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| Aaron Rios Photo for Ursinus athletics by David Morgan, Stylish Images |
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Games of Sept. 13-14, 2024
The Team of the Week, presented by Scoutware, is D3football.com's weekly honor roll, in its 26th season of recognizing the top performance at each position from the previous week. Players are nominated by schools.
Offense
QB Aaron Syverson, Sr., St. John's
Syverson finished 34-of-38 passing for 324 yards and three touchdowns in the Johnnies' 35-13 win over No. 5 Wartburg on Sept. 14. Syverson completed his first 10 passes and 18 of his first 19 throws. Syverson's .895 completion percentage and 34 completions were both the third-best in SJU history. His 324 passing yards served as his 11th game with 300 or more, the second-most in program history.
OL Kevin Whalen, Aidan Glynn, Ryan Bitka, Jayden Lont, Cody Aikey, Cortland
Cortland finished with 663 yards of total offense, the second-highest total in school history, in a 70-7 win over visiting Lycoming. The Red Dragons did not allow a sack.
RB A.J. Jackson, Sr., Lake Forest
Jackson was the swiss army knife for the Foresters as he touched the ball four different ways but found great success at the running back position for the first time in his career, recording five rushing TD's on 12 carries for the Foresters. Jackson had 194 total all-purpose yards for the Foresters as they defeated defending conference champions Illinois College on Saturday. Jackson finished with 121 yards from scrimmage on 14 touches in the win.
RB Ronald Clark, Sr., Salisbury
Clark tallied 180 yards rushing with two touchdowns on just 11 carries, helping the Sea Gulls take down No. 18 Muhlenberg. His longest run of the day was an 86-yard touchdown, giving the Sea Gulls a 28-21 advantage in the first half.
WR Christian Drumgoole, So., N.C. Wesleyan
Drumgoole broke the school record for receiving yards and receptions in a single game, as he tallied 18 catches for 277 yards and two touchdowns for the Battling Bishops. His second score gave N.C. Wesleyan a 21-14 lead in the third quarter in a game that Ferrum eventually won 28-24.
WR Dion Anderson, So., Alfred
Anderson broke the school record for receiving yards in a single game, totaling 279 receiving yards from 10 receptions to go with three touchdowns in a 64-28 win against Juniata. Anderson added 11 rushing yards and 32 yards from special teams.
TE Clayton Schwalbe, Jr., UW-Oshkosh
Schwalbe caught three passes for 67 yards and a touchdown in UW-Oshkosh's 28-21 overtime victory over No. 21 Linfield on Saturday. A51-yard catch set up an eventual score for the Titans. He also tied up the game at 21-21 in the fourth quarter, receiving a 12-yard pass in the end zone.
Defense
DE Aaron Rios, Jr., Ursinus
Rios dominated the Kean offense in the Bears' 31-17 win on Saturday, registering a career-high 10 tackles (seven solo), seven tackles for loss, and five sacks. His efforts helped the Bears limit the Cougars to a staggeringly low minus-28 rushing yards and eight sacks as a team.
DT Brandon Kuse, Sr. TCNJ
Kuse was a force in a 17-13 victory over Franklin & Marshall. he racked up 2.5 sacks among his 3.5 tackles for loss, which included strip-sacks on back-to-back plays late in the first half. The second of Kuse's two consecutive forced fumbles was recovered by teammate Bill Westerby with 14 seconds left in the half, allowing the Lions to kick a 41-yard field goal and extend their lead to 10-3 at intermission.
DT Sidiki Traore, So., Anderson
Traore recorded four sacks for the Ravens in Anderson's 20-6 win against Oberlin. He finished with sux total tackles, five solo, including four tackles for loss and 20 sack yards.
DE Ahmad Gantt, Sr., Rowan
Gantt notched five tackles, two and a half sacks, two quarterback hurries and a pass breakup in Rowan's 30-20 win against McDaniel.
