By Adam Johnson
D3sports.com

Cal Lutheran head coach Ben McEnroe has found success in an unorthodox way.

He lost his starting All-SCIAC quarterback, who took a majority of the snaps in spring practice, to UW-Whitewater via transfer; he opened the season being outscored 62-24 in back-to-back losses and he has lost seven kids along the way to season-ending injuries.

All that and he's 4-0 in the SCIAC and looking to lead the Kingsmen to their first SCIAC crown since 1997.

The first major setback was All-SCIAC quarterback Danny Jones decided to transfer to UW-Whitewater. He was the obvious number one quarterback in spring practice and the offense was built around him. His departure bumped the quarterback depth chart up a notch making Jericho Toilolo the starter for the season opener.

"He was gone and we had to move forward," McEnroe said. "We treated it like a season ending injury."

The Kingsmen limped out of the gate dropping two games to NWC opponents including a 48-17 thrashing at the hands of PLU -- a team they had beat to open the season the last two years.

The Kingsmen opened conference play at La Verne and a star was born at quarterback. Sophomore Jericho Toilolo threw for 464 yards and six touchdowns, claiming the victory and SCIAC player of the week.

Two weeks later, after leading the Kingsmen to their third consecutive conference win (47-12 over CMS), Toilolo was checking himself into a California hospital with chest pains. He had suffered a broken rib, punctured lung and had lost four pints of blood due to a hit against the Stags.

It was one of a handful of season ending injuries that Cal Lutheran has had to battle through.

Sophomore quarterback R.J. Benedict -- third stringer in spring practice -- was now a starter heading into the biggest game of the season. A streaking Occidental team, who could barely remember what it's like to lose in the regular season and the only SCIAC team this group of Kingsmen seniors had not beaten, awaited in Los Angeles.

"It's not hard to get up for that game," McEnroe said.

In practice leading up to the game, McEnroe noticed one player, senior defensive lineman Josh Richards, was extremely focused.

"He had a great week of practice," McEnroe said. "You could tell he just wanted to pin his ears back and go crazy on Saturday."

That's exactly what he did.

Richards tallied 6.5 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and one interception. 

The Kingsmen forced six turnovers and turned them into 28 points en route to the 43-25 victory over previously undefeated and 14th-ranked Occidental.

"We were up 21-0 last year and let it slip away," Richards said. "We wanted to complete this game."

The Kingsmen certainly completed that game and brought Occidental's 32-game regular season winning streak to a halt. 

"They did a nice job," Occidental coach Dale Widolff said. "New coach, new quarterback -- their quarterback stepped in -- and I think we'd almost rather play against Danny Jones than the two quarterbacks they've had to go with. Both those guys have done a great job." 

The Kingsmen now control their own destiny but have to focus on a 2-5 Pomona Pitzer team before meeting Redlands at home in a game that should decide the SCIAC on Nov. 10.

"We need to go 1-0 this week." McEnroe said knowing the importance of their next game. "I haven't heard a single player say a word about Redlands."

If the Kingsmen can finish out the regular season with two wins it could set up a potential playoff match up with UW-Whitewater which would pit the Warhawks and Danny Jones against his former team.

"I hope we get to," Richards said. "We'll show Danny we're gonna hit him."

Is this pre-playoff poster board material?

"Yeah, we still talk," Richards said smiling. "We're good friends."

Of course, everyone is friends when they're winning.

Thrasher thrashed

There is usually a lot of hype around a game pitting No. 2 versus No.3 at any level in any sport. No. 2 Mary Hardin Baylor vs. No. 3 UW-Whitewater was not exempt to this phenomenon but on Saturday the Warhawks took the Crusaders out of the game before the second quarter arrived and had them reminiscing on the previous week. 

Crusader running back Jarvis Thrasher rushed for 324 yards on just 12 carries against Mississippi College a week ago, and backfield mate Quincy Daniels totaled 199 on eight attempts as UMHB rolled up 523 yards on the ground with Thrasher and Daniels setting a NCAA record, all Divisions, for rushing yards by a backfield tandem in one game. Against UW-Whitewater, Thrasher and Daniels combined for 118 yards, and the Crusaders mustered only 162 total rushing yards. Whitewater climbed to No. 2 with the 41-14 thrashing.

Putting the more in Moriarty

UW-Oshkosh running back Andy Moriarty racked up 288 yards on 50 carries to lead the Titans to their second WIAC win of the year. The 288 yards rushing is the second-highest total in school history, trailing only Moriarty's 316-yard effort against UW-Eau Claire in 2005. Moriarty surpassed the 1,000-yard plateau for the season and moved into sixth place all-time in WIAC history in rushing. It was the senior tailback's fifth career game of 200 yards or more.

