Cortland has to be breathing a sigh of relief. File photo by Sofia Ammirati for Cortland athletics

Cortland rallied with a field goal in the final minute to get past Brockport and Mount Union scored two TDs in the fourth to escape with a win against Marietta as two of the top four teams in Division III football were on the ropes in Week 10. Here's the Top 25 wrapup for Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024.

• Week 10 scoreboard
• Week 10 national wrapup
• Week 10 Top 25 wrapup
• Even more game stories

A number of teams clinched automatic bids to the 40-team playoffs on Saturday and you can see the list which follows.

Cortland rallied from a 14-0 and 21-7 deficit in the first half to cut the lead to 21-20 midway through the third quarter, but the No. 2-ranked Red Dragons were not able to get over the top until Mike Baloga's 38-yard field goal just snuck over the bar with 27 seconds left and Cortland escaped Brockport with a 29-28 victory. The win clinched the Empire 8 conference title and automatic bid for the defending national champions. 

The Golden Eagles took an early lead, as Ben Gocella found Nolan Slyka on a 28-yard TD pass on Brockport's first possession of the game and Brockport then blocked a Cortland punt attempt, recovering it in the end zone for a touchdown. Baloga kicked a field goal on the final play of the first half to cut the lead to 21-17 and added another three points with a short kick midway through the third, but the Red Dragons gave up another long TD drive and Gocella TD pass to make it 28-20. Cortland responded with a TD pass from Zac Boyes to Sam Cotton, but the two-point conversion failed, leaving the score 28-27 with 11:08 to play. Brockport had a long drive into Cortland territory that ended with a turnover on downs with 1:54 left, and the Red Dragons went on the march. Boyes completed six of 12 passes and scrambled for a first down to get to the Brockport 21 with a first down but could get no further. And that was just barely enough, as Baloga's 38-yard field goal got over the crossbar with just a few feet to spare to give Cortland the 29-28 lead. Brockport got a 57-yard kickoff return to get into Cortland territory, but with Gocella knocked out of the game, backup quarterback Anthony Vino's first play of the drive was intercepted at the 12 by Nazair Jean-Lubin to end the threat.

Boyes completed 33 of 52 passes for 414 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. The interception, which came in the second quarter, ended Boyes' streak of pass attempts without a pick at 291.

Tyler Echeverry busted loose for a 51-yard touchdown catch and Mount Union backup quarterback T.J. DeShields found Tyrell Sanders in the front of the end zone with 32 seconds remaining as No. 4 Mount Union rallied at home to defeat No. 22 Marietta. DeShields, who came into the game to start the third quarter after Purple Raiders quarterback Noah Beaudrie left the game at halftime with a leg injury, finished 9-for-17 passing on the day and Sanders made him look great. DeShields launched a perfect spiral toward the end zone in the closing minute that Sanders went up for and came down with, tapping one foot in the end zone before getting knocked out of bounds. The catch ended a nine-play, 86-yard drive that started with under 2 minutes to play when Marietta was forced to punt from just short of midfield. Echeverry ran for two touchdowns on the day.

Aaron Ellingson ran for two touchdowns and Matt Jung had two interception returns for touchdowns as Bethel clinched its spot in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title game with a 49-16 win at Concordia-Moorhead. The game, which featured two former St. John's quarterbacks named Cooper, saw Bethel's Cooper Drews outduel the Cobbers' Cooper Mattern. Drew was 25-for-35 passing for 372 yards and three scores, while Mattern was 7-for-17 for 119 yards and a TD. Joey Kidder and Micah Niewald combined for 16 catches for 285 yards and a score as the Royals improved to 8-1.

Bethel has played in the MIAC title game each of the four years of its existence, after St. Thomas left the conference to go to Division I and Macalester returned to the conference for football and St. Scholastica joined. St. John's is back in the title game after missing it last year because of the conference's method of determining division standings. The No. 3-ranked Johnnies had little trouble with St. Olaf as Aaron Syverson completed 25 of 28 passes for 438 yards and six touchdowns in a 55-6 win against the Oles. Marselio Mendez and Dylan Wheeler caught three TD passes apiece.

No. 8 UW-Platteville remained in front of the WIAC, winning at home against UW-Eau Claire 56-14. But UW-Stout got a 45-42 win at No. 9 UW-Oshkosh, staving off an Oshkosh rally by driving the length of the field in the final three minutes, setting up Luke Cool to kick the game winning field goal as time expired. Oshkosh had scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to tie the game. No. 20 UW-La Crosse remained a game behind, defeating UW-Whitewater 24-21, beating the Warhawks for the second season in a row after losing the previous 19 games in the series.

No. 13 Grove City and No. 16 Carnegie Mellon each picked up wins on Saturday to move into a three-way tie for first in the Presidents' Athletic Conference with idle Washington & Jefferson. Grove City limited Case Western Reserve to 21 rushing yards in beating the Spartans 30-20 and handing them their third consecutive loss after a 6-0 start, while Carnegie Mellon held 1-8 Allegheny to minus-26 yards on the ground in a 63-10 rout. If all three tied teams win next Saturday, W&J will win the automatic bid on a tiebreaker, although the other two should get at-large bids to the Field of 40.

Dubuque scored on a blocked punt for a touchdown to keep the game close, but the Spartans turned the ball over five times -- two fumbles and three interceptions -- in falling to No. 12 Wartburg 24-14. The win clinched the ARC automatic bid for Wartburg, which improved to 8-1 overall.

No. 17 Hope made sure its first-ever Rivalry meeting on the girdiron would be a memorable one, as Ben Wellman threw for 220 yards and Tyler Amos ran for 125 to lead Hope past Calvin 38-7. The win clinched the MIAA's automatic bid for Hope, giving the Flying Dutchmen their first playoff bid since 2019. Hope, which entered the game ranked third among Division III teams in total offense, generated 569 yards of total offense – 327 on the ground and 242 through the air.

Johns Hopkins entered Saturday's home finale against Dickinson knowing it needed just one win in its final two regular season games to lock up a share the Centennial Conference title and the conference' automatic bid. The Blue Jays made certain there will be no drama entering next week's regular season finale at McDaniel as the Hopkins defense continued its season-long run of exceptional efforts with its first shutout of the year and added a touchdown of its own to help fuel a 30-0 victory over the Red Devils. After a scoreless first quarter, the Blue Jays would get all the scoring they would need in an eight-minute span in the second quarter as they erupted for 20 points to grab a lead that was never seriously threatened. That scoring spurt uncluding two James Rinello touchdown passes, a Carson Bourdo fumble return for a score and a field goal from Brad Paxton.

Linfield and Whitworth set up a meeting of conference unbeaten teams next week for the Northwest Conference title and automatic bid, as No. 18 Linfield defeated Pacific Lutheran 38-10 to improve to 8-1, and No. 15 Whitworth won at George Fox, 31-0, to move to 9-0 on the season.