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| Geoff Schroeder scored three touchdowns as Johns Hopkins got the big road win against a Top Five team. . Johns Hopkins athletics file photo by Marty Corcoran |
Johns Hopkins used a huge advantage in the second and third quarters, while Whitewater shut Mary Hardin-Baylor out in three quarters to come away with the big road wins. RPI knocked off Brockport in overtime, while UW-La Crosse defeated a D-II program. Check out more in the Week 3 Top 25 recap.
No. 3 Johns Hopkins scored 30 consecutive points over the middle two quarters and used them to ease past No. 4 Susquehanna on the road, 40-22, in the centerpiece showdown of the Centennial-Landmark Conference challenge. The Landmark won just one of the seven games on the day, when Western Connecticut rolled past Gettysburg, in a mismatch caused by the Landmark removing Keystone from the conference for the 2025 season. Susquehanna opened the game with an impressive 11-play, 79-yard drive that Josh Ehrlich capped with a 21-yard strike to Hunter Morgenroth to give the River Hawks an early 7-0 lead. The drive ate 6:26 off the clock and Susquehanna converted a pair of third-down chances to keep the drive alive before the Ehrlich-Morgenroth connection opened the scoring.
As it turned out, that would be the only points Susquehanna would manage in the first three quarters. The Blue Jays got a return to midfield from sophomore Josh Moore after Morgenroth's touchdown and Brad Paxton got Johns Hopkins on the board seven plays later when he was true from 29 yards out. After allowing the game-opening touchdown, the Blue Jay defense forced punts on Susquehanna's next two possessions and the Blue Jay offense put together two touchdown drives in a span of less than four minutes to quickly turn the four-points deficit into a 17-7 lead that would hold through halftime.
"I think our guys showed up from the get-go and thankfully, we were to build that lead," Dan Wodicka said after the game. Then we gave up a couple late, that we were frustrated about, but thankfully, but up enough for the lead to hold on at the end."
Justin Klinkner threw three touchdown passes and UW-Whitewater spread 255 yards among six ball-carriers as the No. 16 Warhawks went to No. 8 Mary Hardin-Baylor and came away 26-6 victors. The Cru (1-1) got on the board with 10:49 left in the first half as Luke Vidal hauled in a 32-yard touchdown pass which was deflected by the defender. But UMHB did not find the scoreboard again, whether with quarterback Kirkland Michaux or backup Seth Mouser. Meanwhile, BJ Stewart, who started off his career as a receiver and return specialist at Trinity (Texas), caught 10 passes for UMHB but finished with just 80 yards through the air. The offense for Whitewater (3-0) converted nine of 17 third downs and added two more in three fourth-down conversion attempts in holding the ball for 37:50, keeping the Cru offense off the field.
Carnegie Mellon quarterback Joey McGinnis IV ran for 118 yards and threw for another 150 as the No. 22 Tartans defeated No. 20 Berry in a defensive battle, winning 17-9. The Tartans held Berry to 210 yards before an 88-yard drive in the closing minutes results in a touchdown with 53 seconds left. Reece Kolke and Nick McCullough each caught touchdown passes from McGinnins in the victory, allowing the Tartans to improve to 2-1 headed into Centennial Conference play.
Luke Lavello intercepted a pass in the end zone in the final seconds of regulation for RPI to send its game with No. 25 Brockport to overtime, and the Engineers came away with the win, 30-24. The RPI defense got a fourth-down stop on the Golden Eagles, then on offense, Anthony DeMatteo threw a 10-yard pass over the middle and Kayden White ran for his second touchdown of the day, a 15-yarder to secure the win. White had just 30 yards against the Brockport defense, but scored two rushing touchdowns in the win, while DeMatteo threw for two scores, one of them to White.
UW-La Crosse improved to 3-0 as Kyle Haas threw for 344 yards and four touchdowns in a 31-22 win against Division II Wayne State (Mich.). The scholarship team scored first, but the Eagles, ranked No. 9 in the D3football.com Top 25, scored the next 31 to put the game out of reach. Wayne State scored twice in the final five minutes to make the final result a little closer. Jack Janke caught 10 passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns while Tyler Bowman added six catches for 70 yards and another two scores in the win.
On a day in which a number of Division III teams ran through literal storms, No. 10 Wartburg ran through a figurative one, as the Knights rolled up 265 rushing yards and scored 13 fourth-quarter points to get past the Storm of Simpson, 27-13. Wartburg's defense made an impact in the second half. Tyler Gayer intercepted a deflected pass and returned it for a touchdown on Simpson's opening drive of the third quarter, putting the Knights up 14-7. The Storm countered with a 17-play, eight-minute drive capped by a 19-yard field goal to make it 14-10. Early in the fourth, Wartburg's Joey Anderson scored his second touchdown to make it 20-10. Simpson added a 32-yard field goal to pull within a score at 20-13. Bruns sealed the victory with a 23-yard touchdown run with just over four minutes left, extending the lead to 27-13. Wartburg forced a turnover on downs with under a minute to play, then ran out the clock.
In a game that endured a pair of extended lightning delays that pushed the official game length to five and a half hours, UW-Oshkosh scored 24 unanswered points to defeat NCAA Division II Roosevelt 38-21. The No. 19 Titans (2-1) tied the game midway through the third quarter with a 43-yard pass from Quentin Keene to Londyn Little and tallied 17 more points in the last 24 minutes while the Lakers (1-2) were held off the board, helped by three interceptions by the Oshkosh defense. Oshkosh trailed 21-14 when the game was suspended because of lightning shortly after halftime.
After a slow start in which UW-River Falls's first three drives results in a turnover on downs, a missed field goal attempt and a three-and-out, the No. 12 Falcons scored 35 points in a 17-minute span of the first half and ran away from Belhaven, defeating the Blazers 65-0. River Falls picked off Belhaven quarterbacks four times and limited tem to 88 yards passing, 123 yards of totaly offense in the win. Kaleb Blaha had 330 yards of total offense and threw for three touchdowns, while Cade Fitzgerald had 16 carries and threw 10 passes in relief in the win.
Defensive end Tate Bezeau tracked down elusive Mount St. Joseph quarterback Jaxon Schreiber one last time, securing the game-clinching, fourth-down sack that earned No. 15 Hope a 31-28 victory. The Flying Dutchmen had run out to a 28-7 halftime lead before watching MSJ come almost all the way back.