The Monmouth College football team started their season with a 21-7 loss at No. 9 Wartburg on Saturday night. The Scots tied the game in the third quarter but the Knights scored the final 14 points to secure the win. Monmouth starts Midwest Conference play at home next Saturday against Lawrence. 

Monmouth got the ball to start the game and after Nate Wrublik (Lemont, Illinois) ran for three yards, quarterback Brayden Deem (Andalusia, Illinois) completed a pass to Mason Emin (Sterling, Illinois) for 15 yards. Deem ran for 11 yards, crossing into Wartburg territory. After a holding penalty and an incomplete pass, Deem's pass on 2nd and 20 was intercepted. The Knights drove the ball 71 yards on 13 plays for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead. Linebacker Gavin Carpenter (Coal City, Illinois) had his first career sack on the drive and also recorded a tackle for loss. 

Wrublik ran for 11 yards on the first play of the second drive and Deem hit Jeremiah Williams (Oviedo, Florida) for 21 yards to the Wartburg 43. But a sack on 3rd and 12 forced a punt by freshman Aiden Sensabaugh (East Moline, Illinois). The Knights moved the ball down to the Monmouth 19 and went for it on 4th and 7. Anthony Cikauskas (Oswego, Illinois) stuffed the play for a two yard loss and the Scots took over on downs. 

Deem hit Williams for 10 yards and a first down before the opening quarter ended. Deem and Williams hooked up for 23 yards before Deem found David Gerber (Chana, Illinois) for a first down to the Wartburg 28. Two Wrublik rushes moved the ball to the 22 but two incomplete passes turned the ball over on downs.  Wartburg again moved the ball down the field. Mostly on the ground. Armani Carrillo (Orlando, Florida) recorded the first takeaway of the season with an interception on the Monmouth 18. On 3rd down, Deem hit Gerber for 15 yards and Wrublik ran for three. On another 3rd down, Deem found Lucas Kessinger (Cambridge, Illinois) for six yards but the Scots had to punt on their own 45. 

Monmouth got another drive in the first half after forcing a Wartburg punt. Deem completed a pass to Williams for 11 yards and Wrublik ran for seven and another first down. After three straight incompletions, Sensabaugh hit a 35-yard punt to the Wartburg 27. The Knights drove the ball across midfield with under a minute to play in the half but Damian Brown (East Peoria, Illinois) thwarted their drive with a tackle for loss. They pinned the Scots inside their own five and Deem threw a hail mary to midfield that was intercepted as the first half clock ran out. 

On the second play of the half, Brown picked off the Wartburg quarterback for the second forced turnover of the game. Monmouth took the ball on their own 28 and Deem hit Williams for completions of 10, 14 and 12 on the next four plays to move into Knights territory. A 15-yard pass to Kessinger put the ball in the red zone and Deem scrambled for 13 yards. Wrublik rushed to the 1 and scored the first touchdown of the season on a 4th and goal play. Sensabaugh kicked the extra point, his first for Monmouth, to tie the game. The Scots forced a punt but Deem threw his third interception of the game on a 3rd and 10 play from the 12. A personal foul against the Scots on the return set up the Knights to score on the next play with a 4-yard run and they led 14-7. 

Monmouth's next drive went 3-and-out with no yards gained and Sensabaugh hit a 41-yard punt. The Knights moved down the field but stalled just outside the red zone and missed a 39-yard field goal. Another drive stalled on three plays and Wartburg scored on a 49-yard pass play for a 1-play drive to lead 21-7 as the third quarter came to an end. 

The Scots had another 3-and-out and Sensabaugh hit a 37-yard punt to midfield. Wartburg punted the ball back and Deem found Emin for a 6-yard gain to start the drive. A personal foul gave the Scots a first down and Wrublik ran for 11  yards and another first down. A penalty moved the ball back and two passes to Wrublik got the Scots back to midfield. The Scots had to punt and Wartburg ran more than five minutes off the clock before missing another field goal. 

The Scots got the ball back with less than five minutes to play. Wrublik ran for four yards but three straight incompletions gave the ball back to Wartburg on the Monmouth 30 with 3;30 to play. The Knights picked up one first down but missed a third field goal with 12 seconds to play. Deem completed a pass to Emin for 22 yards but the clock ran out with a 21-7 final score. 

Deem completed 19-of-44 passes for 207 yards with three interceptions. Wrublik ran 20 times for 62 yards and a touchdown while Deem ran seven times for 12 yards. Williams led the receivers with seven catches for 101 yards while Emin caught three passes for 43 yards. 

On defense, Carpenter had a team-leading 14 tackles, Ethan James (Carthage, Illinois) had 12 tackles and Carson Strating (Morrison, Illinois) had 10. Brown and Carrillo both had interceptions and Carpenter led the team with four tackles for loss. Cikuaskas had 3.5 tackles for loss and Carpenter had a sack. 

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Carpenter made his first career start at linebacker…Emin had his first career catch on the first pass of the season…Gerber had one reception last year and Williams had five…Williams had a career-high in receptions and yards with his first 100-yard receiving game...Carrillo and Brown both had their first career interception…Deem set a career high in pass attempts with 44,eight more than he had against Beloit last season…HIs attempts are the most since Carter Boyer threw the ball 53 times at Wartburg in the 2023 opener…The Scots were 1-for-12 on third down and 1-for-4 on fourth down…Sensabaugh averaged 34 yards on seven punts with a long of 41…Cikauskas moved into second on the career tackles for loss list with 57.5 as he passed Thomas Lesniewski...The record is 76,5 by Anthony Goranson…The Scots are 2-12 all-time against the Knights with six straight losses dating back to a win in Sept. 2018…The Scots start Midwest Conference play with the home opener next Saturday against Lawrence…Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at April Zorn Stadium.