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| The defense came out and dominated for Calvin in the Knights' first-ever football game, forcing the Oberlin quarterback to throw the ball away to avoid a sack in the end zone, resulting in a safety. Calvin athletics photo by Christian Frazier |
It was a great day to play football for the first time, whether it was for the first time this season, the first time in a long time, or the first time ever.
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- Week 1 Top 25 wrapup
- Thursday wrapup | Friday wrapup |
- Even more game stories
For Calvin, which took the field on Saturday afternoon in front of a standing room-only crowd of 4,202 at Grand Rapids Christian High School, the entire football program got started on a winning note, and in dominant fashion to boot, as the Knights rolled past Oberlin 50-6. After a slow start, in which Calvin led 2-0 at the end of the first quarter, the Knights' offense started clicking, as they scored 24 points in the second quarter to held put the game away. Chase Bradman hit Hunter Hogan for two touchdowns in the second quarter, part of an afternoon in which he threw four TDs, and the Calvin defense picked off Oberlin quarterback Drew Nye three times, as well as forcing him to throw the ball away in the end zone to avoid a sack. The resulting intentional grounding penalty gave Calvin two points on a safety. And the defense kept Oberlin off the board until the backups surrendered a touchdown with 6:45 left in the game.
"It's how we drew it up and we've preached all camp long. We've got to be the most physical team on the field and our guys have bought into that," said Calvin coach Trent Figg after the game. "Hats off to our players. I give all the credit to our players, to our assistant coaches, to this entire university for getting us ready for this day."
Carter Warstler returned the opening kickoff of the 2024 season 90 yards for a touchdown, and Wooster had three touchdowns 59 yards in length or longer in Saturday's 56-13 win over Wilmington. The Quakers racked up 492 yards of total offense but turned the ball over four times, including three interceptions, one by Tate Journell in the end zone. Jace Austin ran for 112 yards and a touchdown on just six carries in the win, while Warstler caught one of Chanden Lee's two touchdown passes.
Charlie Bubonics, the son of former Mount Union standout receive Ed Bubonics, completed 20 of 26 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns as Baldwin Wallace renewed an old rivalry with Wittenberg and came away victorious by a fairly old-school score, winning 24-14. The teams have now evenly split 43 all-time meetings with each winning 21 games to go with one tie. The teams, which faced each other in the 1978 Stagg Bowl, last met in 1999.
The University of Rochester picked up a new season-opening opponent and got a different result as the Yellowjackets defeated Olivet, 28-21. Rochester's defense combined to force five turnovers on the day, including three interceptions and a pair of fumble recoveries. UR also stifled the Comets twice in the red zone, including a big goal-line stand at the end of the first half. Rochester meanwhile, connected for touchdowns on all four of its red zone trips. Ryan Rose threw for two touchdowns while Daniel Papantonis ran for 117 yards and scored as well.
Delaware Valley defeated Hampden-Sydney, 41-21, and made a winner of Mike Isgro in his head coaching debut. The Aggies' first play from scrimmage on offense was a 99-yard touchdown pass from Louis Barrios IV to Nahsir Morgan, and Morgan added two more touchdowns in the first half. Preseason All-American Jacquez Mabin picked up two sacks, five tackles for loss, and a fumble recovery for a score for the DelVal defense.
Maryville limited Sewanee to seven offensive points in a 23-9 opening week victory. The Scots trailed 7-6 at halftime but put together scoring drives on three of their four second-half possessions to flip the game in the home team's favor. For the first half, Maryville had 76 yards in penalties to Sewanee's 78 total yards. The Scots ended the game with 10 penalties for 106 yards. "We've got a solid defense, with a really strong defensive front and a really strong defensive box," Maryville head coach Ben Fox said. "Those guys are physical and tough and have played a lot of football. I was proud of how they played today."
The Lincoln Bowl is back, and it was a defensive battle as Knox blocked an extra point attempt late in the second quarter and broke through for a touchdown in the fourth to defeat Eureka 7-6. Wide receiver Mario Byrd redeemed himself for a fumbled punt return with his 28-yard scamper over the goal line with 10:28 to play. Sophomore Jadon Grossnickle supplied the extra point for the 7-6 lead. A 31-yard Red Devil completion to the Knox 46 took the teams down to the two-minute timeout. When they came back on the field, the next Eureka pass found its way into the arms of Manuel Espitia at the Prairie Fire 34. Three plays and two kneel downs later, Knox had its victory.
Matt Dzierski threw three first half touchdown passes, and junior running back Gunner White reached the end zone twice in the second half as Christopher Newport surged to a 42-6 victory on a long road trip at Trine. the Captains surged to the 36-point victory in front of 3,560 at Shive Field at Fred Zollner Stadium. Dzierski, CNU's all-time leading passer and a two-time NJAC Offensive Player of the Year, completed 13 of 15 passes for 278 yards. Defensive end Jordan Cokley had two sacks, while linebacker Patrick Sullivan logged seven tackles, three for a loss, and also forced a fumble.
Lewis & Clark's Devon Guest scored three times and five others players found the end zone, as the Pioneers stormed past Puget Sound 59-21. A year after UPS delivered the Pioneers a 42-38 loss in Tacoma, Lewis & Clark took the lead on a 65-yard punt return from Guest inside the opening two minutes and never looked back to improve to 2-1 all-time in the Northwest Scholar Series. Lewis & Clark racked up 301 rushing yards and 570 total yards in their third-straight game scoring 59 or more points.