/notables/2021/04/week9-wrapup-saturday

Saturday: Macon miracle; Spartan surge

Apr 03, 2021
The ODAC trophy goes to Randolph-Macon for the 13th time, the fourth under head coach Pedro Arruza.
Randolph-Macon athletics photo
 

Randolph-Macon won the Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship in dramatic fashion, while Huntingdon won the USA South title going away and Aurora made special teams count in a fourth-quarter comeback in Division III football action on Saturday, April 3.

The day started with Randolph-Macon and Emory & Henry each standing at 12 ODAC football titles, with E&H eligible for the last time as the school is moving to Division II in the fall. And the fourth quarter started with the two teams still tied at 0-0. After E&H passed up a short field goal and had a pass picked off, Randolph-Macon had the ball deep in Wasps territory but turned it over. Emory & Henry went three-and-out, however, and a 7-yard punt gave the Yellow Jackets the ball on the E&H 29. Presley Egbers hit senior Tim Hanratty with a 6-yard TD pass to give the home team a 7-0 advantage with 9:37 remaining.

Emory & Henry took the kickoff and drove 76 yards in 12 plays, getting the answer the Wasps needed to stay in the game as Hunter Taylor found T.J. Tester in the end zone for a touchdown.

The game went to overtime tied at 7-7, and Emory & Henry kicked a field goal in its half of the extra session to take a 10-7 lead, before Randolph-Macon took possession in overtime. That's when Egbers grabbed a loose ball out of the air and scampered 13 yards for the winning touchdown, clinching the conference title and setting off the celebration in Ashland, Virginia.

Methodist tied the USA South championship game with an 80-yard drive midway through the second quarter, but it was all Huntingdon after that as the Hawks scored the next 17 points and cruised to a 31-20 win on the road. Methodist scored with 10 seconds left to make the final score seema little closer. Three separate Hawks ran for 100 or more yards in the win, including quarterback Landon Cotney, who ran for 118 yards and three touchdowns on just 18 carries. Kahari McReynolds picked up 157 yards on 38 carries and Jalen Pugh added 111 and a touchdown on 19 carries in the win.

Check out more photos from this game.
Photo by Dave Hilbert, d3photography.com
 

Aurora and Benedictine combined for 34 points in the first three quarter and 32 in the fourth as the Spartans rallied to beat their rivals, 36-30. Aurora took advantage of a short field to take a 21-20 lead early in the fourth quarter. Tanner Mateus booted a 29-yard field goal to put Benedictine back in front at 23-21 with 9:51 left. Jordan Wilkins forced a fumble on the next Aurora play that was recovered by Denzel Simmon, setting up a short field. Lopez snared a 9-yard touchdown from Jarnagin with 7:43 left to put Benedictine ahead 30-21. Davis recorded a third interception, but the Aurora defense forced a three-and-out.

A 53-yard passing play set up an Aurora touchdown with 4:17 left, making the score 30-28. Aurora then lofted a squib kick and ran under it catching it on the fly to deny Benedictine possession. The Spartans then marched down and Gavin Zimbelman ran it in for the go-ahead touchdown with 1:09 left, capping a dramatic fourth quarter comeback. Benedictine was able to move the ball to the Aurora 42-yard line before stalling and ending the game with an interception. Zimbelman struggled, completing just 12 of 26 passes for 223 yards and throwing three picks, but he ran for four touchdowns in the win.

Mike Clark ended his long head coaching career at Bridgewater with a victory, as a pair of first quarter pick-sixes helped the Eagles get past Shenandoah 22-14. The win in an ODAC crossover game gave Bridgewater two wins in three meetings with Shenandoah this spring, and it let Clark finish up with a record of 167-103-1. Clark has the most wins among ODAC football coaches in the conference's history. Jordan Burden opened the scoring late in the first quarter, intercepting a deflected pass and taking it back 19 yards for a touchdown and the next time Shenandoah had the ball, a short underneath pass was thrown right to Da'Sean Davis, who rumbled through several tackles for a 32-yard pick-six.

Sewanee got on the field for the first time this season. The Tigers were unable to participate in the Southern Athletic Association's spring season because the school's athletics teams are not allowed to leave campus and must hope for teams to come to them. And Greensboro makes the long drive back to North Carolina with a 24-21 win. The Pride took the lead five seconds into the fourth quarter on a 32-yard field goal by Zac Ellison and survived a missed field goal and a trip inside the 10 by Sewanee.

Millikin survived four overtimes to win at Augustana 40-34 on April 3. Augustana had tied the game with a three-play, 69-yard drive with 4:42 left in the fourth quarter, as Alex Jacobs hit Patrick Byrne for a 29-yard touchdown, and the Vikings dodged a bullet when Millikin missed a 27-yard field goal wide left with one second left. The tems traded touchdowns in the first two overtime periods, and again in the third, with both teams failing to reach the end zone on their two-point conversion attempts. Millikin had the ball first in the fourth overtime and Marion McGhee scored his third consecutive touchdown making it 40-34 after the failed two-point conversion and the Millikin defense stopped the Vikings on downs giving the Big Blue the victory.

Dec. 15: All times Eastern
Final
Cortland 38, at North Central (Ill.) 37
@ Salem, Virginia
Video Box Score Recap Photos
Dec. 9: All times Eastern
Final
North Central (Ill.) 34, at Wartburg 27
Box Score Recap
Final
Cortland 49, at Randolph-Macon 14
Box Score Recap Recap Recap Photos
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