Wrapup: Carleton keeps the Goat

Oct 07, 2023

Carleton got to celebrate by turning the eagle sitting atop the war memorial in Bridge Square in Northfield, Minnesota, to face its campus.
Photo by Caleb Williams, d3photography.com | More photos from this game

Carleton downed its crosstown rival St. Olaf on a field goal with 23 seconds left, Lebanon Valley won in double overtime, while UW-Oshkosh did the same, and Gallaudet won for the first time this season on a day in which it debuted the 5G connected helmet developed by AT&T.

This recap includes games between teams not ranked in the D3football.com Top 25.

Carleton made the most of a beautiful fall day, and the home half of the crowd went home happy as Marcus Merkelbach kicked a 30-yard field goal with 23 seconds to play to lift the Knights to a 33-31 win against crosstown rival St. Olaf. The win, in front of 3,732 fans, keeps the Knights undefeated on the season at 5-0, 3-0 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Jack Curtis threw three touchdown passes and tight end caught 13 passes for 112 yards and a touchdown as Carleton defeated its archrival, then took the traditional Walk to the center of Northfield to rotate the statue in Bridge Square to face its campus.

Tim Kissinger connected on a 20-yard field goal in the second overtime to send Lebanon Valley to a 27-24 victory at Widener. The Flying Dutchmen had held Widener scoreless in the second overtime, as Jake Marcus and Noah Caldani combined for a sack and Widener missed a 41-yard field goal wide left. Braden Bohanan had set up Leb Val's winning field goal with a 15-yard run in the second extra session.

The game in Whitewater wasn't the only WIAC game with late drama, as UW-Oshkosh defeated UW-Stout 48-46 in double overtime. Luke Cool could have ended the game in regulation, but his 44-yard field goal attempt hit off the right upright and fell back, no good. Cool was able to recover and hit a 37-yarder in the first overtime, as the teams traded scores. In the second OT, Kobe Berghammer hit Kaio Harn for a TD and got the requisite two-point conversion to give Oshkosh a 48-40 lead. Stout got a TD run from Mitch Waechter in the second OT, but the two-point conversion pass was incomplete. Berghammer completed 42 of 52 passes for 466 yards and five touchdowns and also ran for 105 yards and a score. Stout had led 30-13 in the first half.

Dre'Vaughn Mackall rushed for 157 yards and a touchdown and Brandon Washington added for 124 yards and three scores as Gallaudet ran to its first victory of the season, defeating Hilbert 34-20. The game signified the debut of a new connected helmet developed by AT&T which allowed the Bison, at the nation's four-year school for the deaf and hard of hearing, to call plays directly into the quarterback's helmet via the use of a heads-up display. Gallaudet led 21-13 at half and at the end of three quarters before the Bison scored on a five-play, 80-yard drive and Joshua Saaty followed with a 68-yard pick six to put the game away.

Rowan defeated TCNJ on the last play of the game for the second season in a row, as Shane Martin's hauled in a 30-yard touchdown grab as time expired to give the Profs a 9-7 victory at the Lions. Starting at their own 20-yard line with 1:37 to play and no timeouts, Rowan quickly moved the ball in nine plays to the TCNJ 30. With eight seconds left, quarterback Nate Maiers threw into the end zone where the ball was deflected not once, but twice and into the hands of Martin to give the Profs the walk off win. Last season, Rowan used a 36-yard field goal as the clock hit zero in the win in Glassboro.

Wabash quarterback Liam Thompson ran for a career-best 201 yards and broke the North Coast Athletic Conference record for career yards of total offense in the Little Giants' 45-35 home win over Wooster. Thompson entered the game second on the NCAC career total offense list with 10,745, trailing all-time leader Mason Espinosa from Ohio Wesleyan with 10,839 career yards. Thompson broke the record with a 90-yard touchdown pass to Derek Allen, Jr. on the second offensive drive of the game for Wabash (4-1, 3-0) to give the Little Giants a 14-0 lead. Thompson connected with Penn Stoller on a seven-yard scoring strike on the first possession to end an 11-play, 79-yard drive. Thompson finished the game with 490 yards of total offense by throwing for 289 yards and four scores to go with his 201 rushing yards and two running touchdowns. He completed 21-of-29 passes with one interception.

Diante Ball had some late-game heroics again for Dickinson, but they came with 1:30 left to tie the game in regulation, as the Red Devils (4-1) answered a Christopher Newport TD with one of their own. In overtime, CNU got a short field goal from Ryan Castle to take a 24-21 lead, but Dickinson got the final answer, as Presley Egbers hit Bobby Markey for a 14-yard touchdown pass and the game-winner. Ball finished with 67 yards and a touchdown on the ground, while Egbers threw three touchdown passes, two of them to Markey.

Brady Howe's fourth-down pass breakup at the Hope 25-yard line, and one subsequent offensive kneeldown, delivered the Flying Dutchmen a 14-6 victory against Albion in their rainy and windy MIAA showdown. Hope only yielded second- and third-quarter Logan Grwinski field goals to previously unbeaten Albion. It was the fewest points the Flying Dutchmen have allowed to Albion since a 14-6 victory over the Britons in 2009. "The wind was a factor. The rain was a factor. It's a huge win," coach Peter Stuursma said. "That's a very good football team: 5-0 team and six points. To keep them out of the end zone was huge for us."

Kolbe Blunt ran for 225 yards and two touchdowns as Belhaven defeated Huntingdon 29-7 in Jackson, Mississippi on Saturday. The win keeps the Blazers in a tie for first in the USA South, as Belhaven and Brevard are each 3-0 in conference play. Huntingdon (4-2, 2-1 USAC) got on the board with a 13-play drive for a field goal, but not until midway through the third quarter. Huntingdon was limited to 202 yards of total offense as Belhaven racked up nine tackles for loss.