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| Frankie Negrini was part of a balanced running game for Susquehanna on Saturday. Susquehanna athletics file photo |
Susquehanna got its big win in its last season in the Centennial Conference, Hardin-Simmons pulled past Howard Payne, La Crosse won on a 51-yard field goal in the final minute, UW-Whitewater won on a field goal off the crossbar on the final play, Ithaca finally got a win against RPI and Cortland clinched its automatic bid to the playoffs.
Host Susquehanna stopped a Johns Hopkins two-point attempt with 49 seconds remaining and later stopped the No. 7 Blue Jays' last gasp attempt as time expired as the No. 19 River Hawks picked up a 26-24 victory in a showdown of the last two unbeaten teams in the Centennial Conference. The Blue Jays trailed 26-18 after an Elijah Hoffman 37-yard field goal with 8:59 on the fourth-quarter clock. Johns Hopkins proceeded to use just over eight minutes to pull within 26-24 as the Jays methodically worked from their own 18 and took 17 plays to go 82 yards and pull within two on a 5-yard Ryan Stevens-to-Josh Polce touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal. The Blue Jays' two-point attempt was batted away by Keith Green and Susquehanna recovered the ensuing onsides kick.
No. 12 Ithaca snapped a five-game losing streak that spanned more than 20 years against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as the Bombers downed RPI, 13-10, on Senior Day and Family Weekend. With the victory, the Bomber remain unbeaten at 8-0 with one more Liberty League game on the slate – next Saturday at Union. The last time Ithaca defeated the Engineers was in 2001 by a 27-10 score.
Ithaca broke a 10-10 tie with 7:44 left as Nicholas Bahamonde made his second field goal of the afternoon, this time from 27 yards, to give the Bombers a 13-10 advantage. RPI threatened on its ensuing drive by moving down to the IC 33-yard line with just over three minutes to go, but on third-and-6, Michael Roumes picked off Kazanowsky at the IC 16. Jake Williams gave the Bombers some breathing room with runs of 12 and 14 yards, but the drive stalled as RPI called all three timeouts and Ithaca punted back to the Engineers with 1:23 left. The game came to a conclusion after RPI dropped back-to-back passes across the middle on third and fourth down.
Freshman Jeffery Isotalo-McGuire came up with his second game-winning field goal of the season, as his 49-yard kick ended one of the day's wild back-and-forth games in the WIAC by giving No. 10 UW-Whitewater a 30-27 win against No. 21 UW-River Falls. Isotalo-McGuire was called upon with five seconds left after Preston Strasburg picked up 13 key yards on a gain up the middle and Evan Lewandowski hit Sam DeLany for a 12-yard gain down to the Falcons' 32. His kick was just barely long enough, as it hit the crossbar and went over as time expired.
@WarhawkFootball takes the win with this massive FG. #d3fb pic.twitter.com/UZF4nnYyRZ
— Corey Ferris (@FerrisCorey) October 29, 2022
UW-Whitewater had taken a 27-6 lead into the locker room, on a Lewandowski-to-DeLany touchdown pass, a Strasburg TD run, two Isotalo-McGuire field goals and a Tamir Thomas touchdown run. But Kaleb Blaha threw two of his three TD passes in the second half, and Michael Krueger added a 1-yard TD run as the Falcons tied it up. Isotalo-McGuire's kick ended up being the Warhawks' only points of the second half. The Warhawks defense got to Blaha for five sacks and an interception, with Kyle Gallagher collecting two of the sacks. Thomas led all ballcarriers with 20 carries for 131 yards and the score.
Elsewhere in the wackiness that is the top of the WIAC, No. 8 UW-La Crosse streaked out to first-half leads of 21-3 and 28-10 against No. 24 UW-Oshkosh. But no, the Titans were not done. Kobe Berghammer threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more, including a 1-yard run with 5:30 left to allow the home team to tie it up at 35. Crucially, Cade Osborn blocked the extra point for the Eagles to keep the score tied. La Crosse returned the kickoff out to the 29 and Joey Stutzman went to work, ripping off 44 yards on the ground on five carries, jelping his team burn the clock. With Oshkosh taking timeouts in the final minute and a half, Keyser Helterbrand picked up 3 yards to get down to the Oshkosh 26, but Jared Tenpas sacked him on the next play, pushing the Titans back to the 34 and setting up a fourth-and-20 with under a minute remaining. That brought out Ryan Beirne, who blasted a field goal from 51 yards to give the Eagles the 38-35 lead with 51 seconds left. Cade Osborn intercepted Berghammer's pass to end the game.