Still slinging

Augsburg quarterback Jordan Berg completed 47 of 69 passes for 558 yards, all single-game school records, while throwing five touchdowns, as his Augsburg football team scored a 44-38 victory over Gustavus Adolphus.

With his five touchdowns, including a game-winning 15-yard pass to Royce Winford with 19 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Berg broke Augsburg's single-season touchdown passing record. He now has 26 touchdown passes, breaking the old record of 24, set by Derrin Lamker in 1997.

Spread it around

Facing a Lewis and Clark team that had lost 24 consecutive games stretching back to 2004, PLU head coach Scott Westering called conservative plays and gave 20 different players chances to touch the ball en route to a 39-0 home victory.

The Lutes played small ball, distributing the ball so well that six players scored touchdowns in the 39-0 victory. A total of eight Lutes caught 16 passes from three quarterbacks. Senior Ryan Alwert led the team with six receptions, gaining 44 yards and scoring the first touchdown of his PLU career in his final home game. 

Connell climbing

Central quarterback Tim Connell had his second four passing-TD performance of the year, giving him 25 touchdown passes on the season which breaks the school mark of 22 set by Marc Poortinga in 1997. Connell also smashed the school season passing record with 2,236, bettering the 2,057 passing yards by Mark Isaacson in 2004, and the total offense record with 2,327, topping Jeff Borgman's 2001 mark of 2,081. Central eclipsed the school season team passing yardage record as well with 2,307, bettering the 2,099 from 2004.

Hey Chad, go deep!

Gustavus Adolphus quarterback Jordan Stolp and wide receiver Chad Arlt made history Saturday -- the long way. Stolp hit Arlt for a 99-yard touchdown pass which ties both an NCAA Division III and MIAC record for longest pass from scrimmage. The 99-yard pass occurred 25 times entering this season in NCAA Division III history. In MIAC history, the 99-yard pass has only happened once before; a 99-yarder from Greg Kaiser to Mark Warder of St. Thomas in a game against Augsburg in 1998.

Arlt caught 11 passes for two touchdowns and a Gustavus school-record 252 yards, breaking the old mark of 228 yards, set by Rich Ryan in a 1976 game against Washington U.

In opposite directions

In Week 3, UW-La Crosse was 2-0 and leading No. 3 UW-Whitewater 28-10 with under eight minutes to play in the third quarter. The Eagles gave up the final 25 points in that game and have gone on to lose three of their last four games by a combined eight points. UW-Whitewater has won four straight since their improbable comeback at UW-La Crosse including a 41-14 thumping of then No. 2 Mary Hardin-Baylor.

News, notes and things you may have missed

• Cornell linebacker Chris Gustafson made a game-high 18 tackles, including 14 solos, had two tackles for loss, forced a fumble, had one pass breakup and partially blocked a punt in the loss to Central.
• St. John's quarterback Alex Kofoed became the 18th player in NCAA Division III history to gain over 10,000 passing yards in his career. 
• Central quarterback Tim Connell and freshman backup Zack Bandow threw completions to 12 receivers.
• With the 44-38 victory over Gustavus, Augsburg equaled its number of victories in the previous three seasons combined (4-26). Also, combined with last week's win at Carleton, the two-game winning streak is Augsburg's first in a single season since 1999, when it started 3-0.
• Linfield's 37-6 victory over Menlo locked up a 52nd consecutive winning season (5-2, 3-1 NWC), extending the longest run of winning campaigns in the history of college football. Linfield's last losing season was in 1955.
• The 36-point victory by Wartburg over Simpson was the largest by the Knights in the series since Wartburg defeated the Storm 55-10 during the 1984 season.
• Since joining NCAA Division III in 1998, Linfield is 18-0 against teams from the state of California, including a 9-0 mark versus Menlo. 
• Concordia Moorhead has scored at least 50 points in a game in four of their last five games. It also marks the fifth straight game the Cobbers have totaled over 500 yards of offense. Both the point total and offensive yardage marks are school records.
• UW-River Falls wide receiver Mike Zweifel caught 17 passes for 140 yards, tying the WIAC record for receptions.

Game to Watch

No. 12 Linfield at Whitworth, Tacoma, Wash., 1 p.m. PT: The NWC is on the line in this showdown of the last two NWC champions. It is a must win for Linfield as they already have one conference loss to Willamette. Both teams have been carried at times this season by their defenses but will need a solid offensive performance to come out on top. Look for Linfield to try to repeat its ground performance against Menlo with Travis Masters and Dan Lever. Whitworth will be led by multiple threat quarterback Kory Kemp and running back Adam Anderson.