APPLETON, Wis. -- The Illinois College football team jumped out to a three-touchdown lead and then needed a goal-line stand to regain the momentum and hold on for a 35-19 Midwest Conference win at Lawrence University Saturday in the Banta Bowl.
Quarterback Mitch Niekamp paced the pass-happy Illinois College offense by completing 23 of 50 passes for 357 yards and five touchdowns, but he also threw three interceptions.
An aggressive Lawrence defense was paced by the trio of defensive ends Matt Frelich and Mike Gostisha and linebacker Greg Pater. Frelich had his first career interception, which he returned 13 yards for a touchdown. Frelich had eight tackles, including three tackles for loss and two sacks. He forced a fumble, recovered a fumble and had two pass breakups. Pater recorded a career-high 14 tackles, and Gostisha had four tackles, including 2.5 for loss and 2.0 sacks.
The Blueboys (3-2, 3-1 MWC) jumped out to a 21-0 lead with Niekamp throwing scoring passes of 23, 19 and 13 yards. Lawrence (0-4, 0-4) battled back with a long scoring drive to post its first touchdown of the season. The Vikings started at their own 4-yard line but got out of the hole when quarterback Nick Maxam connected with Nate Nelson on a 44-yard pass. A roughing-the-passer penalty was tacked on and Lawrence had a first down at the IC 32.
Lawrence got a first down at the IC 1 when Troy McGilligan hauled in a 20-yard pass from Maxam. Lucas Below scored his first career touchdown on the next play and Lawrence cut the lead to 21-7 with 6:19 left in the first half.
The Blueboys led 28-7 at the half, but Lawrence's Jordan Burke intercepted Niekamp at the Lawrence 34-yard line on the first possession of the second half. Maxam hit Nelson, who caught five passes for 141 yards, for 34 yards to the IC 32. Ben Hartman then ripped off a 27-yard run to give Lawrence first-and-goal at the 5. The Vikings faced a fourth down at the 1, but Maxam was stopped short and IC took over on downs.
The Blueboys drove all the way to the Lawrence 24 before the defense stiffened and turned the ball over on downs. The Vikings again drove deep into IC territory, but the Blueboys stopped Jeremiah Johnson short on a fourth-down play and took over at their their own 13.
Two plays later, Frelich intercepted Niekamp and raced 13 yards for his first career touchdown to cut the lead to 28-13 with 3:41 left in the third quarter.
Niekamp finished the scoring for IC with a 37-yard scoring pass to Brock Thompson with 10:54 left in the game for a 35-13 lead. Nelson countered for Lawrence when he caught a pass from Maxam, shook a couple of tacklers and raced 59 yards for a score to trim the margin to 35-19.
Maxam finished 11 of 28 for 197 yards.
Lawrence returns to action next Saturday when it travels to Lake Forest College.