Top 25: UWW wins in classic; Trinity in OT

Sep 10, 2022

The final minutes of UW-Whitewater's win were just one big emotional release.
Photo by Doug Sasse, d3photography.com

Top-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor lost for the first time since Dec. 7, 2019, and UW-Whitewater avenged a 2021 national semifinal loss; while Trinity (Texas) prevailed against Wheaton in overtime; St. John's hung on against UW-River Falls; Johns Hopkins outlasted Ursinus; Bethel lost to UW-Platteville without its star quarterback; and Stevenson knocked off No. 21 Salisbury in Saturday's action among D3football.com Top 25 teams.

With three minutes left in the game, Mary Hardin-Baylor was up by three and had goal-to-go from the 1-yard line.

By the time it was all over at Perkins Stadium in Whitewater, Wisconsin, it was dejection for the Cru and elation for the Warhawks, as No. 6 UW-Whitewater drove 99 yards on 12 plays in 2:28 to get past No. 1 Mary Hardin-Baylor, 28-24.

Kyle King had delivered the ball right into the hands of Connor Mullins with 2:47 left, but the tight end was unable to hold onto it and the pass fell incomplete, giving the Warhawks the ball on their own 1 with 2:47 to play. And Evan Lewandowski and co. went right to work, with a combination of short passes and a big hit, like the one to Tyler Holte that picked up 27 and got the Warhawks deep into UMHB territory.

A run by Jaylon Edmondson and short passes to Sam DeLany and Tyler Holte set the Warhawks up with third-and-7 from the 9, at which point Lewandowski found Tommy Coates for the go-ahead touchdown with 19 seconds to go.

Coates was misidentified by the PA announcer and therefore by us in this tweet:

Here's the TD catch by Sam DeLany to put UWW up 28-24 with 0:19 left! #d3fb @UWWAthletics pic.twitter.com/NvUxz9i4WS
— D3football.com (@d3football) September 10, 2022

The Warhaws defense held, setting off the celebration, in front of 14,213 fans at Whitewater.

Ton of emotion at Whitewater as the final seconds ticked down. #d3fb pic.twitter.com/2ZOCLmuZfH
— D3football.com (@d3football) September 10, 2022

Check out the rest of the game story.

Caleb Mary booted through a 42-yard field goal as time expired in San Antonio, Texas, to send No. 8 Wheaton to overtime against No. 9 Trinity, tying the game at 10. In overtime, Tucker Horn found BJ Stewart for a big gain down to the 6-yard line and Legend Grigbsy plowed his way in from there to give the Tigers a 17-10 advantage. Wheaton similarly had a big second-down pass, as Will Bowers hit Ben Bonga for a 20-yard gain down to the 5 and Giovanni Weeks scored on a 2-yard run around the left end. But Trinity blocked the extra point and held on to win, 17-16.

"What a tremendous team victory tonight in front of an incredible home crowd," said Trinity coach Jerheme Urban. "We knew this was going to be a playoff level game and experience, and it definitely lived up to that billing." Full story from San Antonio.

St. John's turned a 19-14 deficit into a 37-19 lead midway through the fourth quarter before UW-River Falls rallied to score two touchdowns in the final four minutes. The Johnnies improved to 2-0 with the 37-34 win. Jimmy Buck and Alex Larson went for more than 100 receiving yards apiece, while Troy Feddema ran for two touchdowns and Henry Trost added another. UW-River Falls (1-1) rolled up 460 yards of total offense behind 26-for-39 passing for 275 yards and 28 carries for 130 rushing yards from Kaleb Blaha.

The Bethel offense struggled without all-conference quarterback Jaran Roste, as the No. 11 Royals put up just 162 yards and fell on the road at UW-Platteville 10-7. Roste left early in the Royals' Week 1 game against Pacific Lutheran with an apparent arm/wrist injury. Bethel's sole score came in the third quarter after a 6-yard run by George Bolt on fourth-and-5, followed by a Bolt TD pass. The Royals punted on their following drive, and fumbled the ball away on their final possession of the third quarter. Bethel got as close as the Platteville 22 in the fourth, but a 41-yard field goal attempt was blocked and the Pioneers were able to run out the clock.

RPI outgained Carnegie Mellon, but fell, as the Tartans won their ninth consecutive game, defeating the No. 22 Engineers 10-7. Carnegie Mellon's Benjamin Cawyer blocked a 33-yard field goal attempt in the third quarter to preserve a 3-0 lead, and Logan Young intercepted an RPI pass and returned it 30 yards to the 1, setting up a Ben Mills touchdown run. Jake Kazanowsky connected with Deen Ninche for a 23-yard touchdown to cut RPI's deficit to 10-7. The Engineers used two timeouts to ensure they would get the ball back, but Ben Coyne was able to get a sack and essentially end the RPI drive.

No. 14 Delaware Valley forced fumbles on Montclair State's first three drives, and the last one led to the only touchdown the Aggies needed to beat the Red Hawks, 14-6. Midway through the first quarter, Montclair fumbled the ball away on its own 1-yard line and Louie Barrios found Luan Avdijav for the short passing touchdown. The Aggies added a Jay White rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter, making it 14-0. The Red Hawks scored late but missed the two-point conversion and the Aggies ran out the clock on their ensuing possession. All-American Yusuf Aladinov notched two sacks for DelVal (2-0).

Johns Hopkins survived in a back-and-forth game, winning 36-29 at Ursinus despite just 166 yards passing from Ryan Stevens. The Johns Hopkins defense stopped Ursinus on three straight plays from the 1-yard line in the final 30 seconds of the game to seal the win. Danny Wolf carried the load in the JHU backfield, with 10 rushes for 140 yards and a touchdown, while the Blue Jays defense had six tackles for loss, six pass breakups and a forced fumble in the win. Jack Psenicska threw for 331 yards and three TDs for Ursinus.

Stevenson recovered a fumble deep in Salisbury territory in the fourth quarter and added an 11-play scoring drive as insurance as the Mustangs defeated the No. 21 Sea Gulls 35-21. Maurice Hammond ran for just 33 yards and a touchdown, but most of it came on the final scoring drive, as he picked up 21 of the 48 yards on the drive, including the game-cinching score.

Cortaca rivals Cortland and Ithaca each won easily, as the No. 15 Red Dragons rolled over TCNJ 63-7 and the No. 16 Bombers went up 17-0 in the first 11 minutes on the way to beating Brockport 24-0. Morrisville State took down No. 23 Hobart, as the Statesmen turned the ball over three times and fell to the Mustangs 24-13. Morrisville scored twice on fumble returns in the third quarter alone to go up 21-3, allowing the Mustangs to win comfortably despite putting up just 167 yards of total offense.

Drew Campanale threw for three first-half touchdowns for Randolph-Macon and Catholic's offense could not muster a score as the No. 20 Yellow Jackets won 41-7 in Washington, D.C. R-MC had 496 yards of total offense, including 301 on the ground, led by 89 yards and two touchdowns from Nick Hale and 90 yards from Kwesi Clarke.

No. 25 Susquehanna held on after its 39-13 lead was whittled away by two Franklin & Marshall touchdowns in the final 121 seconds which made it a three-point game in the teams' Centennial Conference opener. Michael Ruisch was picked off four times for Susquehanna, three times by Justin Gerhart, one of which was returned 15 yards for a touchdown. Susquehanna did get the key stop in the fourth quarter, however. After the Diplomats scored to cut the lead to 39-29, Susquehanna stuffed the two-point conversion attempt, and it remained a two-score game which Susquehanna eventually won 39-36.