Defense rules the day for JCU, Wesley, Ithaca

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The Blue Streaks' defense kept Cartel Brooks bottled up and he only broke loose in the final four minutes of a blowout.
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John Carroll was buoyed by the return of quarterback Mark Myers, Wesley crushed its Mid-Atlantic rival and Simpson knocked off Illinois Wesleyan in Saturday's Top 25 action.

The No. 10 Blue Streaks jumped out to a 17-0 lead and made it 37-7 by the end of the third quarter in rolling past the No. 16 Student Princes 43-16. Mark Myers, whose status for the game was in question after a preseason injury, looked to be in good form. He was 28-for-41 passing for 392 yards and four touchdowns, helping spread the ball to 10 receivers. Cartel Brooks had 116 yards on the ground for Heidelberg, but 94 of them came on one play with 3:46 left in the game and he got just 22 yards on his other eight runs.

"I think we did a really good job controlling the line of scrimmage in the run game," said JCU coach Tom Arth. "Tommy (Michals, with 100 yards on 24 carries) had a great day. The offensive line came off the ball, played hard and played physical."

Fifth-ranked North Central rolled out to a 21-0 lead and never looked back, as the Cardinals defeated No. 7 UW-Platteville 28-7 in Saturday's other battle between ranked teams. Ryan Kent ran for 177 yards and two touchdowns for the Cardinals, who didn't need more than 111 yards passing from Dylan Warden. 

The No. 4 Wesley Wolverines defeated Rowan for the first time ever, rolling over the Profs 37-7 in the teams' second meeting since 2000. Wesley alloved just 106 total yards and Rowan did not get a first down until late in the third quarter. Steve Koudossou caught eight passes for 137 yards and a touchdown in the win.

Illinois Wesleyan quarterback Jack Warner accounted for 329 yards of total offense but the Titans had two red zone drives end on missed field goals, another on an interception and another on a Warner fumble as Simpson defeated the No. 21 Titans 13-3. Drew Jensen converted both field goal attempts for Simpson in the win, while Dylan Berkey found Jordan Been for the game's only touchdown. 

Only a fourth-quarter field goal kept Redlands from getting shut out by a Top 10 team for the second week in a row as Linfield thoroughly handled the Bulldogs, beating them 36-3. Sam Riddle, who came off the bench in the Wildcats' Week 2 opener at Chapman, got the start and threw a pair of TDs on 26-for-39 passing. Evan Peterson and Charlie Poppen were each over 100 yards receiving, with Poppen finding the end zone twice.

A week after Greg Bell ran for 300-plus yards, Ithaca's defense held him to just 13 yards on eight carries as the No. 19 Bombers defeated Hartwick 42-7. Cole Welham had 10 tackles, six of them for loss and three sacks as No. 23 Lycoming defeated King's 28-13. Tyler Jenny threw two touchdown passes and Craig Needhammer ran for two scores for the Warriors in the win. 

Thiel went toe-to-toe with No. 22 Thomas More for a half, but it was all Saints after halftime as they scored 45 unanswered points to beat the Tomcats in their PAC opener. UW-Eau Claire stayed in the game for more than three quarters but No. 20 Wheaton put the game away in the fourth quarter, defeating the Blugolds 17-0.

No. 14 Johns Hopkins put together more than 400 yards of total offense in its 21st consecutive regular season game in defeating Moravian 33-14. Eleven players got carries and 11 got pass receptions for a total of 19 unique players getting touches as No. 25 Hampden-Sydney rolled over Coast Guard 56-0.