The final game of the three wacky WIAC endings on Saturday went to three overtimes and ended with a one-handed grab in the back of the end zone by John Smozynski, sealing a 24-22 win for UW-Stout over No. 22 UW-Platteville. Luke Cool had a big day for the Blue Devils (5-3, 3-2 WIAC), kicking five field goals, including a chip shot late in regulation when the Stout offense stalled on the 1, and a 47-yarder in the second overtime after the Blue Devils recorded negative yardage on their pssession. Levy Hamer led the way with nine catches for 144 yards for Stout.
Hardin-Simmons rallied for a 28-19 win over Howard Payne. The No. 9-ranked Cowboys trailed 19-7 at halftime, but pitched a shutout and put 21 points on the board in the second half. The win put the two times in a tie for second place in the ASC title chase. The Cowboys took their first lead off the game with 4:20 to play in the third quarter when Gaylon Glynn hit Gatlin Martin on a 48-yard touchdown pass. HSU sealed the game with a 14-play, 81-yard drive in the fourth quarter. Colton Marshall scored from 1 yard out with 2:50 to play.
Ashton Capone, in his first start of the season, set school single-game records with 47 carries and 282 rushing yards as Cortland defeated host Alfred 31-8 to claim its second straight Empire 8 title and NCAA Division III playoff automatic berth. Cortland (8-0, 5-0 E8) is the first team nationally in Division III to clinch a playoff berth. The Red Dragons will be making back-to-back NCAA appearances for the first time since qualifying for three straight tournaments from 1988-90. Capone's 282 rushing yards eclipses the previous Cortland record of 281 yards set by Andrew Giuliano at Morrisville in 2008, and his 47 carries breaks the previous mark of 44 established by Dave Cook at St. Lawrence in 1984. Capone finished with two touchdown runs – a 2-yard score late in the second quarter and a 5-yard run with 2:09 left in the game on his final rush to break the record.
Blake Eaton passed for 183 yards and two touchdowns and fifth-ranked Linfield held off an inspired effort by George Fox on the way to a 37-10 Northwest Conference victory at Stoffer Family Stadium. The Wildcats (7-0, 5-0 NWC) moved one step closer to clinching a third straight NWC crown. With two games remaining on the schedule, Linfield can assure itself of an NCAA Division III playoff berth with a win over either Willamette on Nov. 5 or Lewis & Clark on Nov. 12.
Two Linfield touchdowns in the span of three minutes in the second quarter put the Wildcats in control. Tyler Larson dove over from the 1-yard line to cap a 10-play drive at the 8:59 mark before Connor McNabb pounded across a 3-yard scoring run with 6:05 left before intermission. The Bruins closed the gap after Haiden Schaan passed nine yards to Chad Bletko for a score. The extra point by Hoffman made the score 17-10 in favor of the Wildcats. Dalziel added a 38-yard field goal on the final play of the opening half, pushing the visitors back in front 20-10. Linfield's defense tightened in the second half, holding George Fox without a point the rest of the way.
No. 6 Trinity (Texas) outscored Centre 41-7 over the final three quarters to get out of Danville, Kentucky with a 41-21 win. Quarterback Tucker Horn completed 29-of-46 passes for 310 yards and three touchdowns in the game for the Tigers (8-0, 5-0 SAA), setting career highs in both completions and attempts for a game.
Drew Campanale went 11-for-12 for 213 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for two scores as No. 17 Randolph-Macon posted a 35-21 victory at Washington & Lee. The win makes the Yellow Jackets 8-0 for just the second time in program history, matching the 8-0 record the 1968 team posted through eight games. R-MC has won 14 games in a row dating to a loss last Sept. 25 against W&L.