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| Ithaca athletics photo |
Ithaca got its Liberty League schedule off in grand fashion, Bethel bounced back from its Week 4 loss and Hardin-Simmons had to hold on against its crosstown rival in Week 5's action among teams in the D3football.com Top 25.
No. 17 Ithaca survived a challenge from No. 21 Hobart when Statesmen quarterback David Krewson fumbled on the final play of the game. Krewson was able to pick the ball up and scramble with it, but was unable to get out of bounds and time expired with Hobart at the Ithaca 15. It was the second attempt for Hobart at a drive which could have tied or given the Statemen the lead, as Hobart had reached the Ithaca 14 with 2:11 left but was unable to convert on fourth-and-9. The defense forced a three-and-out and Hobart got the ball back at its own 44 with a minute left, out of timeouts, and Krewson found Chris Bartosic open in the middle of the field for a 27-yard catch-and-run but the Statesmen could not get the ball into the end zone.
Ithaca (4-0) had taken a 28-21 lead on back-to-back deep balls over the middle from quarterback A.J. Wingfield. The first time, he found Michael Anderson for a big 44-yard play to get to the Hobart 30, and Wingfield flung it another 30 to Andrew Vito for the touchdown with 8:54 left in the game. Wingfield finished 17-for-21 for 22 yards and the one touchdown.
McMurry returned the opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown and the War Hawks were a thorn in the side of their crosstown rival all afternoon before No. 7 Hardin-Simmons prevailed, 24-21. McMurry missed a short field goal attempt with 6:32 left in the game which would have cut the lead to 24-16, but HSU's Colton Marshall fumbled and Xavier Gayle recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown. A successful two-point conversion attempt left the score 24-21 with 6:19 to play. But McMurry never got the ball back again, as the Cowboys (4-1, 3-1 ASC) converted three first downs to run out the clock and escape with the win. Myles Featherston had 142 yards and a TD on 19 carries for HSU, while Marshall added 17 carries for 114 yards and a score.
Kobe Berghammer passed for two touchdowns and ran for another pair of scores to lead No. 8 UW-Oshkosh to a 35-32 victory at UW-Platteville. UW-Oshkosh (3-0, 1-0 WIAC) jumped out to leads of 14-0 and 21-3 during the first quarter before holding off a late UW-Platteville comeback attempt. Platteville (1-3, 0-1) cut its deficit to 35-32 with 3:22 left in the fourth quarter and regained possession at its own 15-yard line at the 2:15 mark following a UW-Oshkosh punt. However, the Titans defense held the Pioneers to one first down and 14 yards during UW-Platteville's final drive, securing the hard-fought win on an incomplete pass on a fourth-and-9 play with 35 seconds remaining.
Bethel got to Jake Breitbach early and put up three touchdowns in the third quarter as the No. 16 Royals put Gustavus Adolphus away by a 34-9 score. Despite picking off Breitbach twice in the first quarter, Bethel led just 14-9 at the break after the Golden Gusties went 88 yards in 16 plays over the final 3:23 of the first half to kick a short field goal. But Jaran Roste ran for a touchdown on Bethel's first drive of the second half, then got a fourth-down stop at the Royal 23, setting up Roste to hit Joey Kidder for a 73-yard TD pass.
Sixth-ranked St. John's has had some crazy battles with Concordia-Moorhead before, but with the new-look Cobbers offense throwing the ball all over the place, the Johnnies had no problem. Concordia's Tanner Dubois completed 25 of 39 passes, but for just 149 yards as St. John's cruised to a 49-0 win in Moorhead. Ten Johnnies caught passes from three different quarterbacks, including Jimmy Buck, who caught two touchdowns, while tight end Alex Larson caught six passes for 91 yards and a score and receiver Ravi Alston had seven for 92 and a touchdown.
No. 10 Delaware Valley rode its defense to a 32-7 victory over Lycoming, as the Aggies scored twice on defense and twice more on scoring drives which started inside the Lycoming red zone after turnovers. Jamir Prevard's first interception set up Delaware Valley (4-0) for a 17-yard touchdown drive late in the first half and his second interception was a 31-yard pick-six. Delaware Valley had five interceptions and a 50-yard fumble recovery for a score against a Warriors' offense that entered the game with one turnover in its previous four games.
Jonathan Anderson and Ike Irabor combined for 52 carries for 260 yards and three touchdowns as No. 12 Union got past Buffalo State 30-17. The Dutchmen (5-0) got a touchdown with Irabor, returning from injury, with 1:23 left to finish things off after Buff State (0-4) scored twice in the fourth to cut the lead to six. Salisbury picked off Ja'Quill Burch four times, two of them coming from Sean Carroll, and the No. 14 Sea Gulls built up a 27-0 lead in cruising to a 27-7 win against Montclair State.
No. 11 Washington & Jefferson erased a double-digit second half deficit to salvage a 24-20 victory at Geneva. The Golden Tornados, behind their triple-option attack, raced out to a 14-0 lead, and made its lead to 20-10 with a 47-yard touchdown pas by Amos Luptak to Schell at the 9:25 mark of the third quarter. W&J quickly countered back with a score of its own on the ensuing possesion, as the Presidents needed just five plays to go 75 yards for the touchdown. The drive was highlighted by a 43-yard completion by Heacock to senior wide receiver Payton Skalos that moved the ball into Geneva territory. Later on the drive, senior running back EJ Thompson reached the end zone from 10 yards out, bringing the deficit to 20-17 with 7:49 to play in the third. W&J continued to trail by three points early in the fourth quarter. A short punt and 26 yard return by Wolf allowed W&J to start at the Geneva 25. Heacock found Wolf for a 19-yard touchdown strike with 9:54 to play, giving W&J its first lead of the game.
Wyatt Smith became Linfield's all-time leader in pass completions and threw for five touchdowns in a 56-7 win at Puget Sound. Smith became Linfield's all-time leader in pass completions, passing former Wildcats All-American Sam Riddle, who connected on 593 passes from 2013 to 2016. The record-setting completion went to his brother, Colton Smith, on the Wildcats' second offensive series.
No. 1 North Central had little trouble with Carroll in a 62-7 win, No. 2 Mary Hardin-Baylor did similarly against Austin College winning 56-0 and No. 4 Mount Union rolled past Otterbein 55-0.
This recap will be updated.