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| The Pioneers celebrate with the Axe for the first time since before these players were in kindergarten. UW-Platteville athletics photo |
UW-Platteville registered yet another win against a ranked team, Trinity (Texas) remained unbeaten, the CCIW showdown was a wash and the Empire 8 showdown wasn't much better in Top 25 action on Saturday.
Colton Ingram returned an interception 46 yards for a touchdown and Andrew Schweigert booted a 44-yard field goal in the fourth quarter for insurance as UW-Platteville got past No. 3 UW-Whitewater 17-14.
The Pioneers picked off Warhawk quarterback Evan Lewandowski four times and parlayed 168 yards of total offense and just nine first downs into just enough offense. On a day which featured just four third down conversions, combined, between the two sides, Platteville wrapped up its third win of the season against a team in the D3football.com Top 25, and its second in as many weeks. Platteville got three of those picks in the first half. In the fourth quarter, UW-Whitewater never got closer than the Platteville 39, when a fourth-and-8 ended in Justin Blazek sacking Lewandowski for a 7-yard loss.
It's the first time Platteville has beaten Whitewater since 2004. The winner of the game gets a trophy known as the Miner's Axe.
Berry blocked a field goal and returned it 54 yards to tie the game in the third quarter, but could only muster 190 yards of total offense and No. 7 Trinity (Texas) went on to down the Vikings, 21-14. Tucker Horn threw two touchdowns for the Tigers, including the o-ahead score to Caleb Crawford with 6:37 to play in the third. From there, the Tigers defense stood tall, as they held Berry to 8-for-19 passing for 72 yards. Berry never got closer than the Trinity 40 and the Tigers were also able to run out the final 6:28 to win the game after Berry punted from midfield.
Top-ranked North Central had little trouble with No. 23 Washington U. on the Bears' home field in St. Louis, as the Cardinals rolled up 235 yards on the ground and DeAngelo Hardy caught three touchdown passes in a 31-0 victory. The Cardinals defense sacked Wash U quarterbacks five times in a game between two unbeaten teams, and limited the Bears to 39 rushing yards. Luke Lehnen was an efficient 16-for-20 passing for 228 yards and three touchdowns for North Central.
Jaden Alfanostjohn ran for 162 yards and two touchdowns on only 12 carries and Zac Boyes completed 13 of 18 passes for 211 yards and four scores as No. 13 Cortland defeated host Utica 48-21 in a battle of unbeaten teams. The Red Dragons (7-0, 4-0 Empire 8) can clinch their second consecutive conference title and NCAA automatic berth with one more win. Cortland has yet to trail in a game this season.
UW-Stout took advantage of a short field to take a 14-13 lead at No. 24 UW-Oshkosh with 12:20 left in the game. But the lead was short-lived, as DJ Stewart returned the ensuing kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown to give the Titans a lead they would not relinquish. UW-Oshkosh went on to win 19-14. Kobe Berghammer connected on two big touchdown passes to Trae Tetzlaff, as he accounted for 178 of Berghammer's 221 passing yards.
Drew Campanale threw for 297 yards and four touchdowns and senior David Wallis had seven catches for 162 yards and four scores as No. 17 Randolph-Macon won 35-21 at Shenandoah. Campanale completed 19 of 26 passes. The Yellow Jackets scored the first 20 points of the game and racked up 539 yards of total offense in the win. It's the third time this season that Randolph-Macon has picked up more than 500 yards.
A dominant defensive effort was not enough for Trine as they came up just short of No. 20 Albion, dropping the contest 20-19. With under two minutes remaining in the game the Trine offense returned to the field for one final attempt. On four straight completions the Thunder moved to the Albion 46-yard line. The next two passes were incompletions forcing a third-and-10 play which ended in an interception, as James Bloomfield picked off Alex Price. Albion was able to run out the clock after the turnover and escape with the 20-19 victory.
Aaron Syverson threw four touchdown passes, two of them to tight end Alex Larson, as No. 5 St. John's defeated Gustavus Adolphus 41-27 in front of 13,161 fans. Both of Larson's TD catches came in the third quarter as the Johnnies extended a 24-21 lead to 38-21. Metoriah Faoliu got the scoring started for St. John's with a 35-yard fumbled return for a touchdown and finished with two and a half tackles for loss.
No. 6 Linfield had two pick-sixes and the Wildcats held Pacific Lutheran to five first downs in defeating the Lutes 45-0. Blake Eaton threw three touchdown passes for Linfield, two of them to Colton Smith, who finished with 11 catches for 86 yards. PLU completed nine of 26 passes for 51 yards.
No. 14 Delaware Valley started fast and finished off Wilkes 27-14 to seize control of the Middle Atlantic Conference race. Less than two minutes into the game, Louie Barrios connected with Tahmir Barksdale for a 78-yard touchdown that put the Aggies up 6-0. Del Val added rushing touchdowns from Walt Truxell and Jay White on its next two possessions and that was enough for the Aggies defense. Delaware Valley ran for 271 yards, including 118 from Jay White. The Aggies (8-0, 6-0 MAC) effectively have a two-game lead on Wilkes and King's with two games to play.