|
| Stuart DeMerit, Concordia-Moorhead Concordia-Moorhead athletics photo |
Presented by 
Games of Sept. 7-9, 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 Kaleb Blaha, Jr., UW-River Falls
Blaha broke a school single-game record for total offense, compiling 566 yards with a career-high 420 passing yards and 146 rushing yards, leading the No. 9-ranked Falcons to a 37-10 road win at Ohio Wesleyan. He threw three touchdown passes and ran for one more.
OL Luke Wilson, Aidan Francis, Mason Frank, Lucas Villanueva, Alec Berceli, Rochester
Rochester ran all over Alfred State in a 49-7 drubbing, producing 285 net rushing yards on 49 carries. UR added five rushing scores on the ground, and had a long rush of 56 yards on the night. UR improved its run game after only mustering 43 yards rushing in the season-opener last week, moving to 1-1 on the season.
RB Jhe'quay Cretin, Sr., Aurora
Chretin led the Spartans to a 45-30 win at Franklin, scoring four touchdowns on 11 carries for 241 yards. He took the first play of the game 91 yards for a score and finished the day with a 21.9 per carry average.
RB Rayshawn Boswell, Sr., Hobart
Boswell rushed for a career-high 147 yards and two touchdowns to lead a Hobart rushing attack which piled up 306 yards on the ground in a 27-10 win over Morrisville State. He averaged 7.4 yards per carry, scoring on runs of 18 yards and 4 yards. His first TD gave the Statesmen a 13-0 first quarter lead while his final score completed the game's scoring with just over four minutes remaining.
WR Jailen Hobbs, Sr., Rose-Hulman
Hobbs recorded 14 catches, 205 yards, and three touchdowns in the 30-28 win over Trine, and all three of those totals rank top in school history for a single game. He recorded 11 catches for 200 yards and three touchdowns in the first 20 minutes of the game before the offense became run-centric in the second half of the game.
WR Declan O'Brien, Sr., Allegheny
After tying the program single-game record with 14 catches last week, he went off again with 13 catches and one run for 14 total offensive touches. He had 158 receiving yards, including a game-tying touchdown late in the fourth quarter, in an eventual 27-21 loss to Geneva.
TE Drake Martin, Jr., UW-Whitewater
Martin bolstered the No. 8 Warhawks' 56-28 win over No. 4 St. John's with 93 yards receiving on three catches - an average of 31 yards per reception. He hauled in a 45-yard scoring catch in the second half in one of UWW's biggest plays on the day.
Defense
DE Michael Carey, Sr., Carleton
Michael Carey had two sacks, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, a pass breakup and five tackles as Carleton rallied in the second half for a 45-24 victory over Pomona-Pitzer. Both of Carey's strip sacks set up Carleton scoring drives.
DT Dawson Dietz, Jr., Washington & Jefferson
Dietz paced the defensive efforts for the Presidents with a team-high eight tackles in a 42-7 road win over Bethany. Dietz had three tackles for loss, a sack and two forced fumbles in the victory.
DE Tevin Baker, Sr., Monmouth
Baker had a career-high four sacks, four and a half tackles for loss, a fumble recovery, eight total tackles, four quarterback hurries and a pass breakup in a 39-6 win over Chicago. He helped limit Chicago to 50 rushing yards on 29 carries for a 1.7 average and the Maroons had just one score in the game. Baker's 4.5 tackles for loss resulted in 16 yards lost.
LB Cade Michna, Sr., Hardin-Simmons
Michna was a dominant force in the Cowboys' win at No. 11 UW-La Crosse. He had 13 tackles (12 solo), including a sack, and he sealed the game with the Eagles driving for a potential tying score with an interception with 50 seconds to play.
LB Caleb Harmel, Sr., Trinity (Texas)
Harmel led the fifth-ranked Tiger football team to a 35-16 win over 12th-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor on Saturday night, holding the Cru to less than 300 yards of total offense in the game. He snagged two interceptions to go with six tackles and a pass breakup to help the Tigers snap a seven-game losing streak in the series with UMHB. His first interception came at his own 5-yard line to keep Mary Hardin-Baylor from scoring late in the second quarter. Harmel had another pick early in the third quarter to set Trinity's offense up at the 22 yard line.
LB Ben McMahon, Sr., Bridgewater State
Notched a game-high 11 tackles (six solo), including one for loss, to go along with an interception in a 24-21 setback to WPI.
CB Jaylin Epps, Jr., Denison
Epps recorded three tackles and four pass breakups in a 28-14 loss to No. 7 Linfield. The Big Red broke up seven Linfield passes on the day.
S Parker Rochford, Jr., Wartburg
Rochford recorded 10 total tackles, three tackles for loss, and an interception that sealed the win in the fourth quarter on the road against the No. 16 team in the country as Wartburg defeated Bethel 16-2.
S Jaylen Moore, Jr., Guilford
Moore returned an interception 38 yards for a touchdown, while recording six tackles (three solo) in Guilford's 39-21 lightning-delayed win against Methodist.
S Reginald Jones, Sr., Rockford
Reginald Jones Jr. was a key cog defensively in Rockford's 38-37 comeback win against St. Scholastica. Jones intercepted two passes in the fourth quarter to help Rockford outscore the Saints 17-7 over the final 15 minutes. He also tallied four total tackles and one tackle for loss.
CB Max Wilson, So., Wheaton
Wilson recorded two interceptions for the Thunder defense last Saturday in a 31-20 victory against No. 19 UW-Oshkosh. His first pick stopped a Titans' drive at the guests' 39-yard line midway through the second quarter and setup a Thunder field goal later in the quarter to give Wheaton a 17-9 lead. Wilson's second pick came with 2:42 remaining, on a Titans' fourth-and-16, and was returned to the Thunder 30-yard line. The interception gave the hosts the ball with 2:42 remaining in the game and a 30-21 lead that the offense ran out for the remainder of the contest.
Special teams
K Mike Baloga, Jr., Cortland
Baloga made both of his field goal attempts, from 38 and 31 yards, and was 8-for-8 on extra point attempts as No. 10 Cortland defeated Lycoming, 62-7, on the road.
P Billy Cook, Sr., Ursinus
Cook averaged 42.3 yards per punt in the Ursinus 30-14 win over Kean. He dropped two of his three punts inside the 20 yard line. Cook also converted a successful fake punt attempt in the second quarter with a 20-yard rush as the Bears faced fourth-and-7 from their own 29-yard line.
RET Terrell Harris, Sr., Hope
Harris returned a punt a Hope-record 90 yards for a touchdown during a 42-28 win vs. Loras. The return broke a 64-year school record of 79 yards. Hope trailed 14-0 until Harris put the Flying Dutchmen on the board three minutes into the second quarter and breathed life into a struggling team. He later caught a 34-yard touchdown pass that tied the score 58 seconds before halftime.
ST Stuart DeMerit, Jr., Concordia-Moorhead
Stuart DeMerit scored the decisive touchdown on a 93-yard field goal block in the Cobbers' 26-21 win over Pacific Lutheran. The 93-yard return after a blocked field goal is the longest in program history. The blocked field goal attempt came with Concordia-Moorhead clinging to a 13-7 lead in the third quarter.