Josh Juaire and his Johnnies teammates had plenty to celebrate after the closing seconds. Photo by Matt McClure, d3photography.com

Wheaton pounded the ball into the end zone, but pounded it into the turf and lost, while Muhlenberg's defense held firm against the Salisbury option, Whitewater reasserted its dominance over Mary Hardin-Baylor and North Central's run continued in the national quarterfinals.

• Full quarterfinal scoreboard
• Old foes meet again in quarterfinals
• Salisbury finds itself new options
• North Central refuses to lose
• For Wheaton, No. 2 not good enough
• Playoff headlines
• Playoff bracket

The Thunder needed seven points to extend the game in the closing minutes, when they put center Jake Hibben in the backfield, Refrigerator Perry-style. And the Johnnies could not stop him, as he got the first down, then plowed ahead for three more carries, getting into the end zone with nine seconds left to cut the St. John's lead to 34-33. But in his excitement, Hibben spiked the ball, which draws an automatic unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Griffin Bowes, now needing a 35-yard extra point, missed the kick, but offsetting penalties gave Bowes another chance. He missed that one wide right, and the Johnnies survived to book a trip to the national semifinals.

"That one's going to hurt for a long time," Wheaton coach Mike Swider said after the game. "Nobody can question how tough these kids are. Nobody can question how they endured. They just came up a play short. And there were a lot of plays."

The Wheaton defense reached Jackson Erdmann for three sacks, but he threw for 407 yards and five touchdowns, completing 27 of 38 passes on the day. SJU had minus-8 rushing yards.

The Warhawks pounded the rock like vintage UW-Whitewater championship teams, completely shutting down Mary Hardin-Baylor in a 26-7 victory. The 2018 Stagg Bowl champions were eliminated in the quarterfinals by a Warhawks squad that executed its game plan to near perfection. UW-Whitewater rushed for 221 yards, Max Meylor was an efficient 10-for-12 passing, and the Cru were only able to run 46 offensive snaps, in 17:15 of possession time. The Warhawks ran the ball 53 times and controlled 42:45 of the clock. Garrett Purdy and Tommy Matoska keyed the defensive effort, which held UMHB to just 140 total yards, minus-3 on the ground, and forced two turnovers.

Whitewater (12-1) converted seven of 13 on third down, and added two more conversions on fourth down to keep the clock moving.

Jarrod Ware tallied 14 carries for 110 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Warhawks offense. Meylor threw for 119 yards and added one rushing touchdown. Junior wide receiver Ryan Wisniewski caught five passes for 72 yards.

The prolific Salisbury offense was no match for the stingy Muhlenberg defense. The Mules did let up their first points of the postseason, but nothing else as No. 4 Muhlenberg advanced to the national semifinals with a 24-8 win vs. No. 6 Salisbury. The Sea Gulls (11-1) got as far as the Muhlenberg 11 on the very first drive of the game, but fumbled and the Mules drove down the field. Mike Hnatkowsky found Max Kirin in the end zone for a 23-yard touchdown. After a three-and-out, Hnatkowsky found Kirin for a nearly identical score and Muhlenberg had an early 14-0 lead.

Hnatkowsky completed 24 of 38 passes for 264 yards and three touchdowns in the win. Frankie Feaster had three tackles for loss, two and a half of them sacks, while John Washington broke up four passes.

North Central rolled up a 17-0 halftime lead on Delaware Valley, but the Aggies came charging out of the locker room to make it a game, with Anthony Fontana hitting tight end Dan Allen for an 85-yard touchdown pass, cutting the Cardinals' lead to 17-14. But the Cardinals answered with two long, bruising drives, going for nine plays and 12 plays, the latter drive taking 6:20 off the clock and securing North Central's 31-14 win.

"We're thrilled to continue to play," said North Central coach Jeff Thorne. "I thought our defense was fantastic this week. From the second half last week and throughout this game, they really played great and we're going to need that to continue."

Cardinals quarterback Broc Rutter completed 23 of 33 passes for 263 yards as DeAngelo Hardy made nine grabs for 132 yards for his second consecutive 100-yard outing and Andrew Kamienski made seven catches for 82 yards. Ethan Greenfield, who left the second-round game at Mount Union early because of injury, put up a game-high 93 rushing yards on 28 carries. Anthony Fontana completed 21 of 36 passes for 232 yards for the Aggies (11-2), finding Allen six times for 155 yards. Defensive end Anthony Nobile posted two quarterback sacks and a forced fumble.

Muhlenberg and UW-Whitewater are in line to host the semifinal games, which will be broadcast on ESPN3. The game times are typically staggered for broadcast purposes and will be announced on Sunday.