A game that felt over in the first half turned into a near comeback victory for the Big Blue.
Millikin failed to capitalize on scoring touchdowns on four consecutive drives and fell to 2-4 after a 49-27 loss to Wesleyan.
Millikin had no answers for Illinois Wesleyan in the first half, who scored 35 points and led 35-0 with only 1:32 on the clock in the first half.
Millikin, however, began a comeback, scoring on the last drive of the half, after Quarterback Sylas Gomez ran it into the end zone to cap off the drive and start the Big Blue momentum in the second half.
“We went tempo, we knew we needed a score. We caught a rhythm, and it kind of just carried over to the 2nd half,” Gomez said.
Coach Riebock and the Big Blue would go into halftime and maintain the same mentality that they have shown throughout the season.
“The locker room was good. There weren’t a lot of people losing their minds and all that, because it was just us and our lack of execution on all sides of the football,” Riebock said.
Millikin came out swinging in the second half after a 75-yard touchdown pass to sophomore receiver Kyle Corkill. Following the touchdown, Riebock called an unexpected onside kick, which Millikin recovered.
The Big Blue would go on to bring the score to 27-35 after two more rushing touchdowns from Gomez. He had 282 passing yards and 73 rushing yards with 4 touchdowns in total on the day.
“We came out that second half like we were shot out of a cannon,” Gomez said.
Additionally, the Big Blue defense stood its ground during the offensive surge, with huge personal performances from Linebacker Alex Araiza, who had eight total tackles this game. Defensive Back Quinton Tucker also recorded 3 pass breakups.
“Once our offense scored a touchdown and we got the onside kick, we knew it was time to go,” Araiza said.
However, on a 4th down attempt, Illinois Wesleyan converted and scored a touchdown on a play where offensive pass-interference easily could have been called, killing any momentum the Big Blue had.
“I’m gonna say it was offensive pass interference, they’re gonna say the opposite, I think at the end of the day we can’t leave it in the ref’s hands. We need to make the play,” Riebock said.
Millikin then continued its struggle on all sides of the ball, allowing Illinois Wesleyan to run away with the game 49-27.
The Big Blue defense struggled again today, allowing Illinois Wesleyan’s quarterback Dermot Smyth to throw for 383 yards with five passing touchdowns on the day.
Millikin, despite having successful days for its players, failed to capitalize on essential moments. Gomez had a fumble on Wesleyan’s 31-yard line and also had an interception in the fourth to seal the game.
In the end, the first-half deficit would be too much to overcome and lead to another loss for the Big Blue.
“I’m proud of the guys coming out that second half, being coachable, but that first half was probably the worst half of football ever played all year, inexcusable, and we have to get that fixed,” Riebock said.
Millikin is now 2-4 on the season and is on a four-game losing streak, and is looking to bounce back next week.
“The thing about it is we can’t let it get to us, and that’s what I think we have to work on, adversity,” Defensive End Zech Miller said. “We talked about all spring, we talked about it all camp, how we were gonna handle adversity.”
Millikin’s next game is against Carthage College on Saturday, October 25th—a game Millikin needs to win to build some momentum going into the rest of the season.
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