No. 1 Mount Union 37, Muskingum 0
NEW CONCORD, Ohio -- Mount Union beat Muskingum 37-0 in the Ohio Athletic Conference opener on Saturday at McConagha Stadium.
Joshua Scott had team-best six tackles and an interception, Mike Maier also had an interception and Trevor Smith forced a fumble that resulted in a safety all to lead the defense.
Mount Union's offense generated 457 yards with 329 of those yards from quarterback Kevin Burke, who rushed for a game-high 82 yards and threw three touchdown passes on 247 yards passing.
Germany Woods rushed for 79 yards with two touchdowns on the ground and one touchdown catch. Sherman Wilkinson had six catches for 87 yards and touchdown while Lane Clark also caught a touchdown pass.
Mount Union (2-0, 1-0 OAC) wins its nation's best 17th consecutive game, 75th regular-season games in a row and 111th consecutive regular-season road win.
St. John's (Minn.) 20, No. 2 St. Thomas (Minn.) 18
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- St. John's forced five turnovers and St. Thomas missed a 32-yard field goal on the game's final play as the Johnnies knocked off the second-ranked Tommies 20-18 on Saturday.
The win snapped three UST (2-1, 0-1 MIAC) win streaks: 18 consecutive at home, 36-game regular-season and 27-game MIAC regular-season, preserving the Johnnies' conference record of 28 consecutive MIAC wins from 2001-04.
The victory is the Johnnies' 50th of the series (50-31-1) and the 17th in the past 21 meetings.
Sophomore wide receiver Josh Bungum, the reigning MIAC Offensive Player of the Week, caught 11 passes for 97 yards. He now has 20 receptions for 202 yards, with no touchdowns in two career games against UST.
Senior quarterback Connor Bruns had an efficient day, completing 21 of 30 passes for 182 yards. He also gained seven yards on five carries, including a one-yard touchdown in the second quarter, and was only sacked once.
Sophomore running back Sam Sura ran for 88 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries in his first collegiate start.
No. 3 Linfield 52, No. 22 Cal Lutheran 14
McMINNVILLE, Ore. -- West coast rivals Linfield and Cal Lutheran battled Saturday at Maxwell Field in an early season matchup of nationally-ranked foes and the result was no contest.
Linfield quarterback Josh Yoder passed for three touchdowns and scored on a 35-yard romp as the third-ranked Wildcats bolted past 22nd-ranked CLU 52-14 to move to 2-0 for the third consecutive season.
Linfield receivers Charlie Poppen and Brian Balsiger combined for 12 catches and 220 aerial yards, while tailback Josh Hill rushed 15 times for 71 yards and one touchdown to complement a balanced Wildcats attack.
The Kingsmen never found their offensive groove, scoring single touchdowns in the first and fourth quarters in an otherwise lopsided affair. Linfield outgained Cal Lutheran 655-361, including a 283-180 advantage on the ground.
No. 4 Mary-Hardin Baylor 35, No. 5 Wesley 7
BELTON, Texas -- No. 5 Wesley to No. 4 Mary Hardin-Baylor, 35-7 on Saturday night in the grand opening of Crusader Stadium. Wesley falls to 2-1 on the year while the Crusaders remain undefeated at 3-0.
Wesley trailed 21-0 at halftime with Mary Hardin-Baylor scoring just 77 seconds into the game on its opening drive with a 40-yard touchdown scamper by quarterback Zach Anderson. Anderson ran for another score in the first quarter and threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Hudson late in the second.
Anderson completed 16-of-24 passes for UMHB, throwing for 238 yards and a score, while also running for 61 yards and two touchdowns before being replaced by Brian Gallagher. Hudson also ran for 61 yards and two scores despite carrying the load 21 times.
No. 6 North Central (Ill.) 41, Wisconsin-Stout 14
NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- The home crowd at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium was treated to a strong performance by North Central (Ill.) on Saturday, as the Cardinals opened the home portion of their schedule with a 41-14 victory against Wisconsin-Stout.
Sixth-ranked North Central (2-0) broke the game open with a 20-point second quarter as quarterback Spencer Stanek continued to operate with surgical precision. The senior established a single-game school record for passing accuracy by connecting on 24 of his 26 pass attempts (92.3 percent), throwing four touchdown passes and also running for 50 yards and another score.
The Cardinals rolled up 584 yards of offense (320 passing, 264 rushing) and owned a 34:30-25:30 edge in time of possession. Ryne Rezac made six catches for 39 yards and A.J. Thomas caught four passes for 66 yards. Freshman running back Zack Pattat was the team's top rusher with 80 yards on 15 carries.
Nick Slezak led the Cardinals in tackles for the second consecutive week, making nine tackles while also breaking up two passes. Michael Monterrubio made six stops and Josh Fick contributed a quarterback sack. North Central allowed the Blue Devils just 188 yards of offense the first three quarters.
