Mount St. Joseph was a big hurdle for Wheaton to overcome, but Giovanni Weeks helped the Thunder clear it. Wheaton athletics photo by Caleb Vankherkoff

The bottom left portion of the bracket featured a near-upset, easy wins for Wartburg and UW-Whitewater and Whitworth pulling away from Chapman out west.

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Wheaton trailed 14-0 less than three minutes into the game against Mount St. Joseph, but the Thunder came back and won 41-31. Giovanni Weeks ran for four touchdowns -- two of them after MSJ took its early lead, tying the game at 14, and the final one the game-winner with 7:59 to play.

The performance by Weeks overcame a big day from Mariano McKenzie, who ran for a 62-yard TD on Mount St. Joseph's first drive of the game and added a TD in the third. Josh Taylor also ran for two TDs and threw for another in defeat for MSJ. Ben Thorson threw his first pick of the season for Wheaton but finished 20-for-37 passing for 262 yards and a touchdown.

Solo Hines scored four touchdowns and Whitworth pulled away from visiting Chapman with 21 straight points in a 42-28 victory over the Panthers. The game turned toward Whitworth in the final minute of the first half, right after the Panthers (6-4) tied the game 14-14 with 1:04 left in the second quarter. The Bucs needed only 57 seconds to drive 75 yards in ten plays, taking a 21-14 lead on the third touchdown of the first half for Hines. The Whitworth defense then shut out Chapman in the third quarter, holding the Panthers to 12 total yards.

Destin Chance threw for 311 yards and Collin Brunstein caught 15 passes for 147 yards for Illinois College, but it was not nearly enough as Wartburg rolled past the Blueboys 49-17. Illinois College was just 9-for-22 passing for 105 yards in the first half as Wartburg was building a 42-0 lead, and IC got most of its yards well after the game was out of hand. Hunter Clasen and Dawson Rud combined for 277 yards on the ground, while Nile McLaughlin completed 21 of 34 passes for 252 yards and three scores before the backups came in.

Alec Ogden went 11-for-15 for 218 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 71 yards as UW-Whitewater rolled past Bethel 42-14, in Steve Johnson's final game as Bethel's legendary head coach. Tamir Thomas ran for 156 yards and two touchdowns in the win, while Tommy Coates caught two touchdown pases and Egon Hein had three pass breakups.