Top 25 recap: Johnnies strike first blow

Sep 03, 2022

Nick VanErp had 92 yards receiving for St. John's, including a 52-yarder to set up the Johnnies' final touchdown.
Photo by Wade Gardner, d3photography.com

St. John's landed a big punch in Division III's early season battle of heavyweights, while Mary Hardin-Baylor rolled past Muhlenberg, Johns Hopkins had a huge win, and Delaware Valley had just enough offense in games among teams in the D3football.com Top 25.

A back-and-forth game turned into St. John's putting UW-Whitewater away convincingly, as the No. 5 Johnnies, playing at home in front of an announced crowd of 12,462, shut down the No. 4 Warhawks in the second half of a 24-10 win. St. John's scored twice on safeties, one on a bad snap over the head of UWW quarterback Evan Lewandowski, and one on a punt attempt. The Johnnies also held after Whitewater had the ball on the SJU 2 to force a missed field goal attempt from 24 yards out to close the first half as SJU took a 9-3 lead to the locker room.

UW-Whitewater scored on its first possession of the second half, but then got just one first down the rest of the game. The Warhawks mishandled a snap on a punt for a safety, converted one first down on the next drive, then went three-and-out three times in a row, and four-and-out twice to end the game. In all, UWW gained just 19 yards on its final six drives.

Aaron Syverson, returning to the lineup after shattering his leg last October in a game at Gustavus Adolphus, completed 25 of 34 passes for three touchdowns, including two to tight end Alex Larson.

The other three ranked teams in the WIAC had a much easier time of it, with No. 12 UW-La Crosse, No. 18 UW-River Falls and No. 19 UW-Oshkosh rolling past opponents by a combined score of 157-20.

Top-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor scored three touchdowns in each of the first three quarters and the Cru cruised to a 62-13 home win against No. 11 Muhlenberg. UMHB quarterback Kyle King, who made his name with a number of big passing performances in the 2021 playoffs, threw six touchdown passes and went for 379 yards in the win. Joe Repetti, in his first start after replacing All-American Michael Hnatkowsky, completed 16 of 29 for 153 yards, while the Mules did manage 389 yards of total offense.

After getting stopped at the 1-yard line on their opening drive, Johns Hopkins scored touchdowns on their next five first-half possessions to grab a 34-0 lead the half and went on to cruise past Case Western Reserve 54-14. Ryan Stevens bookended the 34-point opening half with touchdown passes to senior Artie Collins that covered 43 and 10 yards. Collins took a screen pass down the sideline for the 43-yard score to open the game and then Stevens threaded one down the middle that Collins caught in traffic from 10 yards out to cap the half. The Blue Jays tacked on 14 points in the second half with touchdowns receptions from Revere and freshman Geoff Schroeder that pushed the lead to 48-0 early in the fourth quarter. Stevens finished 27-for-34 for 314 yards and five scores.

Seventh-ranked Linfield put up a bunch of points but had to hold on until the very end as the Wildcats went to Alabama and escaped from Huntingdon with a 41-34 win. The Hawks got within seven with 2:15 to play in the third quarter, but threw two interceptions, missed a field goal and had a fourth-and-9 play come up inches short in the fourth quarter. Sophomore quarterback Blake Eaton threw for two touchdowns and ran for two in his first collegiate start for Linfield.

Cortland rolled out to a 31-7 lead after the first two plays of the third quarter and cruised as the No. 16 Red Dragons defeated Wittenberg 48-28. Zac Boyes, the son of former longtime Buffalo State coach Jerry Boyes, threw for 543 yards and four touchdowns, with J.J. Laap hauling in nine passes for 312 yards and two touchdowns to lead the way for Cortland. Laap got the scoring started with a 49-yard TD catch less than three minutes into the game, and took another pass 90 yards for a score just 52 seconds into the second half.

No. 17 Ithaca, Cortland's archrival, got its season off with a bang as well, as Anthony D'Addetta returned the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown and the Bombers cruised to a 51-14 win at Bridgewater State. A.J. Wingfield completed 14 of 17 passes for 152 yards and a TD before giving way to Max Perry, who went 8-for-11 for 90 yards and a score himself.

No. 15 Delaware Valley rode its defense to a 22-8 victory over Westminster (Pa.) in a cross-state battle between expecting to contend for their respective conference titles. After the teams combined for two points in the first half, the Aggies cobbled together a couple of scoring drives helped by Westminster mistakes. Del Val took a 13-2 lead when one Titans fumble set up Tahmir Barksdale's 3-yard touchdown run, and the Aggies put the game away when another Titans fumble eventually led to a Louie Barrios 4-yard score. Del Val held the Titans to 157 yards on 57 plays and 1-for-12 on third down, and All-American defensive end Mike Nobile celebrated his return from last season's injury with two sacks. Fellow All-American Brayden Thimons notched seven tackles for Westminster.

The 13th-ranked Bethel Royals put up a big win against Pacific Lutheran, but it may have come at a high cost. Bethel quarterback Jaran Roste left the game after four plays with what appeared to be a wrist injury. Video showed his hand being immobilized as he walked off the field. George Bolt came on in relief and threw two touchdown passes, while Bryce Kunkle ran for 116 yards and a score as well.

Mount Union rolled out to a 49-0 lead at the half, including 35 second-quarter points, and cruised easily to a 65-0 win against Defiance in the Purple Raider opener. Eight different Mount Union players carried the ball 45 times for a total of 361 yards, including 95 yards and three touchdowns from Deandre Parker.

RPI's season got off to a bit of a slow start as the No. 20 Engineers got past Dickinson 14-7. RPI managed just 255 yards of total offense on 65 plays from scrimmage, including 8-for-26 passing. Matt Petercuskie did hit Gil Goldsmith for a 52-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter for the go-ahead sore, one drive after RPI got the ball on the 20 after a Dickinson fumble and Dylan Burnett ran the ball in for a score.