The tone was set early.
Millikin’s defense forced a three-and-out on Augustana College’s first series of Saturday’s CCIW clash.
However, Millikin fumbled away the ensuing punt, and the Vikings converted two plays later.
Another first-quarter touchdown gave the hosting Vikings a cushion they nursed all the way to a 33-6 victory at Lindberg Stadium, handing the Big Blue their first loss of the season.
It was a huge bounce-back homecoming victory for the Vikings, coming off last week’s 50-7 home loss to No. 18 Wheaton, a lopsided winner again this week.
“This is a huge game for us,” said Augie senior defensive lineman T.J. Klein after the Vikings moved to 2-1, 1-1 in league play ahead of next week’s trip to face North Park. “We talked all week about how last week, the way we played, wasn’t the team we want to be and it’s not the team that we are.
“This week was very important to show who we are and how we can play. I think we did a good job of that today.”
While the Vikings dominated on the scoreboard all day, the Millikin offense found some success moving the ball and keeping possession by converting 8 of 18 third- and fourth-down tries.
“We were a little too sporadic, but a win is a win and we’ll take it any way we can get it,” said Augie coach Steve Bell. “We had some really good moments and, obviously, some moments we need to play better.”
MU quarterback Sylas Gomez broke off some long scrambles, but was also sacked six times and finished with minus-18 yards on 13 carries.
“We played with confidence this week,” said Klein, who had two of those sacks for 19 yards in losses.
Millikin (2-1, 1-1 CCIW) finished with just 65 rush yards in 34 carries and 236 yards offense on 61 snaps.
“We got them in some very advantageous-for-us situations and we let them out of them,” said Bell. “Some of it was the quarterback running the ball and some of it him throwing the ball.
We need to have better awareness of where the first down sticks are.”
Still, the first turnover seemed to set the tone for the day when the punt slipped through Zyon Turner’s hands and recovered by Augie sophomore Travis Kencevish at the MU 25.
“That was a huge moment,” said Augie junior running back Josh Lim. “Our coaches always talk about taking advantage of every moment, so going three-and-out was tough. But special teams made a huge play and we capitalized off that and scored.”
“Our players need to make plays,” said first-year Millikin coach Billy Riebock, whose club faces Carroll in next Saturday’s homecoming game. “He’s probably done that 50 times. We just picked a bad time to not execute and that was indicative of the day.”
Two plays later, Augie quarterback Jimmy Makuh swung a pass to senior wideout Breyden Smith, who turned that into an 18-yard touchdown.
After a short Millikin punt, Ben Ludlum capped a three-play, 41-yard drive with a 5-yard burst over the right side on a Wildcat snap. The drive was spurred by a 31-yard first-down toss to Ethan Vrabec.
MU answered with a nice 15-play, 75-yard drive that included two third-down conversions and a fourth-down 24-yard run by Gomez, a junior from San Antonio, Texas, in his first year at Millikin.
The game also turned on MU’s next possession when freshman starting running back Re’John Zeno (8 carries, 9 yards) left with a leg injury. After that, the game rested on Gomez’s arm (20 of 27 for 171 yards) and the Vikings made it tough on him with those six sacks and a number of hurries. He did make the Vikings pay with some big runs out of the pocket, but Millikin only ran 16 plays in Augie territory after Zeno’s injury, still racking up a 12-minute time of possession advantage.
Lim turned extensive playing time into a solid day on the ground, finishing with a team-high 80 yards in 12 carries and two touchdowns.
He scored on a 4-yarder with 4:22 left in the second quarter that capped a 13-play, 80-yard drive that followed a lost possession on a lost fumble – Augie’s only turnover of the game. Lim then turned a sweep into a 20-yard score on Augie’s first possession of the second half that capped the scoring with Josh Garbett’s fourth point-after kick that added to his 35-yard field goal just before half that capped a beautiful 10-play, 66-yard two-minute drive.
“It was good to find the end zone, but I couldn’t have done it without the guys in front of me,” said Lim, a junior from North Aurora, Ill., “We’ve had a lot of injuries on the o-line, so it’s been challenging the past few weeks, but a lot of kids stepped it up today.”
Augie finished with 322 yards of offense in 52 snaps, taking advantage of some short-field situations.
Augustana 33, Millikin 6
Millikin;6;0;0;0;—;6
Augustana;14;10;9;0;—;33
First quarter
Augie – Breyden Smith 18 pass from Jimmy Makhu (Jacob Garbett kick), 13:10
Augie – Ben Ludlum 5 run (Garbett kick), 9:35
MU – Re’John Zeno 1 run (Blake Allison kick blocked), 1:51
Second quarter
Augie – Josh Lim 4 run (Garbett kick), 4:22
Augie – Garbett 35 FG, :10.9
Third quarter
Augie – Safety, ball snapped out of end zone on punt, 12:24
Augie – Lim 20 run (Garbett kick), 9:20
;;MU;AUG
First downs;14;16
Rushing-yards;34-69;27-156
Passing yards;171;174
Passes (C-A-I);20-27-0;20-26-0
Total offense;61-236;53-322
Punts;6-37.0;4-33.0
Fumbles lost;1-1;2-1
Penalties;8-70;2-20
Poss. Time;35:59;24:01
Individual statistics
RUSHING – MU: AJ Lee 8-56, Bryson Boes 4-20, Zeno 8-9, Kevin Louis 1-(-2), Sylas Gomez 13-(-18); Augie: Lim 12-80, Ludlum 9-53, Makhu 4-13, Keegan Otte 1-5, team 1-0.
PASSING – MU: Gomez 20-27-0, 171 yards; Augie: Makhu 20-26-0, 174 yards.
RECEIVING – MU: Louis 5-61, Matthew Thurman 5-50, Darion Suber 4-17, Kyle Corkill 3-22, Mark Mathieu 1-13, Cooper Christensen 1-5, Justin Davidson 1-3; Augie: Smith 6-48, Ethan Vrabec 4-58, Sean Schlanser 4-40, Miles Stapleton 1-11, Lim 1-7, AJ Sweeres 1-6, Zamari Robinson 1-4, Jake Miller 1-3, Mike Brosnan 1-1.
TACKLES – MU: Zyon Turner 8-1-9, Latrell Hannon 7-1-8, Ryan Baskerville 3-2-5, Alex Araiza 4-0-4; Augie: Toby Splitt 8-2-10, Darren Oregon 5-4-9, Nate Simon 3-2-5, Kaden McShaw 3-1-4, Shiloh Jones 2-2-4, Dino Hunt 2-2-4, TJ Klein 3-1-4.
TACKLES FOR LOSS – MU: Qowiyu Amuda 1-4, Turner 1-1, Hannon 1-1, Araiza 1-1; Augie: Klein 2-19, Hunt 2-18, Ryan Gustafson 1-16, Teke Nieto 1-6, Braden Houchin 1-6, Owen Keany 1-2, Jones 1-2, Oregon 1-1.
SACKS – MU: Amuda 1-4; Augie: Kelin 2-19, Gustafson 1-16, Hunt 1-16, Nieto 1-6, Jones 1-2.
FUMBLE RECOVERIES – MU: Quinton Tucker 1-0; Augie: Travis Kenzevich 1-0.
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