Roundup: Week 2 is rally time

More news about: Beloit | Franklin and Marshall | UW-Stout

Sep 08, 2018

Aaron Wisecup and the UW-Stout defense run onto the field. (UW-Stout athletics file photo)

UW-Stout's Aaron Wisecup certainly brought the hammer on Saturday, blocking a Gustavus Adolphus extra-point in overtime to preserve the Blue Devils' 24-23 win.
UW-Stout athletics file photo

UW-Stout, Franklin & Marshall and Beloit were among the teams that rallied from second-half deficits to post victories in Saturday's action in Week 2 of the 2018 Division III football season. Stout won on a walkoff blocked extra point, Beloit won on a field goal with 22 seconds left and F&M just won going away.

UW-Stout had to rally from a 17-0 deficit late in the third quarter at Gustavus Adolphus. But the Blue Devils prevailed and won the game 24-23 in overtime on a blocked extra point. Levy Hamer caught a pass from Sean Borgerding to tie the game for Stout (1-1) with eight seconds left, and scored first in overtime on a 1-yard run from Keyshawn Carpenter. When the Golden Gusties (1-1) answered, Aaron Wisecup sealed the win by blocking the conversion attempt.

The Blue Devils' win might have been the most dramatic, but it was hardly the only instance where a team rallied to win on Saturday. Beloit rallied to score the final 16 points after Knox took a 20-7 lead into the fourth quarter. Erick Mitchell led two long touchdown drives in the fourth quarter as part of a three-touchdown day to tie the game at 20-20, and Andy Berlin had a shot to give the Buccaneers a three-point lead but missed a field goal with 8:02 left. The second time was the charm, however, as Beloit got the ball back at midfield and faced fourth down at the Knox 19-yard line with 0:22 to go. Juan Reyes, who generally handles kickoffs, hit from 37 yards and Beloit held on to win 23-20. Reyes is also a starting wide receiver and caught Mitchell's first touchdown pass of the afternoon.

Franklin & Marshall scored 33 unanswered points in the second half to erase a 17-7 halftime deficit and defeated Juniata 40-17 in Centennial Conference action. Tanner Erisman finished off a 29-yard drive with a 5-yard run to put F&M ahead 7-0 just two minutes into the game. The Eagles answered with 17 straight and took a 17-7 lead into the break. It was all F&M in the second half as the Diplomats shut out the host in the final two quarters, scoring five touchdowns to close out the game.

Geneva rallied from a 24-point halftime deficit to defeat St. Vincent, 31-27.

Widener carried a lot of confidence coming into the 2018 season, but has seen that dashed through two weeks as the Pride followed up its Week 1 double-overtime loss with a 33-19 defeat at the hands of archrival Lycoming. Jacob Fimbres and Keith Batkowski ran for 100 yards apiece and Jamie Fisher set a school record with four field goals, as Lycoming allowed just 193 yards of total offense. Widener lost its offensive coordinator, Manny Matsakis, when he took the head coaching job at Defiance in July.

Capital scored the first 14 points of the game and Marietta trailed for the entire first three quarters. But the Pioneers outscored the Crusaders 16-13 in the fourth quarter and held on to win 51-50. Capital scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 26 seconds left, but Marietta got the stop on the two-point conversion after scoring twice on two-point conversions in the final quarter to take the lead. Tanner Clark ran for five touchdowns and 311 yards on 34 carries, and added a sixth TD through the air. "I'm excited that we got the win. But it was certainly not the way we felt that we would play, especially on defense," Marietta coach Andy Waddle said. "It's a credit to Capital for making some great plays. We said all week that Thomas Wibbeler is one of the best quarterbacks in the country and he played like that today."

Carleton snapped its 16-game losing streak on Saturday, scoring the last 24 points in a 44-23 win vs. Lawrence. Christian Zaytoun threw five touchdown passes, three of them to Mack Journell as Journell caught a career-high 14 passes for 149 yards and three scores in the win. After the automatic sprinklers went off, interrupting the game for four minutes early in the third quarter, Carleton retook the lead and pulled away.

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Across town, St. Olaf held off Luther to win 34-29 behind five total touchdowns from quarterback Ricardo Johnson III. He ran for two scores and threw for three in the win, sending the Oles into next week's game against crosstown rival Carleton with a 2-0 record.

Three times in the fourth quarter DePauw challenged the Central defense on fourth down Saturday and three times the Dutch answered to preserve a rain-soaked 16-10 come-from-behind triumph. Overcoming a first-quarter 10-0 deficit, the Tigers' defense and some uncharacteristic misadventures in the punting game, Central improved to 2-0 for the second time in three seasons. The Dutch had to endure a day-long downpour as Greencastle was drenched with more than five inches of rain in the past 24 hours.

Guilford put up 48 points in 47 minutes of a game that was called off last week, but it wasn't a fluke. The Quakers put up 61 points in a game that went the full 60 minutes on Saturday, a 61-35 win vs. Methodist. De'Eric Bell ran for 225 yards and five touchdowns on 24 carries in the win.

Salve Regina rallied in the fourth quarter last week to defeat Worcester State. But the Seahawks had a much tougher time with Montclair State, and lost to the Red Hawks 37-14. Montclair rolled up 356 yards of total offense in the win. Salve was 16-for-43 passing, while Ronnie Martin, who ran for more than 100 yards in Week 1, did not play in Week 2.

Spenser Thompson-Meyers kicked a 29-yard field goal with three seconds left in the game, finishing St. Norbert's rally from a 16-0 deficit to tie the game, but UW-Eau Claire prevailed with a 30-23 win in double overtime. Brian Kulaga got into the end zone on a 9-yard touchdown run, his second of the night, and the Blugolds knocked down a fourth-down pass at the goal line to preserve the victory.

Jerron McGaw had 13 catches for a school-record 256 yards as Adrian rolled past Buffalo State 56-27. The Bulldogs jumped out to a 28-0 lead. Jack Wurzer, making his first collegiate start, completed 17 of 20 passes for 309 yards and six TDs. Kevin DeWall got his first win at the helm of his alma mater as the Hobart offense came alive in a 62-24 win vs. Morrisvile State. Ryan Hofmann completed 14 of 20 passes for a career-high 239 yards to go along with six TDs, tying Shane Sweeney's school record.