The Monmouth College football team turned to the ground game on Saturday in a 45-3 Homecoming win over Cornell College. The Fighting Scots (5-1, 5-0) set another single-game school record on Saturday as Nate Wrublik (Lemont, Illinois) returned to action with five rushing touchdowns. 

"I thought we played a pretty complete defensive game today and on offense we were extremely physical and ran the ball really well," said head coach Chad Braun. "We didn't execute at a high level in the passing game and I was a little disappointed in some of the penalties we took. I thought we were pretty solid on special teams."

Monmouth got the ball to start the game and runs by Brayden Deem (Andalusia, Illinois) and John Ahlden (Ashkum, Illinois) set up a first down. Deem threw to Ahlden for 11 yards and Wrublik ran for 12. Wrublik ran for 17, Deem ran for 10 and Wrublik scored on a 5-yard run. 
Aiden Sensabaugh (East Moline, Illinois) hit the extra point for a 7-0 lead. 

The Scots led 7-3 to start the second quarter and Deem ran for 16 yards before Wrublik covered 19 yards on two plays. The Scots picked up a first down on a penalty and Wrublik ran for another to get into the red zone. Two plays later, Wrublik made it 14-0 with a 1-yard run. 

Kevin Soivilien (Miami, Florida) got the ball back for the Scots with his second career interception on the first play of the next Rams drive. Starting on the Cornell 26, The Scots scored on four straight runs by Wrublik for a 21-3 lead.

The teams traded punts and the Scots got the ball back on their own 47. Deem hit Jeremiah Williams (Oviedo, Florida) for 10 yards and Wrublik ran for seven. A personal foul on the Rams gave Monmouth a first down and Wrublik scored on the next play, a 14-yard run for a 28-3 lead. Monmouth got the ball back again but missed a field goal to end the half. 

Carson Strating (Morrison, Illinois) and Ethan James (Carthage, Illinois) combined on a tackle for loss to blow up the first Rams drive of the second half. Williams ran for 12 on an end around and Ahlden moved the ball into Rams territory. Deem ran for 17 and Sensabaugh hit a 35-yard field goal for a 31-3 lead. 

Jeremiah Hardnett (O'Fallon, Illinois) helped get the ball back with a tackle for loss and Silas Braun (Monmouth, Illinois) led a touchdown drive as quarterback. He ran for six and five on the drive while Wrublik ran for 12 and eight to get the ball inside the 20. Ahlden ran twice and Wrublik finished off the drive with a 3-yard run for a 38-3 lead. 

Cornell started the fourth quarter with the ball but Anthony Cikuaskas (Oswego,  Illinois) deflected a fourth down pass to get the ball back to Monmouth's offense. Deem returned and hit Gunner Bryant (Curryville, Missouri) for five yards and a 7-yard pass to Chase Newman (Morrison, Illinois) resulted in a first down. Ahlden ran for a pair of first downs and Deem eventually scored on a QB keeper from six yards out for a 45-3 lead. 

Kaden Fogelsong (Ipava, Illinois) and Ke'Aundre Gavin (Spring Hill, Florida) had sacks for the Scots in the fourth quarter. Parker Byers (Clearwater, Florida) intercepted a Cornell pass with 4:53 to play but a fumbled snap and a missed field goal resulted in the 45-3 final score. 

Deem threw for 69 yards on 9-of-31 passing and he ran for 64 yards on 10 carries with a touchdown. Wrublik ran 24 times for a career-best 163 yards and a career-best five touchdowns. Ahlden ran 15 times for 83 yards. Williams caught three passes for 20 yards and Newman caught two passes for 12 yards. 

James led the Scots with 11 tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss. Cikauskas had two TFL while both Fogelsong and Gavin had sacks. Soivilien and Byers had interceptions .  

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Wrublik is the first Monmouth player ever with five rushing touchdowns in a game…Six players in MC history had four rushing touchdowns in a game, most recently DeAndrew Wright on Oct. 7, 2017 against Grinnell…Wrublik moved into 15th on the Monmouth career rushing list, passing 2024 teammate McKade Brooks…He moved past five players and into sixth on the career touchdowns list with 29…Wrublik had his seventh career 100-yard rushing game, breaking a tie with Trent Rains for fourth most in MC history…Wrublik is the 17th player to have at least 300 career carries…Deem moved past Mitch Tanney and into ninth on the career passing attempts list and he passed Hayden Nelson for ninth in career passing yards…Newman is the 27th receiver with 50 career receptions…Cikauskas has 66.5 career tackles for loss…Monmouth held Cornell to 1-of-13 on third down…The Scots were 13-for-20 on third down…Monmouth has scored at least 45 points in five straight games…The Scots are 41-39-1 all-time against Cornell with 11 straight wins…The Scots play at Beloit next Saturday with a 1 p.m. kickoff…The next home game is Nov. 8 at 1 p.m. against Ripon