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| Cole Luhmann and the Hope defense got plenty of pressure on Alma quarterback Carter St. John. Photo by Alan Babbitt, Hope College sports information |
Hope rolled to a big win at Alma in early Top 25 action, while Carnegie Mellon rallied in the second half at Washington & Jefferson and St. John's got up big early and cruised to a win against Bethel in action on Saturday among teams ranked in the D3football.com Top 25.
Carnegie Mellon came back from a 19-point halftime deficit to extend the game and then got the ball last and left no doubt in overtime as the No. 15 Tartans rallied to defeat Washington & Jefferson 30-27 in overtime. The Tartans, down 24-5 at the half, scored the final 19 points of regulation and held W&J (3-1, 3-1 Presidents' Athletic Conference) to a 29-yard field goal in overtime before Ben Mills found Reece Kolke wide open in the right front corner of the end zone for the victory in the extra session. Justin Caputo shook off a blocked kick and the roughing the kicker call on the same play, connecting on a 24-yard field goal with 9:37 to play to tie the game at 24. Carnegie Mellon (4-0, 4-0 PAC) then got a hand on a short field goal attempt by Deven Wyandt with 5:39 to play to keep the game tied and neither team could must a scoring drive through the rest of regulation. Kolke had just five receptions on the afternoon, but he made the most of them, taking those five catches for 162 yards and three touchdowns, including an 84-yarder on the second snap of the second half.
Hope scored the first 31 points of the game and held Alma down after an early third quarter surge to knock off the No. 16 Scots 34-13. Alma had no answer for Chance Strickland (28 carries, 179 yards and a touchdown), or Tyler Amos (eight carries, 98 yards and a score), while Ben Wellman completed 19 of his 30 pass attempts for 261 yards through the air for the Flying Dutch. The win snaps Alma's MIAA winning streak at 12 games and has Hope at 4-0 for the first time since 1984. Hope outgained Alma 608-307, including 347 rushing yards. It marked the fourth consecutive game rushed for more than 300 yards.
Bethel cornerback Matt Jung scored two touchdowns, one a long bomb on offense and the other an 80-yard pick six, but No. 24 Royals could not muster much more on offense as No. 5 St. John's ran away with a 45-20 road victory. While Jung was breaking long, St. John's was working the clock. The Johnnies were methodical on their first drive, going 12 plays for 69 yards before Aaron Syverson found Dylan Wheeler for an easy TD with 8:21 to go in the first quarter. After Jung's 69-yard TD reception, the Johnnies went another 73 yards for a score to retake the lead, and Westin Hoyt picked off Bethel quarterback Cooper Drews, setting up the Johnnies on the Royals 14. Will Blakey ran it into the end zone four plays later to make it 21-7. Syverson hit Dylan Wheeler for another TD pass early in the second to make it 28-7 and St. John's was able to cruise from there. Wheeler caught nine passes for 113 yards and two touchdowns in the win. Caden Wheeler had 20 carries for 89 yards and a score as well. St. John's picked off Bethel quarterback Cooper Drews, who transferred from St. John's to Bethel over the summer, four times, and limited him to 223 yards on 20-for-35 passing. Photo gallery
Endicott scored twice in the fourth quarter, including a pick-six, as the No. 12 Gulls rallied to get past RPI 28-20. Trailing 20-14 and pinned on their 24-yard line, the Gulls struck for a 76-yard touchdown connection between quarterback Clayton Marengi and wideout Adam Goodfellow to jump ahead 21-20. Marengi threw a dart to Goodfellow at the Endicott 48-yard line and the junior receiver took care of the rest, juking two defenders to his right before turning on the jets for the momentum-changing score, his second TD of the game.
On RPI's next drive, it was the defense's turn to produce a game-altering touchdown – this time via a Zachariah Twardosky pick-6 thanks to some great play up front. Defensive lineman Michael Canney helped generate the turnover when he broke through a double team and nearly sacked Engineers quarterback Jake Kazanowsky before he heaved an errant pass into the air. Twardosky converged on the sky-high lob from about 10 yards out, leaped over an RPI receiver, hauled in the pass, and managed to stay inbounds near Endicott's sideline. From there, Twardosky cut back into the middle of the field, sped past an Engineers' offensive lineman, and went untouched into the end zone to make it 28-20 with 6:15 left.
The top-ranked Cardinals of North Central did without their All-America quarterback for a quarter or so and it only slowed them down slightly as they cruised past WashU 49-9. Luke Lehnen took a big hit on a sack late in the first quarter and did not return until midway through the third, but the Cardinals took a 21-2 lead without him as backup Calvin Lavery completed 11 of 15 passes for 126 yards on the day. The Cardinals defense limited WashU to just 145 yards of total offense, including a passing line of 12-for-28 for 91 yards. Jack Rummell caught six passes for 123 yards and a score for North Central, which improved to 3-0.
UW-River Falls has scarcely missed a beat with its No. 1 quarterback on the shelf as well, as Cade Fitzgerald did his best Kaleb Blaha impression, throwing for 167 yards and two touchdowns and running for 111 yards and two more scores in a 68-9 thumping of Mount St. Joseph. Blaha was hurt in the second half of the Falcons' season-opening win at Alma and has not been needed since. Ben Wesolowski came off the bench in the fourth quarter to go 4-for-4 with a score as well. Michael Brown broke up three passes for the No. 6-ranked Falcons on defense and River Falls picked off MSJ quarterbacks three times in the win.
Charlie Bubonics, the son of Mount Union great wide receiver Ed Bubonics, completed 25 of 36 passes against his dad's alma mater, but it wasn't nearly enough as the No. 4 Purple Raiders rolled to a 52-14 win at Baldwin Wallace. Noah Beaudrie threw for two TDs and ran for one for the Purple Raiders, while Tyler Echeverry added a TD run among his seven carries. Mount Union (3-0, 2-0 OAC) led 42-14 at the half.
No. 9 Susquehanna jumped out to a 28-7 lead and cruised to a 34-21 win against Western New England, as Josh Ehrlich threw two TD passes and ran for a score as well. Ben Bonga caught 10 passes for 174 yards and Ben Juska added six catches for 61 yards and two touchdowns as No. 19 Wheaton got past Carroll, 22-10. Giovanni Weeks was limited to 30 yards and a TD on 19 carries, but he also threw one of the two TD passes to Juska.
No. 7 Hardin-Simmons had its way with NAIA program North American University in a 90-7 win. DePauw registered a shutout for the second time in three weeks as the No. 18 Tigers rolled out to a 49-0 lead at the half and cruised to a 72-0 win against Oberlin. Tyler Adkins threw for six touchdowns and 11 Aurora players carried the ball in the No. 22 Spartans' 72-6 win against Concordia-Chicago.