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| Grove City senior defensive end Bryce Spolnik (91) and junior linebacker Ben Bladel (5) combine for one of the Wolverines’ three quarterback sacks Saturday against Carnegie Mellon. GCC held CMU to minus-9 net rushing yards. Grove City athletics photo by Doug Nashtock |
On another crazy day in Division III football, Hardin-Simmons picked off Mary Hardin-Baylor four times in the first half en route to a big win, Grove City held off Carnegie Mellon, St. John's had to rally on the road at Concordia-Moorhead, and the lower-ranked teams in the WIAC all won.
The first round in the double-barreled battle between Hardin-Simmons and Mary Hardin-Baylor went to the Cowboys in decisive fashion, as the No. 6 Cowboys rolled past the No. 13 Cru by a 44-21 score. The game was not nearly as close as 23 points, either, as HSU (5-0, 2-0 American Southwest Conference) scored the first 44 points and led 44-7 before UMHB (2-2, 1-1) scored two touchdowns in the final two minutes of the game. The Cowboys chased Cru starting quarterback Isaac Phe, who completed just one of his eight pass attempts and threw three interceptions in the first half, and they greeted replacement Jake Wright with an interception before halftime as well.
Four of UMHB's first six possessions ended in picks, including Micah Henderson returning an interception for a touchdown. Dozie Ifeadi threw TD passes to Wes Douglas, Dozie Ifeadi (twice) and Kris Sims in rolling up the big 44-0 lead. The teams will meet again on Nov. 9 in Abilene.
In a game strikingly similar to last year's meeting, No. 7 Grove City edged past No. 14 Carnegie Mellon up at Grove City on Saturday. Grove City hit a field goal just before halftime to go up 10-3, and the Wolverines defense punched the ball out deep in CMU territory to allow Ryan Montgomery to scoop it up for a TD late in the third to go up 17-3. The Tartans got a touchdown back as Ben Mills hit a couple of big passes to get into the red zone, then found Reece Kolke on the right-hand side with a short pass that Kolke made a great move on to get into the end zone and cut the lead to 17-10. But from there, Mills threw an interception, CMU missed a field goal attempt and had its final possession end in a four-and-out deep in its own territory. Grove City held CMU to minus-9 yards rushing on the day.
UW-Platteville improved to 5-0, 2-0 in the WIAC as the Pioneers defense had a big day against three UW-River Falls quarterbacks, limiting Kaleb Blaha and Cade Fitzgerald to 6-for-21 passing for 77 yards and Ben Wesolowski to 11-for-28 passing for 126 yards and a TD while Michael Priami threw three TD passes for Platteville in a 28-7 win. The Pioneers stopped UWRF on four of six fourth-down conversion attempts, registered six sacks and 13 tackles for loss in the victory, with Will Straka racking up 15 tackles and two of the TFLs. Blaha left in the first quarter after he came down a little awkwardly at the end of a 16-yard run. He did not return, even after his backup, Fitzgerald, got banged up.
UW-Oshkosh scored the final 20 points of the game as the No. 20 Titans rallied at home past No. 12 UW-La Crosse 34-33. Cole Warren ran for a touchdown and threw for two in the comeback, including floating an off-balance pass that Trae Tetzlaff came down with in the end zone with 1:01 left to tie the game at 33. Nolan Mobley's extra point gave the Titans a one-point lead, and Oshkosh (3-2, 1-1 WIAC) survived a 41-yard field goal attempt by Michael Stack on the last play of the game that went wide left.
Luke Cool connected on five field goals and the UW-Stout defense came up big in the closing moments as UW-Stout defeated UW-Whitewater for the first time in 2001, defeating the Warhawks 29-27 and setting off a celebration in Menomonie, Wisconsin. No. 10 Whitewater led early on a 95-yard Tyler Vasey kickoff return for a touchdown and a 73-yard catch-and-run over the middle by Bryan Wilterdink, but Stout rarely came away empty-handed, as the Blue Devils did not punt until the fourth quarter. Cool hit on field goals of 34, 38, 26, 25 and 40 yards and even though he missed from longer with under 2 minutes left, Whitewater was unable to capitalize as Braxton Munnikhuysen leveled Jason Ceniti with a second down sack in the final minute and Whitewater never quite recovered, failing on fourth-and-18 from its own 39.
Concordia-Moorhead took a lead into the fourth quarter at home against No. 3 St. John's, but the Johnnies came back to score the final 14 points of the game and defeat the Cobbers 38-31. Aaron Syverson found Marselio Mendez for a 23-yard TD early in the fourth to tie it up, then hit on the big ball to Dylan Wheeler for a 76-yard score with 1:46 to play to take the lead for the first time on the afternoon. Cooper Mattern had a great day for the Cobbers, going 25-for-40 for 396 yards and three TDs, while running for 78 yards, but Syverson was better. He completed 29 of 39 passes for 399 yards and five TDs in the win, with Wheeler posting an 8-159-2 line and Mendez going 9-132-1.
Jaden AlfanoStJohn and Ethan Gallo each scored two touchdowns and Cortland's defense recorded three interceptions as the No. 2-ranked Red Dragons remained unbeaten with a 45-7 win at Utica in Empire 8 play. Cortland (5-0, 3-0 E8) won its 17th consecutive game overall, dating to last September, and its 22nd Empire 8 game in a row going back to the final league game of 2019. AlfanoStJohn ran twice for 35 yards and a TD and caught three passes for 79 yards and a score. He scored on a 41-yard run in the second quarter for his 44th career rushing touchdown and now holds that school record alone.
No. 23 Linfield finished the game with 34 unanswered points over the last three quarters to erase an early deficit and beat Lewis & Clark 47-14. The Pioneers (2-3, 1-1 Northwest Conference) led 14-13 after one quarter but Linfield's defense allowed L&C just 82 yards of total offense the rest of the way. After stopping the Pioneers on a fourth-and-3 from the Linfield 48, the Wildcats extended their lead to 23-14 on the last play of the half as Gavin Dalziel booted a 23-yard field goal. On its second possession of the third quarter, the Wildcats marched 80 yards in 12 plays and went up 30-14 as Blake Eaton threaded a pass through tight coverage to Slifka in the end zone for 7 yards and a score. At that point, Eaton was 19-for-21 for 275 yards with two touchdowns. He finished 23-for-27 for 339 yards as Linfield improved to 4-1, 2-0 NWC. No. 18 Whitworth remained unbeatean as well, improving to 5-0 and 2-0 in the conference with a 48-0 win against Willamette.