|
| Louie Barrios IV got it done for Delaware Valley, with two passing touchdowns and two rushing TDs as well. Photo by Jeffrey Levy, d3photography.com | More photos from this game |
Wartburg survived a battle up at St. John's and Aurora won going away at Alma in the top left bracket; Mount Union had an easy time of it with Utica and Delaware Valley scored 21 unanswered points to beat Randolph-Macon in the bottom left bracket; North Central pulled away from Carnegie Mellon and Ithaca shut out Springfield in the second half to advance in the top right bracket; and Mary Hardin-Baylor got the key sacks at the end to win at Trinity (Texas), while Bethel went out to Linfield and pitched a second-half shutout to win.
The Aggies' 21-point rally resulted in a 39-32 win, putting Delaware Valley in the national quarterfinals for the fifth time in program history.
After the teams played to an 18-all tie at the half, Randolph-Macon took advantage of two Delaware Valley mistakes and opened up a 32-18 lead in the third quarter. First, the Yellow Jackets recovered a fumbled punt at the Aggies' seven yard line and quarterback Andrew Ihle ran the ball in for the score. Then, after a Delaware Valley interception, Randolph-Macon advanced inside the Aggies' five and Ihle found the end zone again. Photo gallery
Right before the third quarter ended, Delaware Valley quarterback Louie Barrios IV found Nahsir Morgan for a long pass inside the Yellow Jackets' five. Barrios capped that drive with a touchdown and then he scored again with 4:07 to play after Ryan Loughlin made a lunging grab at the Randolph-Macon 2-yard line.
Randolph-Macon got the ball back with the game tied at 32 and ran for nine yards on its first two plays of the drive. On third and one, Ihle was stuffed by Aggies defensive end Yusuf Aladinov for no gain, and the Yellow Jackets punted the ball away. Facing a third and 14 from the Randolph-Macon 38, Barrios found Dez Austin for a 28 yard gain and then zipped the ball to Jahair Johnson for the game-winning score.
Randolph-Macon had one last chance to tie the game, but Aladinov sacked Ihle to start drive and then his final pass fell incomplete.
Delaware Valley finished with 465 total yards including 335 from Barrios through the air and 105 on the ground for Jay White. Aladinov registered 11 tackles, four for loss and two sacks. With starting quarterback Drew Campanale injurred, Ihle and Brecht Huechan went 11 for 22 for 174 and two touchdowns.
The Aggies will face the Purple Raiders, as Deandre Parker ran for two touchdowns and Wayne Ruby Jr. caught two touchdown passes to lead Mount Union past Utica 45-7. Utica quarterback Braeden Zenelovic threw for 301 yards but was picked off three times, as the Pioneers did not find the end zone until the fourth quarter. The Purple Raiders racked up nine tackles for loss and four sacks, helping limit Utica to 16 rushing yards. All three of Mount's interceptions led to Raider touchdowns.
Wartburg broke open the game at St. John's with a touchdown with 32 seconds left in the first half, and a strip of the punter and fumble runback to start the second half. But up 23-6, the Knights had to hold on. St. John's came right back with a nine-play, 75-yard drive and Tony Underwood took an option pitch left into the end zone to make it 23-13. After the teams traded punts, Wartburg starting quarterback Nile McLaughlin had to be helped off the field with an apparent ankle injury late in the third quarter. Photo gallery
From there, it was on the shoulders of the Wartburg defense to carry it home. Backup quarterback Carter Markham was stopped short of the line of scrimmage on a fourth-and-1 from the Johnnie 39. St. John's (10-2) took the shot in the arm and finished the drive off with its longest run of the day, as Troy Feddema went straight up the middle for a 17-yard touchdown run, cutting the deficit to 23-20. The Knights went three-and-out, but Trent Roling came up with Wartburg's third interception of Aaron Syverson on the day.
After another three-and-out, St. John's got the ball back and ran the ball well before punting and pinning the Knights on thier own 8. After Markham hit Carter Henry on a deep ball, his first and only completion of the day, to get the ball out to the 30, Wartburg ended up punting again. But the Johnnies were called for a personal foul on hitting the punter, giving the Knights new life and allowing them to run an extra couple of minutes off the clock.
Once again Wartburg (12-0) came up empty and the defense went back out to try to make another stand, and it turned out it was the final one, as Antonio Santillan picked off Syverson deep over the middle and returned it to the St. John's 31. On first down, Hunter Clasen pushed it up for 15 yards, allowing the Knights to run out the clock. In the end, Parker Rochford had an interception and the forced fumble, while Roling, Santillan and Owen Grover had the rest of the Knights' four picks in the 23-20 victory.
