Logan Mont (junior, Aurora, Ill., West Aurora HS) found the end zone as a receiver, rusher and passer as the Central College football team racked up a season-high 680 yards to outscore Simpson College 49-17 Saturday.
Four Dutch players—and nearly a fifth—threw TD passes and 13 had receptions. They combined to complete 30 of 46 passes for 403 yards with one interception and six touchdowns. Central (5-2 overall, 3-2 American Rivers) also picked up 277 rushing yards.
Mont had eight receptions for 60 yards, including a 15-yard TD grab from Cooper Downs (sophomore, Ames) as the Dutch scored touchdowns on six of their first seven possessions. Mont also had an 8-yard second-quarter touchdown run, then pulled a surprise by taking a pitch from Keegan Glover (freshman, Benton, Ill.) and tossing a 10-yard pass to Ryan Neu (junior, West Des Moines, Valley HS) in the end zone with 14 seconds left in the half for a 28-10 lead.
"We've practiced that play a lot this fall and this is the first time we've run it with him, but every time he does it in practice, he does a really good job," coach Jeff McMartin said. "He throws a good ball and makes good decisions. Logan had a great day and I'm happy to see him continue to improve."
The Dutch used four quarterbacks as Brady Ketchum (sophomore, Mount Vernon) completed 9-of-14 for 131 yards and two scores. Downs was 9-of-13 for 117 yards with two TDs and Glover was 5-of-7 for 72 yards with a TD. Freshman Hunter Hoffman (Pecatonica, Ill.) nearly became the fifth to throw a TD pass but his fourth-quarter 21-yard scoring pass to Brendan Bogaard (sophomore, Phoenix, Ariz., Northwest Christian HS) was called back due to a penalty. Hoffman completed 6 of 11 passes for 73 yards. The Dutch yielded no sacks on the day.
McMartin was happy to see Central run the ball successfully as well. Glover gained 66 yards on seven carries, running back Jason Hopp (5th-year, Earlham) had 60 yards on eight carries and running back Isaiah Walk (senior, Buffalo Center, North Iowa HS) had 52 yards on eight attempts.
"You certainly want to put up some balanced numbers and be a team that can do both (run and pass)," McMartin said. "That's a goal for us and we certainly felt like we did a good job in that area today.
He was less enthused about Central getting flagged for 12 penalties for the second consecutive week.
"Those are things we have to continue to correct," McMartin said. "They certainly didn't help us."
Simpson (0-7 overall, 0-5 conference) was able to sustain some drives and had 365 yards total offense. Simpson completed 20 of 39 passes for 214 yards and two touchdowns while rushing 50 times for 184 yards. Central held a 34-25 edge in first downs.
"They did run a lot of plays against us in the first half and especially in the first quarter," McMartin said. "Those are things that we're going to have to continue to work on. It comes down to execution. We've got to execute better and I think there are a lot of things that we can learn from on film today to get better and move us towards being the type of defense that we want to be."
Linebacker Nathan Rahn (senior, Chadwick, Ill., Milledgeville HS) had 13 tackles including nine solos.
"Our outside linebackers are really critical parts of our defense," McMartin said. "Nate flew around the field and gave us everything he had. He made a lot of plays today."
Linebacker Tate Hagen (junior, Britt, West Hancock HS) had nine stops with a tackle for loss, a forced fumble and a pass breakup. Freshman cornerback Ben DeMeulenaere (Belle Plaine), in his first collegiate start, also had nine stops. Defensive end David Bakol (senior, Houston, Texas, Alief Elsik HS) had 1.5 sacks.
Two of Central's final three games of the season are on the road, including next Saturday's 1 p.m. contest at Cedar Rapids with Coe College. The Kohawks are 5-2 overall and 4-1 in conference play after a 27-17 victory at Loras College Saturday.
"It's going to be a great challenge for us on Saturday," McMartin said. "Coe's a good football team and they're playing really well. They had a big win today against Loras on the road so they're going to be tough."