The Blueboys got off to a fast start, holding Macalester to negative-seven yards on its first two possessions and using field position they were given to take a 14-0 lead less than five minutes into the game.
The Scots finally got on the scoreboard when they got the ball back after Illinois' second touchdown. The Scots marched 75 yards on just seven plays before
Samson Bialostok connected with
Victor Bordo on a 31-yard scoring strike.
On the first play of the second quarter,
Jole Miller intercepted a pass which he returned 52 yards to the Blueboys' eight-yard line and, on a fourth-and-goal Bialstok found Bordo again with a four-yard pass to tie the game at 14-14.
Macalester's defense would then force a three-and-out possession, forcing an Illinois punt which gave the Scots the ball at their own 16. Bialstok hooked up with
Ben Hillmann on the first play for 20 yards before
Zandy Stowell ripped off a 58-yard run to take the ball to the Blueboys' six. Two plays later, Stowell gave Macalester its first lead of the game when he scored from three yards out.
A
Konnor Fleming interception on Illinois' next possession gave the Scots the ball at their own 40 but, on a first-and-10 from the Illinois 21, Bialstok was intercepted by Dinari Ellis at the five and a 59-yard return set up a six-play, 36-yard scoring drive for the hosts, which tied the game at 20-20.
After combining for 40 points in the game's first 25 minutes, neither team would find the end zone until the first play of the fourth quarter, when the Blueboys finished a 13-play, 66-yard drive to take a 27-20 lead with 14:53 to play in the game.
The teams then traded punts before Macalester took over at its own 21 with 9:20 to play.
Facing a second-and-15 at their own 30, the Scots caught a break when Bialstok's pass up the right side was tipped by a defender and into the hands of
Tre Nowaczynski, who had an easy run to complete a game-tying 70-yard touchdown play.
Illinois moved the ball when they got it back, from its own 25 to the Macalester 29, but
Jole Miller forced a fumble, which
Nate Yordy recovered at the Scots' 22 and gave the visitors a chance to go ahead with 6:23 to play.
Macalester then drove the ball 74 yards on 13 plays and took 5:36 off the clock before being stopped at the Blueboys' four, from where they lined up for the game-winning field and Abramson's kick was down the middle.
The ensuing kickoff saw Illinois get the ball back at its own 37 with 43 seconds to play and no timeouts. Bates completed two passes and three an incompletion, setting up a second-and-10 at the Macalester 38 with 27 seconds to play.
Bates' final pass was over the middle but slightly low and Wettersten stepped in front of the intended receiver for his second interception of the season and a kneel down by Bialstok ended the game.
Stowell, who rushed for a game-high 167 yards, recorded his seventh 100-yard rushing game of the season to extend his single-season school record to 1,243 yards on the season.
Bialostok had a career-high 311 yards passing, connecting on 19 of 31 passes with three touchdowns while Hillmann also set career highs with 12 catches and 155 receiving yards.
Defensively, the Scots recorded a season-high five quarterback sacks with
Jacob Lueck leading the way with one and one-half sacks.
Ryan Fleming had nine total tackles for the Scots, two of which were for loss.
Macalester, which has now qualified for its first NCAA Division III playoff appearance, will learn who it will meet in the first round, which takes place Saturday, Nov. 22, when the NCAA has its selection show, tomorrow, at 5 p.m. The selection show will be available at
http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule/2014/11/16.
