Senior Andrew Rosales leads his team back to the Whittier sideline after his Poets snapped a 33-game losing streak and acquired The Shoes at the same time. Photo by Pat Coleman, D3sports.com

Whittier defeated Occidental, ending a 33-game losing streak and winning The Shoes for the first time since 2013. Kalamazoo improved to 5-0 for the first time since 1978, Hobart handed Union its first loss of the season and Johns Hopkins declared loud and clear that it was not done winning the Centennial Conference in Week 6 Division III football action on Oct. 6. Meanwhile, the University of New England won for the first time in its short football career, Central improved to 6-0 and Marietta defeated Heidelberg to go to 5-0.

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The Poets possessed The Shoes, but only because Occidental didn't field a team for the latter half of the 2017 season and gave them up to their rival. Today, however, Whittier won the trophy outright, for their first victory of any type in football since Oct. 18, 2014. Alex Retana ran for 98 yards and all four touchdowns on 21 carries to lift Whittier to the win. Matthew Valencia came on at quarterback after Miguel Avina was knocked out of the game with an injury and completed seven of 13 passes. Occidental, which could only field a team for three of its nine scheduled games last year, has lost eight in a row, and last won on Oct. 29, 2016.

The Shoes are bronzed cleats worn by Myron Claxton, a Whittier back in the late 1930s. The cleats were stolen from Whittier's locker room before the 1939 game, forcing Claxton to play in his work boots. (It didn't help. Whittier won 36-0.) Following the game Claxton went over to the Oxy sideline and retrieved his shoes, “bringing them home.” Shortly after the game went on hiatus for World War II, the shoes were bronzed and turned into the trophy that now goes to the winner of the game.

Earlham has the longest active Division III losing streak, at 49 games. Hanover walloped Earlham 83-17, meaning the Quakers need to defeat Anderson on Oct. 13 to avoid tying Macalester for the longest losing streak in Division III history. The Scots' streak ended in 1980. 

Robert Inniss Jr. made a 38-yard field goal with five seconds remaining to lift the University of New England to its first victory in program history, 44-42 over Curry. Curry had opened the fourth quarter with a 14-play, 80-yard drive finishing with a 25-yard touchdown catch by Zach Levy to take a 42-41 advantage. Following a three-and-out by the Nor'easters, the Colonels tried to run down the clock, forcing UNE to use all three of its remaining timeouts. The Nor'easters made a stop on third down to force a punt with 2:29 to play, got the ball back at their own 12, and Brian Peters hit big passes to Ryan Bagoury, Jack Mahoney and Alex Huff to get the ball in position for the winning kick.

Ryan Hofmann hit AJ Perlino for a 16-yard touchdown pass with 8:28 left in the game and Kyle Hackett's extra point attempt gave Hobart a 29-28 lead. The Statesmen then got an interception on the ensuing drive and ground 5 minutes, 24 seconds off the clock to kill Union's chances. The loss is the first of the year for the Flying Dutchmen. Hofmann was 17-for-29 passing for 326 yards and three scores as Hobart improved to 3-2, 1-0 in the Liberty League.

Johns Hopkins scored the first 21 points of the game and led 42-6 after three quarters in cruising past Franklin & Marshall 42-12. David Tammaro completed 24 of 34 passes for 290 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score in the win. Tanner Erisman was limited to 9-for-19 passing for 109 yards. Ryan Hubley caught 12 passes for 107 yards and a touchdown for Johns Hopkins, which improved to 5-1, 4-1 in the Centennial.

Marietta won another back-and-forth battle, as Pioneers running back Tanner Clark scored the go-ahead touchdown with 1:19 left to lift his team past Heidelberg 38-34. Clark ran for three touchdowns on the day, rolling up 232 yards on 34 carries, as Marietta improved to 5-0. John Carroll, Baldwin Wallace and Mount Union await after Marietta faces Wilmington next week.

