Greencastle, Ind. - DePauw scored on its first three offensive possessions and never trailed on the way to a 45-20 win over Maryville (Tenn.) in the second round of the NCAA Division III Football Championship. The Tigers moved to 11-0 and will face Johns Hopkins on Saturday, Dec. 7 after the Bluejays defeated Grove City, 17-14. The location of the third-round game will be announced tomorrow. Maryville finished its season at 9-2.
DePauw's defense opened the game with a three-and-out and the offense responded with an 11-play, 74-yard drive capped by Caden Whitehead's 1-yard run with 8:38 left in the first.
After the Scots picked up their initial first down on the next series, DePauw linebacker Jonathan Bruder recovered a fumble in Maryville territory and returned it 35 yards before lateraling to Joey Roland who was finally stopped at the Maryville 8. The Scots' defense stopped the Tigers and Matthew Berry nailed a 31-yard field goal to push the lead to 10-0 with 5:56 remaining in the period.
The Scots came right back with a 12-play drive that covered 72 yards as Bryson Claiborne scored on a 2-yard run with 13:36 left in the half. The point-after attempt was off the mark, leaving the score at 10-6.
Whitehead's 4-yard run midway through the period pushed DePauw's lead to 17-6. Following a series of punts, DePauw took over on its own 47 with 46 seconds left. McCahill drove the Tigers down the field and connected with Robby Ballentine for a 29-yard score with seven seconds left to extend the lead to 24-6.
The lead reached 31-6 on the first possession of the second half as Carson Johnson broke free for a 61-yard run. Maryville countered as Bryson Rollins teamed with Steph Carter Jr. for a 6-yard scoring pass.
Maryville regained possession as Jacob Berven picked off McCahill on the Tigers' next series and a DePauw penalty gave the Scots the ball at the DePauw 40. DePauw's defense stopped Maryville on downs at the 20 and the Tigers answered quickly as Whitehead and Johnson each picked up four yards on runs before McCahill connected with Ballentine for a 72-yard score to make it 38-13.
Following another DePauw defensive stand, the Tigers' offense drove 95 yards with Seth Mecner scoring on a 2-yard run to extend the lead to 45-13 midway through the fourth.
Maryville wrapped up the scoring with Rollins' 21-yard pass to Teddy Orton with just 1:07 left.
Johnson led DePauw with 69 rushing yards and Whitehead added 50 as the Tigers totaled 137 rushing yards. McCahill completed 21-of-32 passes for 322 yards and two touchdowns with nine passes going to Ballentine for a career-high 194 yards and two scores.
Jermaine Abner rushed for 47 yards to lead Maryville with Rollins completing 26-of-43 passes for 343 yards and two scores. Carter and Erozinis Edmondson each caught six for 68 and 44 yards, respectively.
Bruder and Marsh paced DePauw with eight tackles each, while Marsh had a team-best 1.5 for loss. Christian Troupe had the Tigers' one interception.
Grant Henderson led Maryville with nine tackles, while Tyler Bost and Tyler Barrett each had six. Jonathan Harris had 1.5 tackles for loss.
DePauw outgained Maryville in total offense, 459-357, and held a 137-54 edge on the ground.
NOTES
- The win was DePauw's 11th of the season which is a program record
- Robby Ballentine's two touchdown catches lifted his season total to 19 which broke the NCAC record and extended his DePauw mark
- Ballentine also broke DePauw's single-season scoring record of 102 points and now has 114
- With two touchdown passes, Nathan McCahill moved his career total to 86 which broke the DePauw career record of 85 by Matt Hunt (2013-16)
- With 322 passing yards, McCahill moved his season total to 3,176 which is four shy of Michael Engle's program record from 2010
- With nine points today, Matthew Berry moved his season total to 93 which are the most by a DePauw kicker in a season breaking the record of 90 by Marko Adams (2016)
- Berry's 69 extra-points made this season are now an NCAC record
- The win moved DePauw's all-time record in NCAA Championship play to 2-5 including 2-0 at Blackstock Stadium
- The DePauw seniors extended their four-year mark to 39-6 which is the most wins by a DePauw class
- The victory was DePauw's 13th straight at Blackstock Stadium which is the fourth-longest active streak in Division III
- The 45 points marked the 10th time this season the Tigers have scored at least 42 and the ninth straight game it's happened
- DePauw never trailed in today's game and has trailed just 13:02 of this season
- The Tigers have outscored the opposition, 130-14, in the first quarter of games this season
- DePauw has held all 11 opponents to 92 or fewer rushing yards