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| Jaydin Miller, North Park North Park athletics photo |
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Games of Oct. 6-7, 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 Kobe Berghammer, Sr., UW-Oshkosh
Berghammer continued his impressive season, breaking a three 20-plus-year-old UW-Oshkosh single game records in a 48-46 double overtime win at UW-La Cosse. He completed 42 of his 52 passing attempts for 466 yards and five touchdowns, also adding 105 yards on the ground for 571 all-purpose yards. He threw touchdowns of 25, 15, 11, 11 and 16 yards and converted the deciding two-point conversion in the second overtime on a pass to Londyn Little. Berghammer also rushed for a 10-yard touchdown and helped Trae Tetzlaff break a school record of his own with 17 connections between the quarterback and wide receiver.
OL Kevin Whalen, Aidan Glynn, Ryan Bitka, Jack McGrath, Cody Aikey, Cortland
Cortland rushed for 360 yards, the fifth-best total in school history and the best since 2007, as the Red Dragons defeated previously unbeaten Utica, 56-3. The Red Dragons averaged 6.9 yards per rush and scored five rushing touchdowns.
RB Kolbe Blunt, Sr., Belhaven
Blunt set a career-high in rushing yards for a second straight week after running for 225 yards on 16 carries in a 29-3 win against Huntingdon. He ran for two touchdowns, and also completed a 16-yard pass on the day.
WR Declan O'Brien, Sr., Allegheny
O'Brien set a program single-game record with 18 receptions in Allegheny's 35-28 loss at W&J. His 233 yards rank third all-time in Allegheny history and are the ninth-most by a D-III receiver this season. He also scored one touchdown.
WR DeAngelo Hardy, Sr., North Central (Ill.)
Hardy tied North Central single-game record for touchdown receptions and came within 10 yards of the Cardinals' single-game record for receiving yards, as he caught seven passes for 278 yards and four touchdowns in a win against Carroll. He posted the third-highest single-game all-purpose yardage total in program history. Scored on passes of 76, 2, 69 and 93 yards. His 93-yard reception is the eighth-longest in Division III this season and second-longest in North Central history to 94-yard TD reception scored by Hardy in 2022 Stagg Bowl.
WR Collin Brunstein, Sr., Illinois College
Brunstein also had an amazing day on seven catches, taking them for a total of 301 receiving yards in the Blueboys' 41-20 win at the University of Chicago. He scored on touchdown catches of 85, 87 and 66 yards.
TE Ntense Obono, Jr., Carleton
With 5-0 Carleton missing its top two wide receivers due to injuries, Obono picked up the slack with a career-high 13 catches for 112 yards and a touchdown as the Knights rallied for a 33-31 victory over crosstown rival St. Olaf in the Battle for the Goat Trophy. Of his 13 receptions, five earned a first down (in addition to his touchdown) and seven went for 10 or more yards.
Defense
DE Michael Ballenger, Jr., Denison
Ballenger had nine tackles, three tackles for loss and two and a half sacks for a loss of 19 yards, a career-high in all categories, against DePauw.
DT Jake Marcus, Sr., Lebanon Valley
Marcus spent a lot of time in the Widener backfield on Saturday recording three and a half tackles for a loss in a 27-24 double-overtime victory. He had seven total tackles including three sacks for 23 yards. He also added a quarterback hurry.
DE Jamon Gibson, Sr., Trine
Gibson was the anchor of a comeback performance by the Thunder. His QB Hurry in the second quarter created an interception that changed the momentum in Trine's 34-14 win against Adrian. He recorded four and a half tackles for loss and two and a half sacks. One of his sacks was a forced fumble that was recovered in the end zone, putting the game out of reach.
LB Jaydin Miller, Jr., North Park
Miller recorded 12 tackles, 11 of them solo, in North Park's win at Carthage. He returned an interception for a touchdown to seal the game in the fourth quarter, while also recording two tackles for a loss and a sack.
LB Savon Goodwin, Jr., Wisconsin Lutheran
Goodwin collected a game-high 10 tackles, all solo, five tackles for loss, and two sacks on Saturday in the Warriors' 34-14 home win over Lakeland. The senior linebacker led a defensive unit that held the Muskies scoreless in the second half.
LB Tyler Thimons, Sr., John Carroll
Thimons led John Carroll with 15 tackles, eight of them solo. He helped to limit Marietta running back Bryce Agnew to just 65 rushing yards as JCU defeated Marietta, 31-28.
LB Jared Reto, Jr., King's
King's overcame a 14-0 halftime deficit to defeat FDU-Florham, 17-14. Reto helped lead a team defensive effort that allowed just 21 yards of total offense and 0 points in the second half with 12 total tackles, including 2.5 tackles for a loss of 17 yards and one sack, for a loss of 11 yards.
CB Joshua Saaty, So., Gallaudet
Saaty iced Saturday's 34-20 victory for the Bison with a 68-yard pick-six interception as Gallaudet picked up its first win of the season. Saaty added three tackles on the day.
S Jake Connolly, Jr., Ithaca
Connolly led Ithaca with 11 total tackles, to go along with a sack and two interceptions in Ithaca's 20-17 overtime win at RPI on Saturday. Connolly's first interception came in the first quarter on RPI's opening drive and his second occurred at the end of the second quarter inside IC's own 10-yard line.
S Korey Kelley, Sr., Howard Payne
In a 24-14 victory over East Texas Baptist, Kelley anchored the Jacket defense that held the Tigers to just 54 yards rushing and forced three turnovers. He finished with a game-high nine tackles, two interceptions, and one pass breakup.
CB Gavin Smith, Sr., Central
Smith had two pass breakups and a team-high nine solo tackles. Both of his pass breakups came on third down and forced Loras punts.
Special teams
K Michael Stack, So., UW-La Crosse
Stack went 3-for-3 in field goals and 4-for-4 in extra-point attempts in UWL's 37-34 victory at third-ranked UW-Whitewater on Oct. 7. He hit a 51-yard field goal on the final play of the game to snap UWL's 19-game losing streak to UW-Whitewater. The 51-yard field goal tied the school record. Stack converted a 29-yard field goal in the second quarter and a 44-yard attempt in the third quarter.
P Alex Wing, Jr., Rochester
Wing had a phenomenal day punting the ball on Saturday in Rochester's 21-17 loss to Union. The junior booted seven punts for 317 yards (45.3 avg), including five of which ended inside the 20, matching the Yellowjacket school record in the process. Wing added punts downed or out-of-bounds at both the 1-yard line and 3-yard line in the game and chipped in a career-long punt of 62 yards.
RET James Mautino, Sr., Aurora
Mautino came into the week leading Division III in punt return average at 27.7 per return. He expanded on those numbers in Aurora's win at Concordia Chicago when he returned five punts for 220 yards with two going back for touchdowns. The touchdown returns went for 61 and 65 yards. Additionally, he returned the opening kickoff of the game 51 yards. He is now averaging 35.1 yards per punt return.
ST Thomas Coury, Sr., Carnegie Mellon
Coury helped spearhead the Tartans' special teams in an 80-22 win against Thiel with a block punt, and a return of another blocked punt for a touchdown. He also scored on defense after forcing a fumble.