After watching a 19-point fourth-quarter lead get whittled down to six, Central was able to force a punt and grind out the final 3:36 with 21 yards on eight plays to preserve a 35-29 victory vs. Nebraska Wesleyan. Central rushed for team season-high 287 yards, but for the first time this year was outgained overall, 478-477 yards, by Nebraska Wesleyan (1-5, 0-4 ARC). The Dutch improved to 6-0, 4-0.

Denison snapped a 16-game losing streak to Wabash and shut the Little Giants out for 57-plus minutes as the Big Red rolled to a 34-10 win. The victory marks the first win over the Little Giants since Sept. 15, 1990. Canaan Gebele was 26-of-36 for 302 yards and three touchdowns for Denison, becoming the program's all-time passing leader.

Manni Romero had a game-high 10 catches for 272 yards and two touchdowns for Norwich, but it was Merchant Marine who scored 20 points in the final 11 minutes of the game and rallied past the Cadets 33-24. Romero's second touchdown came on the first play of the fourth quarter, a 73-yard strike from Matt Dunn to give Norwich a 24-13 lead. Norwich, however, fumbled a punt after its defense forced a three-and-out, and the Mariners kicked a 37-yard field goal to cut the lead to 8. Merchant Marine followed with a 10-play, 65-yard drive, where Krystian Abbott hit Joe Vitelli for a 9-yard touchdown pass. Dominic Spadafore ran for the two-point conversion to tie. Norwich went three-and-out and Abbott made the Cadets pay, hitting Luke Jamison for a 61-yard touchdown to take a 31-24 lead with 4:32 left. Norwich was called for intentional grounding in the end zone for a safety with 37 seconds left for the final margin. After his touchdown to start the fourth quarter, Romero was targeted nine times and caught just two passes for a total of 2 yards.

Martin Luther erased a two-touchdown deficit in the final eight minutes to win 28-21 at Iowa Wesleyan. Trailing 21-7 with 8:56 to play, Martin Luther scored three times in the final eight minutes. The comeback was capped when Joshua Schroeder connected with Josh Arndt on a reverse pass for a 74-yard score to give MLC a 28-21 lead with 2:21 left.

Thomas More won its fifth consecutive game, as the road swing continued on a 41-27 win at Emory & Henry. The Wasps scored with 12 seconds to go for the final margin. Hjavier Pitts ran for 204 yards and two scores, while Justin Post was 9-for-18 passing for 168 yards and two scores. 

Freshman Christopher Mills hit Alex Pierce with a 7-yard scoring strike with just 17 seconds to play as Moravian rallied for a 21-18 victory over host Susquehanna. Mills, making just the second start of his career, completed 21 of 33 passes for 205 yards with a touchdown and an interception as Moravian racked up 345 yards of offense on 74 plays. Cody Gustafson pulled in a 2-yard touchdown pass from freshman quarterback Josh Ehst with seven seconds remaining in regulation Saturday afternoon to lift Grove City to a 36-33 win vs. Westminster (Pa.) on Homecoming. Gustafson's touchdown catch capped a 12-play, 78-yard touchdown drive that used 2:35 of clock.

UWL's Rusty Murphy returned a Sean Borgerding fumble 67 yards for a touchdown on a Ryan Flathers' sack in overtime as UW-La Crosse defeated UW-Stout 29-23. UW-Stout was facing a third-and-14 on UWL's 29-yard line when Flathers recorded his third quarterback sack of the game to force the fumble. UW-Stout had scored 14 unanswered points to force a 23-23 tie with 2:09 left in regulation.

Shenandoah rolled up a school-record 658 yards of offense as the Hornets defeated visiting Hampden-Sydney 59-34. Hayden Bauserman was credited with with 47 completions in 63 attempts for 490 yards and five touchdowns against one interception in the win. On the opposite side, Alec Cobb was 34-for-49 passing for 445 yards and two touchdowns, but was picked off twice. Kaleb Smith rushed for 87 yards and three scores on 21 carries.

Down 33-10 midway through the third quarter, Loras rallied to defeat Buena Vista 44-40. The Duhawks took the lead for the first and only time with 48 seconds left, when Noah Sigwarth capped a 65-yard drive with a 3-yard TD run. Sigwarth was picked off three times, but threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more in the win.