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| Ravi Alston had nine catches for St. John's on Saturday, including this impressive 29-yard touchdown reception. Photo by Caleb Williams, d3photography.com |
St. John's blanked Bethel in a battle of top 10 teams, while Salisbury beat its rival for just the second time since 2004 and Chapman and Berry won battles of unbeatens in the big games among games for teams ranked in the D3football.com Top 25.
Ravi Alston caught nine passes for 188 yards and an amazing touchdown, falling away, and the St. John's defense limited Bethel to 58 yards in the second half as the No. 4 Johnnies shut out the No. 6 Royals, 19-0 in Collegeville, Minnesota. Bethel recovered a St. John's fumble on the opening kickoff and converted one of its 10 first downs on the day, and kicked a 37-yarder through the uprights, but was called for a false start. Bjorn Charles' subsequent attempt from 42 yards out hit the left upright, and Bethel never had another scoring chance the rest of the day. The Royals were just 1-for-11 on third down, and Jaran Roste was limited to 14-for-26 passing for 93 yards on the afternoon. Jackson Erdmann completed 16 of 25 passes for 326 yards and the one touchdown, while Kai Barber carried 18 times for 81 yards and a score.
Jack Lanham ran 17 times for 139 yards and a touchdown and threw for another. Meanwhile, No. 14 Salisbury scored five touchdowns on the ground and won at home against No. 12 Wesley, 45-38, in the Route 13 rivalry game. Salisbury beat Wesley in 2015, but before that, hadn't beaten the Wolverines since 2004. Wesley (4-1, 2-0 NJAC) scored touchdowns on its first two possessions to go up 14-0, but Salisbury answered with three touchdowns on its next four drives and never trailed again. Wesley cut the lead to three in the third quarter, however, and to seven with 1:51 to go, on a TD pass from Jon Mullin to Ruhann Peele, but Wesley was unable to recover the onside kick, and Salisbury (4-0, 2-0) picked up a first down and ran out the clock.
Chapman sprinted out to a 21-3 lead at the half behind two touchdown passes by Reed Vettel but had to hold on against No. 15 Redlands in the second half. The Bulldogs scored on their first drive of the second half as Mason Carvalho broke loose for a 26-yard touchdown run, and Redlands cut the lead to three after a bruising, 14-play drive took 6 minutes, 20 seconds and ended with Nathan Martinez finding Noah McFadden on the right-hand side of the end zone for a touchdown. The Bulldogs added a two-point conversion to make it 21-18. Redlands (4-1, 1-1 SCIAC) seemed to be in good shape when a 10-yard punt set them up at their own 32, but a pass on a fake punt was intercepted by the would-be punt returner, Wyatt Hardin, putting the Panthers in Bulldog territory. However, Isaiah Woods fumbled as he was fighting for extra yards on third-and-13 and fumbled, giving Redlands one final chance. Martinez completed three passes sandwiched around a big Carvalho run to get to the Chapman 35, but Redlands' fourth-down play was stuffed.
No. 3 UW-Whitewater scored early in the fourth quarter to take the lead and held on to defeat No. 19 UW-Platteville 21-14. Jarrod Ware scored on a 10-yard touchdown run with 11:03 to go to give the Warhawks the lead. The Warhawks (5-0, 2-0 WIAC) piled up 513 yards of total offense and made some crucial defensive stops to come away from the win in front of 12,402 fans on homecoming. Zach Oles rushed 14 times for 114 yards and passed for 137 yards and one touchdown for UW-Whitewater, which handed UW-Platteville its first loss.
Mason Kinsey caught a 36-yard touchdown pass and returned a kickoff 97 yards for a score as No. 8 Berry defeated Hendrix, 27-9. It is the Warriors' first loss of the season. Miles Thompson completed 21 of 33 passes for 245 yards and a touchdown, but the Vikings kept him out of the end zone, en route to improving to 6-0. Berry is the last undefeated team in the Southern Athletic Association, at 4-0 in the conference. Kinsey caught 10 passes for 136 yards and a touchdown.
Just 48 hours after UMHB was in the spotlight talking about the possibility of having its 2016 Division III football championship vacated, the Cru was on the field and scored the final 27 points to put East Texas Baptist away in a 50-14 win. Anthony Avila booted field goals of 41 and 52 yards, Akeem Jackson had a 73-yard interception return for a score and Tavion Page returned a punt 79 yards for a score in the win, as the Cru improved to 5-0, 4-0 in the American Southwest Conference.
Joe Germinerio threw for 325 yards and three touchdowns on 28-of-37 passing, while fellow senior Will Gladney hauled in 11 receptions for 140 yards as No. 10 Ithaca rolled past Buffalo State, 48-14. Junior Andrew Vito added two touchdown catches on nine grabs and 110 yards. Germinerio notched his fourth 300-yard passing game of the season, while Gladney had his third straight 100-plus-yard receiving performance.
Blaine Netterman intercepted two passes to set up two Delaware Valley touchdowns and the 13th ranked Aggies defeated King's, 28-13. Del Val's defense held MAC rushing leader Jordan Downes to 39 yards, which was 115 below his average entering the game.
Michael Canganelli went for 156 yards and three touchdowns on 13 carries, and the rest of the John Carroll offense combined for 27 carries and 408 yards on the ground in a 90-0 win vs. Capital. The No. 16-ranked Blue Streaks ran just 50 plays and averaged 13.9 yards per snap, while Capital was held to nine first downs and was 0-for-13 on third-down conversions. JCU held the ball for just 19:32.
Howard Frazier's 84-yard run in the fourth quarter was his first career score and longest play of the season.
"Those young guys work so hard. It is great for those guys to get that playing time," said Finotti. "It is hard to get reps with a lot of the older guys. It makes it even better when the older guys are cheering for you on the sideline."
Backed by a four touchdown game from sophomore quarterback Drew Saxton and eight sacks from its defense, 25th-ranked Case Western Reserve defeated Washington & Jefferson 35-19 in a battle of Presidents' Athletic Conference contenders in Cleveland. With the win, the Spartans retain sole possession of first place in the PAC, improving to 4-0 in the conference and 5-0 overall. The Presidents drop to 3-2 in the PAC and 4-2 overall.
Zach Tripodi ran for a career-high 165 yards and three touchdowns, including an 18-yard score to seal the victory with less than four minutes remaining, as No. 22 Cortland remained unbeaten with a 42-28 victory at Empire 8 foe Morrisville State. No. 23 Linfield and No. 24 Whitworth each rolled to 2-0 in the Northwest Conference, as the Wildcats cruised past Puget Sound 77-22 and the Pirates defeated Lewis & Clark 68-30.