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| Demetrius Salley got his hands on Thomas Goldsborough, whose pass was intercepted by Clarence Travis in the fourth quarter. The Mustangs took the lead three plays later. Photo by Caleb Williams, d3photography.com |
The Mustangs schooled the Profs in the second half, Beloit won its opener for the first time since 2009, and Brockport, Heidelberg and UW-Platteville each cruised on Thursday night. It was the opening night of Division III football for the 2023 season.
Stevenson converted a fourth-quarter interception into a go-ahead field goal. After Demetrius Salley disrupted Rowan quarterback Thomas Goldsborough's pass and Clarence Travis intercepted it, Brody Campbell connected on the game-winning field goal with 10:58 left in regulation from 30 yards out. He had tied the score at 17-all with 5:54 left to go in the third quarter on a 38-yarder that just snuck inside the right upright.
From there, Rowan got no closer than their own 35-yard line. The Profs punted with about 8 minutes left from their own 33 and did the same with 2:55 left after facing a fourth-and-2 from their own 19. From there, Stevenson was able to get two first downs and run out the clock. Elijah Marquez ran for 112 yards and a touchdown on 30 carries for Stevenson. Salley finished with two and a half tackles for loss and a sack to help lead the Mustangs defense.
Brockport started off the 2023 campaign by defeating Buffalo State to retain the I-90 Bowl Game Trophy for a seventh straight year. Jala Coad made his return to the team with 83 rushing yards for two touchdowns on the way to a dominant 42-6 victory. It's the 25th consecutive loss for Buffalo State. The Bengals last won on Oct. 19, 2019, against the University of Rochester.
UW-Platteville led 56-0 at the half and rolled up a school record 80 points as the Pioneers cruised to an 80-13 win at Lakeland. Three Platteville quarterbacks combined to complete 22 of 28 passes for 348 yards and four touchdowns, while seven additional Pioneer TDs came on the ground.
Belhaven scored on the second play of the game and never looked back as the Blazers rolled past Millsaps 47-7 in the Riverside Rumble. A game-opening flea flicker from quarterback Tim Johnson to Terry Jones went for 55 yards and got the Blazers into the red zone. Johnson then hit tight end Brooks Brymer for a 20-yard score on the next play to open the scoring. Johnson later found a wide-open Cooper Tullo for a 71-yard gain that set up a 2-yard touchdown run from Kolbe Blunt. The do-it-all back punched in his second rushing touchdown of the night with 12:27 to go in the first half from 8 yards out to give Belhaven a 20-0 lead.
Rockford jumped out to a 14-0 lead, but Beloit scored the next 17 and the Buccaneers came out a 34-27 winner against its local rivals. Jacob Shafer threw for three touchdowns and ran for another in the win. Beloit picked off Regents quarterback Jaelen Ray twice, while Drake Marquez ran for 132 yards in the win.