Belhaven grounds Jackets, hands HPU first L

Oct 23, 2021

Quarterback Mayowa Asagunla was one of three Belhaven rushers with more than 80 yards as the Blazers got past Howard Payne.
Howard Payne athletics photo

Belhaven handed Howard Payne its first loss of the season, Merchant Marine remained unbeaten, Carleton won in overtime and Capital picked up a surprise victory in Saturday's Division III football action.

Belhaven's successful 2021 calendar year continues as the Blazers improved to 5-2 this fall, 8-4 on the year with a 24-10 win at Howard Payne. The defeat was the first for Howard Payne, which was receiving votes in the D3football.com Top 25. Belhaven scored the first 17 points of the game, including a 57-yard touchdown run by Brad Foley and a 43-yard TD run by Kolbe Blunt, putting the Blazers up three scores after the first possession of the second half. The Yellow Jackets cut the lead to 17-10 early in the fourth quarter, but the Blazers went on a back-breaking, clock-killing drive immediately afterward, going 77 yards in 12 plays and taking more than eight minutes before Bogan Brewer capped it off with a 1-yard TD run. Foley led the way for Belhaven with 28 carries for 158 yards, while Blunt added 13 carries for 94 yards and quarterback Mayowa Asagunla added 14 carries for 84 yards as well.

Belhaven kept the ball out of Howard Payne's hands, holding it for more than 42 minutes.

Catholic went up and down the field with Merchant Marine, but simply could not stop the Mariners' ground game. Merchant Marine (7-0, 4-0 NEWMAC) rolled up 418 yards on the ground and Ian Blankenship added two touchdown passes as the Mariners defeated Catholic 44-34. The Cardinals fell to 5-3, 3-1 in the NEWMAC. The teams went back and forth through the first two-plus quarters before the Mariners scored three consecutive touchdowns, as Merchant Marine forced a fumble by Catholic's Madden Lowe and drove 80 yards for a score, then picked Lowe off in the red zone early in the fourth and scored on the ensuing drive as well. Lowe completed 35 of 46 passes for 384 yards and five touchdowns for the Cardinals. Blankenship ran for 121 yards and two scores while Brian McGovern ran for 115 yards and a touchdown on just 11 carries in the win.

Ben Everson picked a great time to have a breakout day as the sophomore quarterback powered Capital to a 35-28 upset victory over Ohio Northern. Everson, who had yet to pass for more than 150 yards in a game in his career, exploded for 351 passing yards on an 18-for-27 completion rate. In those 18 completions, four passes went for touchdowns. ONU drove 96 yards to cut its deficit to seven with 4:31 left, but Capital was able to run out the clock and improve to 2-5, 1-5 in the OAC.

Case Western Reserve quarterback Drew Saxton capped off a 46-second, 91-yard drive with a 9-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Lucas DeCaro with 20 seconds on the clock, giving the Spartans a 42-38 come-from-behind win over Geneva on Homecoming at DiSanto Field. The Spartans have won back-to-back games and improved to 4-3 overall on the season, 3-3 in the PAC. Trailing by three after a Geneva field goal broke a 35-35 tie with 1:10 to play in the game, the Spartans would start the next drive from their own nine-yard line with 1:06 to play and no timeouts remaining. First-year wide receiver Ethan Dahlem made three key catches for first downs on the drive – a 9-yard grab on second-and-4 from the Spartans' 15-yard line, a 26-yard catch that brought CWRU to midfield, and a 29-yard catch to give the Spartans a first-and-10 on the Geneva 21-yard line. Saxton then connected with senior wide receiver Colt Morgan on back-to-back passes, a 10-yard completion and a 2-yard catch to give CWRU a second-and-8 at the Geneva 9. On the next play, Saxton found DeCaro open to his left, and he was able to run into the end zone for what would be the game-winning touchdown.

Kaleb Smith rushed for a game-high and season-high 138 yards and three touchdowns to lead Hampden-Sydney to a 42-28 win over Ferrum on Homecoming in Farmville, Virginia. It is Ferrum's second loss against five wins, while H-SC improved to 3-4. The Tigers stopped the Panthers on fourth-and-goal from the 2 with 6:53 left and went 98 yards on 11 plays the other way, capped off by Smith's 52-yard touchdown run. Brendan Weinberg finished off Ferrum's final threat with a sack after Ferrum drove into H-SC territory.

Jala Coad ran for 106 yards and two touchdowns, and six Brockport individuals outrushed the Hartwick team as Brockport defeated the Hawks 41-14. Hartwick finished the afternoon with 20 carries for minus-1 yard, although even that was more than 60 yards better than when the teams met in 2019. Hartwick was held to 40 yards in the middle two quarters and completed just eight of 32 pass attempts.

Redlands battled back from an early 14-0 deficit to win 28-24 over Chapman to stand alone at the top of the SCIAC standings. Nathan Martinez completed all three passes on the game winning drive to set up Dominic Bettini for a 2-yard touchdown run. Martinez completed 23 of 33 passes for 354 yards and one score in the Bulldog victory. Redlands needs one win in their remaining two games to clinch the SCIAC’s automatic bid to the postseason.