Hank Kujak completed 17 of 29 passes for 170 yards, throwing five times to Brian Alvarez for 45 yards. Adolfo Pacheco paced Stout's running game with 65 yards on eight attempts, and safety Tyler Naatz led the Blue Devils with 15 tackles.
No. 7 Bethel 47, Buena Vista 14
STORM LAKE, Iowa — For the second consecutive week, Bethel used a dynamic team performance to take down a non-conference foe, as it was Buena Vista that fell victim Saturday at J. Neilson Rollins Stadium in a 47-14 finish.
The No. 7 Royals (2-0, 0-0 MIAC) utilized a 27-7 first-half lead and more than 550 yards of offense to take down the Beavers (0-3, 0-0 IIAC) on Peterson Field. Head coach Steve Johnson earned his 175th career win, as Johnson is within the top 10 in total wins among NCAA Division III active head coaches.
Bethel finished the game with 559 yards of total offense, including 286 in the air and 273 on the ground. Erik Peterson finished the contest 19 of 24 with 286 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions and also ran for one more score. He connected with seven receivers, including Mitch Hallstrom, who caught six passes for 95 yards and one touchdown. Jared Schultz also hauled in three passes for 56 yards and one score.
Brandon Marquardt led all rushers with 111 yards and one rushing touchdown on 12 carries. Marquardt also caught a touchdown. Marshall Klitzke carried the ball 12 times for 77 yards.
No. 8 Hobart 34, Utica 21
GENEVA, N.Y. -- For the second time in as many games, No. 8 Hobart ran for more than 300 yards, improving to 2-0 with a 34-21 homecoming win against Utica. Senior running back Steven Webb produced the 10th 100-yard rushing game of his career and fourth in a row with 150 yards and two touchdowns against the Pioneers.
Despite running 25 fewer plays and having a four-minute deficit in time of possession, Hobart still outgained the visitors 398-381. The Statesmen rushed for 329 yards, averaging 8.0 yards per carry, the highest average by a Hobart team in more than a decade.
The Statesmen also got a 100-yard game from sophomore running back Conner Hartigan, who finished the day with 119 yards and a TD. It's the first time Hobart has had two 100-yard rushers in a game since Oct. 23, 2004 (Jack Holleran 169, Ty Godinho 105). Junior quarterback Patrick Conlan was 9-of-16 for 69 yards with two touchdowns. He was also picked off twice. Webb caught a team-high three passes for 14 yards.
The Hobart defense got a game-high 14-tackle performance from senior linebacker Cory Davis as well as 10 tackles from junior cornerback Fajri Jackson. Junior linebacker Nolan Toran forced a pair of Utica fumbles, recovered one, and had a 21-yard interception return to go with five tackles.
For Utica (2-1), Jake Larson rushed for 111 yards and two TDs. Junior quarterback Connor Butkiewicz was 26-of-44 for 235 yards and a touchdown with one interception. His favorite target was junior Anthony Acevedo, who pulled in a game-high 11 passes for 133 yards.
No. 9 Wisconsin-Platteville 63, Lewis & Clark 34
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Two defensive touchdowns in the first-minute of the game led Wisconsin-Platteville past Lewis & Clark College 63-34 on Saturday at Griswold Stadium in Portland Ore.
The Pioneers' junior Rob Austin intercepted the ball on the first offensive play of the game and took it back 25 yards for a touchdown. On Lewis & Clark's third offensive play senior Mike Gabbey forced a fumble on a sack and recovered the fumble for a touchdown giving the Pioneers a 14-0 lead.
L&C tied the game up at 14-14 after a 44-yard touchdown pass then a 60-yard touchdown pass. It only took UW-Platteville 1:01 and six plays to regain the lead when senior John Kelly connected with junior Trevor Whitehead on a 17-yard touchdown pass. Lewis & Clark then responded with a scoring drive of its own tying the game back up at 21-21 closing out the first-quarter.
The second-quarter was all UW-Platteville as the Pioneers outscored L&C 21-6 taking a 42-27 lead into halftime. UW-Platteville defense only allowed 24 yards of total offense while the Pioneer offense tallied 182 yards and 11 first downs.
The second-half was much like the second-quarter as the Pioneer defense dominated Lewis & Clark and only allowed 86 yards in the third-quarter and 22 yards in the final quarter. The stout defense allowed UW-Platteville to cruise to 63-34 victory.
Kelly ended the game with five touchdowns, four passing and one rushing, and completed 27-37 for 313 yards. Fellow senior Ryley Bailey caught 10 of Kelly's passes for 91 yards and two touchdown, while Whitehead finished with two touchdowns and six catches for 84 yards. Senior Lee Vlasak averaged 18.2 yards a carry as he rumbled for 73 yards on four carries.
Senior Kevin Ybarra and sophomore Andrew Belken led the defense with nine tackles apiece. Ybarra forced a fumble to go with is nine tackles.
