UW-La Crosse file photo by Jim Lund

UW-La Crosse posted a big win on the road, while Cortland survived a challenge from Springfield and RPI did the same on the road at Endicott.

This recap covers games in the top right-hand bracket, or the North Central bracket. UW-La Crosse will play at North Central in the second round on Nov. 27, after North Central was advanced into the second round because of Carnegie Mellon's withdrawal from the playoffs after positive COVID tests. RPI will play at Cortland. Sites will be formalized on Sunday.

• Playoff scoreboard
• Updated bracket
• Johns Hopkins scores big win in lower right bracket
• UMHB wins defensive battle in top left bracket
• UW-La Crosse wins big win in top right bracket
• DePauw wins thriller in lower left bracket
• Even more game stories

UW-La Crosse roared out to a 27-0 lead, made it 37-3 on the first drive of the second half, and cruised to a 58-23 win at Albion. The 11th-ranked Eagles were sent on the road to Albion despite having a similar Division III winning percentage, a significantly better strength of schedule, and an objectively better result against common opponent UW-Eau Claire.

The home field being granted by the committee didn't seem to make a difference, as Jakob Parks threw five touchdown passes on 24-for-30 passing and Joey Stutzman ran for 136 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. Cameron Sorenson caught three touchdowns. Elijah Alt, Max Duchow and Max Brower each had interceptions of Jack Bush in the win. UW-La Crosse improved to 9-2, with one of those losses to Division II top 10 team Grand Valley State. Albion (9-2) finished with 340 yards of total offense, 341 of those on the ground. Albion is the champion of the MIAA, which has gone just 3-21 in the five-round playoff era, starting in 1999.

George Marinopoulos hit Vinnie McDonald for two touchdowns, Dylan Burnett rushed for 124 yards and the RPI defense allowed just 17 yards rushing as the No. 18 Engineers won at Endicott 20-14. RPI extended its lead to 20-7 on its first possession of the second half, as Marinopolous led the Engineers on an 84-yard drive, including a 48-yard completion to McDonald, and a 5-yard pass to McDonald as well for the score.

Endicott's Kobe Gaudette went up and pulled down a 20-yard touchdown catch with 2:50 left, but the Gulls were unable to cover the onside kick and the Engineers ran out the clot to improve to 10-1. Endicott fell to 8-3.

Jaden Alfanostjohn ran for two touchdowns and JJ Laap brought in a 51-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter as Cortland held on to defeat Springfield 26-21. The Pride (7-4) ran for just 238 yards on the afternoon in their triple option offense but put together two 75-yard drives in the fourth quarter to cut into what was a 19-7 lead. Patrick Ladas ran for three touchdowns but was limited to 3.1 yards per carry on 28 totes for Springfield.

Ladas's third score came with 2:43 left in the game. The Pride kicked deep and got the defensive stop, but fumbled on its first play after the punt and Cortland was able to run out the clock and preserve the victory.