Macalester and the University of Chicago played a close, hard-hitting game in the Windy City, with the Chicago Maroons taking a 14-13 halftime lead and holding on for a 21-13 victory over the Scots.
Macalester had a chance to tie things up with a touchdown and two-point conversion after Chicago fumbled the ball in the endzone for a touchback with just under two minutes to play. The Scots moved the ball up near midfield before running out of downs as the Maroons escaped with the victory. This game was much closer than a year ago in St. Paul when UC rolled to a 34-7 win in the first-ever meeting between these two schools.
The contest was close, but in the end it was five Chicago takeaways (including four interceptions) that made the difference. Chicago also benefited from a 135-yard rushing performance by Thomas Parks.
Chicago drove 65 yards on seven plays following the opening kickoff to open the scoring. It looked like it could develop into a shootout early when the Scots responded to the challenge by marching 66 yards on seven plays on its initial set of downs to tie the score at 7-7. The big plays were a 38-yard pass from Nick Slobe (So., Rock Valley, Ia.) to Jeremy Lyons (Sr., Columbia, Ill.) and a 25-yard touchdown strike from Slobe to Nash Traylor (So., Sonora, Tex.).
There were only three more touchdowns the rest of the way, however, as the defenses took over. The Maroons drove 86 yards on 11 plays midway through the second quarter to go up by seven. Fighting the clock and the UC defense, Mac went 36 yards on seven plays after forcing the Maroons to punt out of their own endzone, and were within a point at 14-13 after missing its conversion try. The TD came on a one-yard plunge by Jakub Koziol (Sr., Chicago, Ill. / St. Patrick).
Koziol had a strong rushing game for the Scots and was the team's top offensive threat on the day, finishing with 13 carries for 83 yards, including a 38-yard run for a career-long. Mac's top pass catcher was Eion Dando (So., St. Paul, Minn. / Copenhagen International) with six receptions for 56 yards.
The only score of the second half was a 21-yard Chicago pass from Marshall Oium to Clay Wolf.
Macalester's defense was led by Brian Foster (Fr., Shannon, Miss.), who collected 11 tackles, including eight solo stops. Foster leads Mac with 36 tackles through four games. Matt Elliott (So., El Paso, Tex. / Andress) made eight tackles and Jeremy Veleasquez (Sr., Fort Stockton, Tex.) came up with an interception.
On the day, Macalester had 18 first downs and 287 total yards, compared to 15 first downs and 323 yards for the Maroons.
Macalester and Hamline meet on the football field for the 108th time next Saturday (Sept. 29) when the Scots host the Pipers at 1 p.m. This is the longest-running football rivalry in the state of Minnesota and one of the oldest in the Midwest.
