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| Caden DeWall racked up three and a half of Bethel's 10 sacks of Coe quarterbacks on the day. Photo by Caleb Williams, d3photography.com |
Whitworth got a pick at the goal line with 6 seconds left, King's scored with 25 seconds left, Mary Hardin-Baylor scored with under two minutes left, Bethel got the last of its 10 sacks with two minutes left and Maryville got a sack and a defensive stop with just over two minutes left as the five teams were among the eight who advanced into the second round of the 2024 Division III playoffs.
Whitworth defeated Pomona-Pitzer and draws North Central in the second round. King's defeated Ursinus and goes on to play Salisbury, while UMHB defeated Trinity and will get a third crack at Hardin-Simmons. Bethel held off Coe and will host Lake Forest and Maryville got past Berry and will travel to DePauw. In addition, John Carroll rolled past Mount St. Joseph, Endicott shut out Alfred State, UW-La Crosse cruised past Northwestern (Minn.).
Ursinus jumped out to leads of 5-0 and 12-0, but Russell Minor-Shaw and the Monarchs were ready to go toe-to-toe. King's scored on a Joey Rehberg run after a long drive to tie the game at 19-19, but was unable to convert the extra point, its second such failure of the day. Ursinus answered with a field goal to retake the lead late in the third, but Minor-Shaw found Walsh for a 9-yard touchdown pass to give King's a 25-22 lead, its first of the game. Ursinus was able to speed it down the field, going 78 yards in just 27 seconds capped by Jalen Bradford hitting Cameron Dennis on a 21-yard post route to give the Bears a 29-25 lead with 6:13. But that was well more than enough time, as King's got the ball back just before the 2-minute mark, Minor-Shaw drove them down the field and found Mike DiGregorio in the back of the end zone with 25 seconds left to secure the win.
For King's, this is the Monarchs' first playoff win since 2002. Minor-Shaw ran for 173 yards and a touchdown and threw for 146 yards and three scores in the win.
Pomona-Pitzer took over at its own 20 with just over two minutes left, and Grady Russo and the Wimmer brothers got down to the Whitworth 30, converting a fourth down along the way. But Russo's throw over the middle at the goal line was intercepted by Omari Williams and Whitworth survived in the final game of the day, defeating the Sagehens 21-13. Pomona-Pitzer held Luis Salgado to 15 yards on 10 carries, but Ryan Blair threw for three touchdowns, one to Evan Liggett and two to Dawson Tobeck. Russo completed 33 fo his 58 passes for 358 yards in the defeat, while Quentin Wimmer finished with 11 catches for 162 yards.
The Bethel defense got to Coe quarterback Brady Kelly early and often on Saturday, sacking him 10 times in a 31-26 Royals win. Bethel overcame three fumbles and an interception, including two fumbles which led directly to Coe touchdowns to allow the Kohawks to trail 14-13 early in the second quarter. But Aaron Ellingson ran for three touchdowns on the day and Cooper Drews threw 54 times as Bethel had 93 snaps on offense. Hugo Cifuentes tacked on a key 31-yard field goal to kick the Royals' lead up to 31-20 and Coe, which had had an extra point blocked as well as a field goal, drove the length of the field to score on an end around to Jeron Senters, but failed on a two-point conversion. Caden DeWall led the way with three and a half sacks.
Bryson Claiborne ran for two fourth-quarter touchdowns and Maryville rallied from a 16-7 deficit in the final 10 minutes to defeat Berry 20-16. The Scots held Brandon Cade to 58 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries, and also picked off Berry quarterback Christian Lewis three times and sacked him four times in the win. Bryson Rollins was 15-for-33 for 269 yards and a score for Maryville. It was Maryville's first football playoff win, after first-round losses in the 32-team fields in 2013 and 2018.
Trinity (Texas) opened the fourth quarter with a touchdown to cut its deficit to two points with 14:13 to play. UMHB punted on its next series and the Tigers took their first lead of the game with a 39-yard drive, ending with a 43-yard field goal from Tyler Huettel. The Cru took over with 6:47 to play. Asa Osbourn rushed for one yard before Wright completed a pass to Jerry Cephus for a first down. Osbourn and Tyler Woods combined for 10 yards and the next first down before Osbourn took off for 15 more yards, getting the Cru in Tiger territory. Tyler Woods found Osbourn again on the next play for a seven-yard gain before Kamerin Ferguson gave the Cru a new set of downs with a 3-yard rush. Wright found Tyler Woods again for an 11-yard completion, giving UMHB the ball on the Trinity 14 with 2:00 to play. Osbourn used two rushes to score the go-ahead touchdown before Wright found A.J. Williams for the two-point conversion. Dorien Hill intercepted a pass for UMHB on the following drive to end the threat.
Pomona-Pitzer had a chance to tie when Whitworth fumbled at the 50 midway through the fourth quarter, but the defense forced three straight incomplete passes and the Sagehens had to punt. The Pirates were able to convert a couple of first downs and got to Pomona-Pitzer's 36 before a punt that turned into a touchback. Taking over at their own 20 with 2:27 to play, the Sagehens converted one fourth down and two third downs to get to Whitworth's 30 with 13 seconds to play. Pomona-Pitzer's final play was a pass over the middle that Williams intercepted at the two. He went down on his own at the five to secure the ball with six seconds left in the game.
As the highest seed by the NPI to not get a first-round bye, Endicott drew Alfred State and picked up their first playoff win, defeating the Pioneers 44-0. Alfred State (5-6), the automatic qualifier out of the final year of the ECFC, only got into the red zone once and did not convert a third down all day. Meanwhile, the Gulls put their ground game on full display, rushing for 343 yards, led by 118 from Yavier Cosme-Diaz, and 79 yards and two scores from Michael O'Brien.
Kyle Haas and Zach Weir combined to complete 16 of 21 passes for 306 yards and UW-La Crosse returned to the Round of 32, cruising past Northwestern (Minn.) 59-14. The Eagles of La Crosse rolled up 602 yards of total offense, while holding the Eagles of Minnesota to 219. Gengler led the Eagles' defense with eight tackles, recording 2.5 tackles for loss and 2.0 quarterback sacks. Grant Achterkirch and Sam Baumgard each had seven tackles. UWL finished with eight sacks and 12 tackles for loss.