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| Matt Jung, Bethel Photo by Caleb Williams, d3photography.com |
Presented by 
Games of Nov. 10-11, 2023
The Team of the Week, presented by Scoutware, is D3football.com's weekly honor roll, in its 25th season of recognizing the top performance at each position from the previous week. Players are nominated by schools.
Offense
QB Zac Boyes, Jr., Cortland
Boyes completed 24 of 32 passes for 289 yards and two touchdowns and ran 15 times for 125 yards in Cortland's 38-28 win at No. 14 Ithaca in the annual Cortaca Jug game. He capped the day with two vital runs with less than five minutes remaining - an 8-yard carry on fourth-and-2 from Cortland's 34-yard line and, two plays later, a 46-yard run to the Ithaca 12-yard line that set up a field goal to create the final 10-point margin.
OL Cameron Taylor, Nathan Mars, Cole Baiamont, Christopher Cinocco, Jacob Berault, Merchant Marine
The Mariners ran a season-high 90 times and, thanks to the sensational play of the offensive line, racked up 330 rushing yards and six touchdowns in their 39-27 road victory at Coast Guard on Saturday in the Secretaries' Cup. The 90 running plays are just two short of the school record, which is also the NCAA Division III record.
RB Jordan Smith, Jr., Westfield State
Smith ran for 223 yards and a school-record five rushing touchdowns as the Owls steamrolled Fitchburg State, 49-0 to close out the 2023 season at Elliot Field in Fitchburg. Smith had TD runs of 1, 40, 9, 30, and 4 yards on the afternoon. Smith did his damage on 25 carries, gaining 8.92 yards per carry, also a school single game record for a player with more than 20 carries.
RB Montie Quinn, So., Curry
Quinn set Curry's single season rushing record (1,618) with a mammoth 272-yard performance against Western New England. Quinn carried the ball 27 times, averaging 10.1 yards per rush, with three touchdown scampers. The three touchdowns clocked in at 76, 56, and 49 yards.
WR Devon Frenchko, Sr., Alma
Frenchko had four catches for an incredible 225 receiving yards, scoring three touchdowns in a 50-14 win against Albion. The total put Frenchko over the 1,000-yard mark in receiving yardage for the season.
WR Dom Shepardson, Sr., Coe
Shepardson had a career day for the Kohawks, catching 13 balls for 223 yards, both of which were single-game career highs. He fell just shy of the career receiving record in the game, hitting the 2,700-yard mark for his career. Two of his catches went for touchdowns in a 54-14 win against Loras.
TE Cullen Casey, Jr., Husson
Casey caught six passes for 135 yards and two touchdowns, including a 75-yard score in the second half, as Husson defeated Nichols 61-31 in the teams' season finale.
Defense
DE Alex Aitchison, So., Coe
Aitchison wreaked havoc all afternoon long in Coe's regular-season finale. He recorded seven total tackles in the victory and added four and a half tackles for loss, registering two and a half sacks as well. Aitchison also recovered a fumble in the win.
DT Devontay Moore, Sr., Manchester
Moore helped lead the Manchester defense that held Anderson to seven points on Saturday after finishing the afternoon with 11 total tackles, five tackles for loss, four and a half sacks, and three hurries. Moore also broke his own school records for career tackles for loss (42) and career sacks (24) during Saturday's win that brought the Bronze Ball back to Manchester.
DE Christian Powell, So., UW-La Crosse
Powell, playing defensive line after a position switch from tight end during the week, recorded seven tackles, including three sacks in UWL's 41-7 victory at UW-Stevens Point. The win clinched the outright WIAC title for UWL as the Eagles finished 7-0 in league play. Powell also had a forced fumble and a quarterback hurry in the game.
LB Brett Gross, Sr., Ursinus
Gross led the Ursinus defense with a team-high eight tackles (seven solo), lifting the Bears to a crucial 21-10 victory over Dickinson on Saturday afternoon. He added two tackles for a loss and a sack and finishes the regular season with the conference lead in tackles at 77.
LB Evan Roper, Jr., Carnegie Mellon
Roper and the Tartan defense held the Spartans to 32 yards on the ground which was the ninth time this season the Cardinal and Gray held an opponent under 100 yards on the ground. Rope finished the game with nine tackles, tying a career-high with eight solo stops in CMU's 31-21 win against Case Western Rserve. He also finished with two sacks which marked the third time this season that the junior recorded multiple sacks in a contest.
LB Casey Counts, Sr., Salisbury
Counts led Salisbury with seven tackles (three for loss), plus two sacks and three quarterback hurries as the Sea Gulls defeated Kean 31-28.
LB Justice Kaneta, Jr., Concordia (Wis.)
Kaneta helped the Falcons hold No. 13 Aurora to a season-low in points with a game-high 15 tackles, 10 of them solo stops. He also had a sack for 12 yards and a quarterback hurry.
CB Matt Jung, So., Bethel
Jung had 10 tackles, two tackles for loss and an interception in the Royals' 31-7 win over Gustavus giving Bethel its sixth MIAC Championship title. Jung's seventh interception of the year came late in the fourth picking off the Gusties on their own 38-yard line and returning it 12 yards. While he didn't get credit for the pick, Jung had his hand on the Royals' first interception with Gustavus having it fourth-and-goal from the 3 in the second quarter. The pass into the end zone was popped out of the receiver's hands by Jung and into the hands to teammate Nate Farm.
S Christian Julian, Sr., Westfield State
The Owls forced seven turnovers, highlighted by three interceptions from Julian. He totaled a school record 94 return yards and tied the school record with the three interceptions.
S Derek Slywka, Sr., Ithaca
Slywka recorded six total tackles with an interception returned for 57 yards and a pass breakup in a 38-28 loss to Cortland. He notched his sixth interception of the year, which continued his streak of five straight games with a pick.
CB Joseph Franco, Sr., Merchant Marine
Franco recorded a pair of second-half interceptions in the Mariners' 39-27 road victory at Coast Guard in the Secretaries' Cup. His first pick was on the Bears' first drive of the third quarter, which he returned 48 yards into Coast Guard territory to set up Merchant Marine's fourth TD of the day. His second interception came in the final minute of the fourth when the Bears were trying to rally, and sealed the victory for the Mariners.
Special teams
K Matthew Hylek, Sr., Aurora
Hylek connected on all three field goal attempts in a 23-0 Aurora win over Concordia (Wis.). He made a 48-yarder in his first attempt in the first quarter which set a new Aurora record, surpassing the previous mark of 47 yards. He went on to connect on a pair of 37-yard field goals in the third quarter. He also hit both PAT attempts.
P Andrew Toler, Sr., Rose-Hulman
Toler punted six times for 262 yards at 43.7 yards per punt in Saturday's loss. He also recorded two punts of more than 50 yards and pinned one inside the 20. He finished the season ranked third in the nation in yards per punt at 44.4.
RET Korbyn Haley, Fr., Heidelberg
Haley touched the ball twice on Saturday and took it to the house both times, as he returned two kickoffs, one for an 88-yard touchdown and one for a 90-yard score.
ST Christian Lariviere, So., Denison
After a touchdown on the opening drive of the game by Ohio Wesleyan, Lariviere blocked the ensuing extra point kick and recovered it around midfield before having the presence of mind to hand it off to a teammate who returned all the way for two points.