St. Thomas had jumped out to an early 17-point lead, but when the Bethel defense started to get going, the No. 3 Tommies had to rely on their defense to hold the No. 10 Royals back. With a 10-point lead and Bethel in the two-minute drill, Josh Aakre's pass is tipped and picked off by junior cornerback Jack Gavin, in our Play of the Week.

The Play of the Week is sponsored by the City of Salem, hosts of Stagg Bowl XXXIX.

Dave Lee on the call for WCCO-AM 830.

We solicit video of top plays from every Division III football program and this was our top clip. 

Week 8 Play of the Week finalists

• Speaking of the tip drill, here a deflected pass to Linfield tight end Jacob Preister gets snared out of the air by teammate Buddy Saxon for the touchdown in the Wildcats' 45-7 win against Pacific Lutheran. Watch
• UW-Eau Claire return man Clint Larsen shows excellent field vision in returning a UW-Stevens Point punt 83 yards fow a touchdown. Watch

You can see all of the nominated plays on our Week 8 highlights playlist below, and even more top plays on the D3sports.com YouTube channel.