ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – It took four overtimes for Millikin to finally finish off Augustana Saturday, as the Big Blue scored a 40-34 victory over the Vikings at Lindberg Stadium. Augustana fell to 0-2 on the season and in the CCIW, while Millikin improved to 2-0 overall and in the conference.
 
The hosts had tied the contest 14-14 with a 29-yard touchdown pass from Alek Jacobs (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, Ill.) to Patrick Byrne (St. Patrick HS, Chicago, Ill.) with 4:42 left in the fourth quarter. The Big Blue had a chance to win it, but William Raibley's potential game-winning field goal went wide left from 27 yards with one second on the clock.
 
In the first overtime, Jacobs' 10-yard touchdown run and Owens Ennis' (Evanston HS, Evanston, Ill.) point after gave the Vikings their first lead of the day at 21-14. Millikin answered with an 11-yard scoring strike from Cal Pohrte to Colton Lockwood and Raible's PAT sent the teams to a second extra session.
 
The Big Blue's Marion McGhee and Augustana's Jacob Brooks (Yorkville HS, Plano, Ill.) traded touchdown runs in the second OT. McGhee scored from six yards out and Brooks' score came from 10 yards. Both kickers converted and the contest continued with the score tied 28-28.
 
On the first pay of overtime number three, Jacobs found Bobby Inserra (Maine South HS, Park Ridge, Ill.) all alone on the right side and the sophomore went in from 25 yards out. Rules require two-point tries after the second OT, and Millikin stopped Jacobs to keep the score at 34-28. McGhee's five-yard scoring run tied it again (34-34) and the Viking defense kept it that way by forcing a Pohrte incompletion on the conversion attempt.
 
Marion scored his third rushing touchdown of the overtimes when he went in from six yards out in the fourth. The conversion again failed, leaving the score at 40-34. An Augustana holding penalty in the bottom half put the Vikings in a long yardage situation and incomplete passes on third and fourth down allowed the visitors to escape with the win.
 
The Big Blue took a 7-0 lead on the first possession of the game. Tyson Roedl finished off a 10-play, 75-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown run.
 
After Raibley missed a 44-yard field goal try with 6:07 left in the second quarter, Augustana went 73 yards in eight plays to tie it. Austin Ioerger (Metamora HS, Metamora, Ill.) had a 19-yard run to take the ball into Millikin territory and two plays later, Jacobs sprinted down the right side 37 yards into the end zone.
 
Pohrte's three-yard touchdown pass to Colton Lockwood put the Big Blue back on top 14-7 midway through the third quarter and it would stay that way until Jacobs and Byrne connected late in the fourth.
 
Jacobs rushed 19 times for 144 yards and two touchdowns. He completed 10 of 24 passes for 107 yards and two more scores. Pohrte completed 27 of 71 passing attempts for 369 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Roedl (76 yards) and McGhee (74) paced the Big Blue ground game.
 
On defense, Tim Swaney (Anderson HS, Cincinnati, Ohio) and Broderick Blackford (Peoria Notre Dame HS, Peoria, Ill.) each recorded 13 tackles and Stu Isteefanos (Prospect HS, Mount Prospect, Ill.) added a dozen. Zach Stewart (Crown Point HS, Crown Point, Ind.) and David Lane (Civic Memorial HS, Bethalto, Ill.) were each credited with three pass breakups.
 
The Vikings are scheduled to take on North Park in Chicago, Illinois at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, April 16.