Wrapup: UWW gets a W; Ithaca gets new coach his first

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Cole Wilber and the UW-Whitewater offense finally started clicking in the fourth quarter of Week 3.
By James Byard, WUSTL Photos

 

UW-Whitewater got its first win of the season, while Ithaca got its first win under a new head coach. Meanwhile, teams such as Albright and RPI improved to 3-0 on the season and Lewis & Clark snapped a long losing streak in Saturday's early Week 3 action.

UW-Whitewater finally got into the win column for the first time in 2017, as the Warhawks scored 27 points in the fourth quarter, all of them on long drives in beating Washington U. 40-21. Ronny Ponick had a breakout game at running back, going for 190 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries for UW-Whitewater. Johnny Davidson completed 27 of 42 passes but at an average of just 5.2 yards per attempt. He threw for 217 yards and the Bears had just 249 yards of total offense. The fourth-quarter UWW scoring drives went for 79, 70, 60 and 59 yards.

Whitewater entered the game 0-2 with narrow losses at Illinois Wesleyan and Concordia-Moorhead.

Freshman Wahid Nabi and sophomore Will Gladney put together career afternoons for Ithaca as the Bombers got coach Dan Swanstrom his first win, 24-13 at St. Lawrence. Nabi threw for 357 yards and three touchdowns on 16-of-26, while Gladney was on the receiving end of two of those scores and 180 yards with seven receptions.

Lewis & Clark finally retired a three-plus season losing streak as the Pioneers defeated Pomona-Pitzer 40-29. L&C had lost 33 in a row defeating Puget Sound 60-30 on Oct. 5, 2013, and hadn't won for Jay Locey, now in his third season as head coach.

Williams snapped a 13-game losing streak as the Ephs got off on the right foot in the NESCAC's expanded nine-game schedule, defeating Bowdoin 28-14 in a game that matched two teams that both went 0-8 last year. Freshman quarterback Bobby Maimaron threw for 283 yards, 168 of them to fellow freshman Frank Stola.

Crazy play of the day

Take a look at this craziness here, where Texas Lutheran kicker Tyler Hopkins booted through a loose ball after Belhaven had blocked the field goal attempt. It was ruled good ... although we're hard-pressed to define this as a legal dropkick. (Wrapup continues below.) 

Buena Vista had beaten Central only twice since 1980, and had seen a chance at a pick-6 in regulation get tripped up 15 yards from paydirt. With that in mind, going for a two-point conversion in the first overtime seems like a no-brainer. And it was, as the Beavers ran a reverse to TJ Lint, who cut it up the field and lunged over the goal line for the two-point conversion and a 39-38 win. BVU, under first-year head coach Grant Mollring, starts the season 2-0 for the first time since 2003.

Susquehanna forced six turnovers, two in the fourth quarter after scoring the go-ahead touchdown, and defeated Muhlenberg 14-11 to pick up its first Centennial Conference win of the season. Susquehanna's two biggest plays came on consecutive plays, with Crusco hitting Mikah Christian on passes of 39 and 31 yards, the latter resulting in a touchdown with 10:24 left in the fourth. Crusco caught the two-point conversion pass on a trick play to give his team a three-point cushion. Susquehanna (2-1) nearly knocked off Johns Hopkins last week.

Denison set a school record with 746 yards of total offense in a 62-26 win at Allegheny. Junior quarterback Canaan Gebele passed for a career-high 407 yards and three touchdowns while helping three DU wideouts post 100-yard receiving days. Denison improved to 2-0.

Jamar Rutledge had 289 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns, including a 96-yard kick return, and Kyle Hoppy connected with Had Bryant for a 41-yard touchdown with 57 seconds remaining to lift Buffalo State to a 53-48 victory over host Morrisville State in the teams' Empire 8 opener.

Patrick Vidal had another big afternoon with three sacks and a forced fumble as Catholic picked up a win against a former ODAC rival, defeating Randolph-Macon 25-20. The Cardinals jumped out to a 19-0 lead and went up 25-7 on the first play of the fourth quarter as Alejandro Ros hit Onani Moore for his third TD of the day. Joe McBride capped a 75-yard drive with a TD with 2:18 left but CUA recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.

Albright shook off a slow start and rallied past Lycoming 21-14 to remain undefeated. Lycoming quarterback Chase Williams opened the scoring with a 37-yard rushing touchdown, the first TD of any kind for the Warriors this season. Lycoming extended the lead to 17-7 shortly before halftime on a Jamie Fisher field goal. Albright answered with two touchdown drives in the second quarter, taking the lead for good on Chris Dawson's 1-yard touchdown plunge. Albright improves to 3-0 while Lycoming slips to 0-3 for the first time since 2007.

Lakeland dominated in total offense and time of possession, but Hope stopped a two-point conversion attempt and covered an onside kick to run out the clock and defeat the Muskies 37-35. The game was one of the six that the MIAA won in the MIAA-NACC challenge, a set of games between conferences which D3football.com ranked 17th and 25th of 27 in the 2017 preseason. Alma defeated Benedictine in another close contest in the challenge, while Olivet bested Aurora and Adrian, Albion and Trine each won blowouts. Concordia-Chicago got the NACC its only victory with a win at Kalamazoo.

Chazz Middlebrook had another big day in UMAC play, running for 275 yards and four touchdowns on 34 carries in MacMurray's 48-34 win at Crown. The Highlanders ran for 367 yards and threw for 207 in the win.

Maryville won a wild one, scoring two touchdowns in the final seven minutes to rally past Emory & Henry 56-46. The win puts the Scots at 2-1. Berry, the team which gave Maryville its only loss, improved to 3-0 with a 34-13 win vs. Rhodes. Slade Dale staked Berry to an early 14-0 lead with two TD passes to Mason Kinsey in the first quarter.

Junior Nick Cella ran for 98 yards and a touchdown and two others had rushing touchdowns for RPI in a 31-14 win vs. Western New England. The Engineers had 242 rushing yards and three touchdowns in improving to 3-0.