Top 25: UWL snaps 19-year streak

Oct 07, 2023

UW-La Crosse celebrates its first win against UW-Whitewater since 2004, as Warhawks coach Jace Rindahl prepares to congratulate the Eagles.
Photo by Doug Sasse, d3photography.com | More photos from this game

UW-La Crosse defeated UW-Whitewater for the first time since before the Warhawks' run of Stagg Bowls, as Michael Stack had enough leg on a 51-yard field goal on the final play of the game, while John Carroll survived a valiant comeback attempt at Marietta and Cortland was dominant against Utica in action among teams in the D3football.com Top 25 poll.

Stack had never kicked a field goal of longer than 36 yards in his collegiate career before Saturday, but the sophomore was called on twice for kicks even longer than those, and that included on the final play of the game. The last kick was set up by a 1-yard scramble by Keyser Helterbrand, who lined up all over the backfield for the Eagles on Saturday. He converted a fourth-and-1 with a 3-yard rush to get to the 34 and stop the clock with nine seconds left, then ran off the right guard to get an extra yard and somewhat center the ball.

That left enough time for Stack to come onto the field and boot the ball through, a 51-yard field goal that cleared the crossbar with about 2 yards to spare. The kick came in front of a crowd of 20,113, which is the largest crowd to ever see a Division III football game on campus and the fourth-largest in Division III football history, regardless of venue.

The Eagles, ranked No. 14 in the most recent D3football.com Top 25, had taken a 34-20 lead early in the fourth quarter when Helterbrand took a handoff from quarterback Zach Weir and rifled a pass to Wyatt LeMoine for a 20-yard touchdown. But Whitewater came back to score twice, with Alec Ogden first hitting Steven Hein for a 12-yard score. After a three-and-out, which included a rare drop by Helterbrand as a receiver, Ogden and the offense went back to work in a big way. On the second play of the drive, Ogden rolled out and looked left, then rolled back to the right and found Alijah Maher-Parr with two steps on Tanner Newlin on the near side of the field. The running back ran untouched 64 yards for a touchdown, and Ogden found Hein for a two-point conversion and the tie with 5:53 left.

But La Crosse had the 5.88-minute offense working, with first Weird, then Helterbrand leading the team as far into Whitewater territory as they could get, setting up Stack for the heroics. His kick split the uprights even after a Whitewater timeout. Helterbrand threw for 105 yards and ran for 108 in the win.

Ithaca got pushed to overtime, where the No. 16 Bombers ended up on top 20-17 on a rainy day at RPI. A defensive battle which saw the score 10-7 entering the fourth quarter before RPI broke through for a 14-10 lead. Ithaca got the ball back at their own 15 with about three minutes left and, with AJ Wingfield coming back from getting hit, he flung it to Jalen Leonard-Osbourne for a TD to make it 17-14 with 50 seconds left. RPI answered with a 39-yard field toal to send it into overtime. In the extra session, Ithaca got a huge sack from Isaiah Couser on third down, pushing RPI's field goal attempt back to the 49, where the 46-yard kick was blocked by Ithaca's Ben Stola. Derek Baldin converted a 34-yarder on the other side for the win, handing RPI its first loss of the season.

No. 12 John Carroll leapt out to a 21-0 lead in the first 12 minutes of the game, but Marietta came back to push the Blue Streaks and force them to make one final stop to win 31-28. Joe Collins hit Brennan Fugh for two first-quarter touchdowns and had a 48-yard TD pass to Lucas D'Orazio in the fourth, while Marietta's Connor Vierstra threw three touchdowns to Dawson Snyder to help the Pioneers keep pace. The third of those came with 2:21 left and after Marietta's onside kick failed, the Pioneers used their three time outs and got a three-and-out to force a pount less than 20 seconds later. Marietta hit on three medium length passes to get into JCU territory, but Vierstra was then sacked on first down. Second down was a pass that was incomplete, prompting an unsportsmanlike conduct pentalty and a third-and-34. Marietta failed twice to convert from that distance and John Carroll was able to run out the clock.

No. 17 Cortland had its way with Empire 8 opponent Utica, holding the Pioneers to minus-5 yards of total offense in the first half and 120 for the game in rolling to a 56-3 victory. Jaden Alfano St. John, Ashton Capone and quarterback Zac Boyes each ran for between 86 and 105 yards and combined for five rushing touchdowns in the win. It was Utica's first loss after a 5-0 start which included narrow wins at Rochester and at Lycoming.

UW-River Falls remained unbeaten, rolling past UW-Eau Claire 49-7. Quarterback Kaleb Blaha led the Falcon offense that tallied a season-high 34 first downs, accounting for 387 of UWRF's 514 yards of total offense. Blaha completed 27 of 37 passes for 288 yards along with 99 rushing yards, tying a career-high for the second consecutive game with four touchdown passes while adding one rushing score. Cade Schmidt had a 54-yard interception return for a touchdown, while Dylan Brown added another pick for the Falcons, who improved to 5-0 for the first time since 1993.

Concordia-Moorhead got a 42-yard field goal from Damien Silus to cut St. John's lead to 21-17 midway through the third quarter, but the Johnnies pulled away down the stretch and put the Cobbers away by a 42-23 score in front of a crowd of 6,219 on Saturday. Zach Frank had three sacks, while Jake Schwinghammer added two more as part of a day where St. John's registered nine sacks, 12 tackles for loss, five pass breakups and four quarterback hurries. Aaron Syverson completed 44 of 60 passes for 497 yards and five touchdowns for St. John's.

Colton Marshall had a game-winning touchdown in overtime as No. 18 Hardin-Simmons beat crosstown rival McMurry 19-16. In overtime, McMurry had the ball first and had to settle for a 36-yard Jared Mendoza field goal. The Cowboys were stopped on third down and sent out Grayson Bearden for a 37-yarder to attempt to send the game to a second overtime. Bearden nailed the kick, but McMurry was called for leaping to give the Cowboys a first down. HSU scored three plays later as Colton Marshall plowed into the end zone from 2 yards out to set off a Cowboy celebration. HSU leads the all-time series 33-4 and has won the last nine meetings.

Eighth-ranked Linfield surrendered a touchdown to Lewis & Clark on the opening kickoff, but the defending Northwest Conference champion Wildcats steadied the ship on the way to a lopsided 57-15 victory at L&C's Griswold Stadium. Linfield (4-0, 2-0 NWC) moved within one win of extending its all-divisions national record for consecutive winning seasons. The Wildcats can clinch the program's 67th straight winning campaign with a win at home next Saturday against George Fox.

No. 10 Randolph-Macon amassed 474 yards of total offense, with 232 on the ground and 242 through the air, in a 59-7 victory over Averett. The Yellow Jackets needed less than two minutes to get on the board, as Tony Skinner intercepted a pass from Averett on the first play from scrimmage and Nick Hale ran for a touchdown two plays later. Kwesi Clarke ran for two TDs, while Hale, Cameron Chatmon, Mitchell Johnson and Jaxon Jones each ran for one in the win. Randolph-Macon (5-0) has scored 50 or more in every game this season.

No. 23 Grove City improved to 6-0 overall and in Presidents' Athletic Conference play, rolling to a 48-21 road victory over Geneva. The Grove City defense held Geneva's triple-option attack to 79 rushing yards and 213 total yards. The Wolverines also recorded their first defensive touchdown of the season as senior linebacker Cole DeFillippo returned an interception 36 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter. Clayton Parrish charged through the Geneva defense for a season-high 139 yards and two rushing touchdowns, while Logan Pfeuffer threw for 289 yards and three touchdowns.