LB Hayden Sanders., Sr., St. John's
Sanders led the Johnnies with 10 tackles (six solo), including four for a loss and two and a half sacks as the Johnnies earned a 35-13 win over No. 5 Wartburg. SJU recorded 10 sacks and 14 tackles for loss, which helped limit Wartburg to 9 rushing yards for the game.
LB Ryan Enright, Sr., Lebanon Valley
Enright picked off two passes and had four total tackles to lead the LVC defense in a 37-7 victory over Stevenson. He intercepted passes on back-to-back Stevenson drives in the second quarter that led to 10 points as the Dutchmen opened a 20-0 lead. His first interception came on the first play of the second quarter as he stepped in front of a pass along the sideline at the Stevenson 37-yard line. The Dutchmen responded with a field goal. On the next drive, Enright stepped in front of another pass at the LVC 40 and returned the pick for 14 yards. His second interception led to a touchdown giving the Dutchmen a 20-0 lead midway through the second quarter.
LB Daniel Eliasek, Sr., Randolph-Macon
Eliasek paced the Yellow Jackets defense with 17 tackles, including 13 solo stops in a 14-7 overtime win against Hobart. He had a pair of tackles for loss and was credited with a forced fumble. Late in the first quarter, Eliasek picked off a pass at the R-MC 39 to halt a Statesmen drive.
In overtime, trailing 14-7, Hobart faced fourth-and-1 on the R-MC 16 on its overtime possession. Quarterback Johnny Colombi ran up the middle and had the ball knocked loose by Eliasek. Quentin Mankin recovered for the Yellow Jackets to end the contest.
CB Ryan Visalli, Jr., Montclair State
Visalli returned a blocked field goal 77 yards for a touchdown on special teams, while also tallying nine tackles, seven solo, along with an interception returned for 29 yards on defense.
S Madux McGrath, So., Norwich
McGrath was a driving force for the Norwich defense Friday night against St. Lawrence notching two interceptions for a combined 32 yards on returns to go along with five total tackles, a pass breakup, and a QB pressure in a 20-9 loss. His performance helped limit the Saints to 244 yards of total offense.
S Matt Jung, So., Bethel
Jung came away with two interceptions in Bethel's 49-3 victory over Northwestern (Minn.). He added five tackles (two solo) with one and a half tackles for loss in the win.
CB Matthew Coons, Sr., DePauw
Coons recorded six tackles, all solo, including an interception and two pass breakups as the DePauw defense held Berry scoreless and to just 123 total yards in a 33-0 win. Berry quarterbacks posted an efficiency rating of 34.94.
Special teams
K Tim Kissinger, Sr., Lebanon Valley
Kissinger had a busy day in LVC's big 37-7 victory over Stevenson in the MAC opener with 13 points going a perfect 3-for-3 on field goal attempts, a perfect 4-for-4 on extra points. He connected on field goals of 36, 48, and 32 yards. His 48-yard field goal is the second-longest in the country this year, only behind his 56-yarder he made in week one. Kissinger averaged 63.4 yards on eight kickoff attempts and had five touchbacks.
P Andrew Toler, Sr., Rose-Hulman
Toler had another monster day in special teams with five punts for an average of 51.2 yards per kick. He pinned two balls inside the 20-yard line and added three punts over 50 yards including a 51-yarder, a 62-yarder, and a 57-yarder which was downed on the 1-yard line to force the Thunder to go 99 yards on their game-winning drive.
RET Tyler Vasey, So., UW-Whitewater
Vasey returned a kick for a touchdown and was the Warhawks' leading receiver in UW-Whitewater's 24-14 win over Division II Roosevelt. On a day in which the Warhawks needed some offense, Vasey hauled in a kick at the 2-yard line and went the distance for the score in the third quarter. He is now tied for the program record with two career kick returns for touchdown.
ST Isaiah Couser, So., Ithaca
Couser's major impact was felt on special teams, as he blocked a first quarter field goal to set up Ithaca's only touchdown of the game and later blocked a point after try to keep the Bombers to within six points in the third quarter of a game that Ithaca lost to Endicott 13-7.