Aurora built up a gigantic lead in the first 30 minutes and cruised through the second as the Spartans marched past Alma 48-26. Aurora (11-1) led 48-12 early in the fourth quarter before the Scots (11-1) scored twice in the final 10 minutes. The Spartans will travel to Wartburg for the national quarterfinals.
Jhequay Chretin had a huge afternoon, rolling up 225 yards and two touchdowns on 38 carries, and Josh Swanson threw for 284 yards and four scores in the victory. The Aurora defense broke up eight passes and picked off Alma quarterback Carter St. John once in the win.
Ithaca advanced to the national quarterfinals by getting past Springfield 31-20. The Bombers (12-0) led by one point at the hald, then shut out the triple-option Pride in the second in the win. Ithaca got four turnovers from the Pride, and also limited them to just 24:49 in time of possession, a season-low. Meanwhile, Ithaca racked up 411 yards of total offense, with A.J. Wingfield throwing for 168 yards and running for 88 more.
Springfield came up with a huge play on the fourth play of the game as Brown snagged an interception and raced 45 yards down the Pride sideline for the pick-six, snagging a 7-0 advantage just 2:05 in the contest. After forcing a Bombers three-and-out, Springfield marched 56 yards in seven plays, with Torres getting free for a 43-yard scamper to set up a 23-yard field goal by Hutra at the 8:25 mark.
But from there, Ithaca outscored the Pride 31-10, with Jalen Leonard-Osbourne catching TD passes of 49 and 46 yards and running for a 3-yard score as well. Wingfield threw for 168 yards on 20-of-28 attempts and rushed for 88 yards on 15 carries, to go along with one reception for 23 yards.
Defending champion Mary Hardin-Baylor jumped out to a 17-0 lead before holding on to a 24-17 win at Trinity (Texas). The Crusaders (11-1) frustrated Trinity's offense in the first half, limiting the Tigers (11-1) to 59 yards of offense through the first 30 minutes. Brandon Jordan was the top offensive weapon for UMHB, catching a game high six passes for 139 yards. Jordan's 45 yard touchdown catch and run in the fourth quarter proved to be the decisive score.
Trailing 24-17 with less than one minute to play, Trinity drove the ball to the Crusader 25 yard line. Sacks by Tristan Green and Dorian Pittman ended the final Tiger drive. The Cru finished with six sacks of Tucker Horn in the game.
Bethel is through to the round of the eight after defeating Linfield 30-13 in McMinnville. Bethel (10-2) scored touchdowns on their first two possessions while holding Linfield (10-1) to a pair of field goals on their first two possesions to take an early 14-6 lead. Joey Kidder hauled in three touchdowns for Bethel. Kidder caught five passes for 107 yards to go along with his three scores. Anthony Hockett intercepted Wildcat quarterback Blake Eaton twice in the end zone in the second half to maintain the Royal advantage.
Bethel sacked Eaton six times in the game, two by Jacob Holmen. Bethel will play Mary Hardin-Baylor in the quarterfinal round.
Carnegie Mellon (11-1) blocked a field goal on North Central's first possession of the game, and took the lead when Kris Hughes took a Ben Mills pass and ran it in for a 47-yard touchdown. It was the first TD allowed by North Central since Oct. 1. North Central (12-0) trailed after one quarter, in fact, and did not fully gain the upper hand until the final minutes. In a matchup of stubborn, rock-ribbed defenses, North Central stood tallest by allowing only 146 total yards, the third-lowest by a Cardinal opponent this season.
North Central evened the score at 7-7 early in the second period, as Luke Lehnen broke free for runs of 23 and 13 yards before completing a 2-yard touchdown pass to DeAngelo Hardy with 12:01 on the clock. The Cardinals' pass rush set up the final score of the half, as Tyler Rich sacked Mills deep in CMU territory. Dan Lester recovered the fumble at the Tartans' 2-yard line. Three plays later, Ethan Greenfield scored from yard away to give the Cardinals their first lead at 14-7.
Rich later sacked Mills and forced another fumble, which Lester also recovered at the CMU 41 with 2:19 left in the third. Lehnen hit Hardy and Greenfield for double-digit gains, and Greenfield ended up breaking three tackles and scoring a touchdown on the first play of the fourth.