 3-yard touchdown run. That scamper capped a 5-play, 60-yard drive to give the Scots a 7-0 lead. Monmouth's defense stopped Cornell again but turned it over on downs on the Rams 25. The defense forced another punt and after an 11-play drive the Scots settled for a 22-yard field goal from Cody Szelc (Riverview, Florida) for a 10-0 lead in the second quarter.
 
The defense got a touchdown of their own in the second quarter as Korbyn Personett (Pittsfield, Illinois) forced a fumble and Evan Otto (Canton, Illinois) returned it 65 yards for a touchdown. The snap was botched on the extra-point so the Scots lead 16-0. Monmouth got the ball back with less than a minute to play in the half and Carter Boyer (Carthage, Illinois) found Nathaniel Thornton (Peoria, Illinois) wide open down the left side for a 56-yard touchdown.
 
With a 23-0 halftime lead the Scots scored on their first two possessions of the third quarter as well. Szelc drilled a 21-yard field goal after the first drive and Francois scored from 4-yards out for a 33-0 lead. Cornell finally got on the board in the third quarter but the Scots responded as Boyer found Nate Graham (Monticello, Illinois) for a 22-yard score.
 
The Rams started the fourth quarter with a 61-yard touchdown drive to cut the score to 40-14. Monmouth responded with the final score of the game as Boyer again found Graham, this time for a 25-yard score. The extra point gave Monmouth a 47-14 lead. The Scots did get the ball back but missed a field goal on the ensuing drive before stopping Cornell on downs with 20 seconds to play.
 
Boyer completed 15-of-19 passes for 232 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 31 yards. Riley Fetterer (Milan, Illinois) was 4-for-10 for 41 yards passing while also rushing for 36 yards on four carries.
 
Francois led the Scots with 116 rushing yards on 12 carries and he scored twice. Devin Lawrence (Hawthorne, Florida) ran for 58 yards on eight carries and Devin Pinkard (Wildwood, Florida) had 27 rushing yards on four carries.
 
Graham had eight catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns. Thornton had two catches for 59 yards and a score while Jake Uryasz (Farmington, Illinois) caught four passes for 36 yards.

Defensively Personett had three sacks, 4.5 tackles for loss, three quarterback hurries, one forced fumble and one pass breakup. He is among the sack leaders in all of Division III football with 11. Otto had nine tackles to go with his defensive touchdown and Derek Dietrich (Chillicothe, Illinois) led the Scots with 12 tackles.
 
The Scots stay home next weekend for a first-place showdown against Lake Forest. Both teams are 6-0 in the Midwest Conference and kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at April Zorn Stadium.