No. 1 Minnesota State-Mankato 52, Southwest Minnesota State 27
MARSHALL, Minn. -- Minnesota State-Mankato kept things rolling on Saturday evening on the road as it ran past Southwest Minnesota State with a 52-27 win.
With the win, MSU improves to 7-0 on the season and has now extended its NSIC winning streak to 18 games dating back to week one of the 2012 season. The Mavericks are now 12-0 against the Mustangs, who fell to 3-4 on the season.
The Maverick defense frustrated the SMSU quarterbacks all night long as it tallied six interceptions, which is the most interceptions in one game for the Mavericks dating back to the 1997 season. Junior Brian Keys, sophomore Justin Otto, junior Nathan Hancock, sophomore Patrick Schmidt, senior Jordan Hale and senior Ryan Saumur each posted a pick on the evening, while combining for 74 return yards.
Sophomore Evan Koehler led the defense with 13 tackles, while senior Isaac Kolstand and Keys each tallied eight tackles. Keys also led the team with 2.5 tackles for loss, including 1.5 sacks.
While the Maverick defense frustrated the SMSU offense, the MSU rushing attack kicked in to full gear as it tallied 383 of MSU's 432 total yards of offense.
Sophomore Connor Thomas, who tallied three rushing touchdowns, ran for 153 rushing yards on the day, just six yards shy of his career-high 159 yards. Senior Jon Wolf also made his presence felt on the ground, accounting for 133 yards and two touchdowns.
Four Mavericks caught at least one pass on the day, including senior Dennis Carter, who posted two catches for 23 yards and a touchdown.
No. 2 Northwest Missouri State 24, No. 7 Pittsburg State 15
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Northwest Missouri State capitalized on short-field opportunities and rallied from a touchdown deficit at halftime to claim a 24-15 victory against Pittsburg State in The Fall Classic at Arrowhead XII on Saturday.
The win, in front of 17,679 fans at Arrowhead Stadium, helped the Bearcats remain unbeaten and improve to 7-0 overall and 6-0 in MIAA play. The Gorillas dropped to 6-1 overall and 5-1 in the MIAA.
Brady Bolles, playing in place of injured starting quarterback Trevor Adams, tossed a touchdown pass and ran for two scores to lead the Bearcats.
Bolles' 10-yard scoring run with 3:25 to play in the third quarter gave the Bearcats the lead, at 22-15. The drive was set up by a 14-yard Pitt State punt after Northwest forced the Gorillas into a three-and-out.
Pitt State, which entered the game plus-nine in turnover margin, committed four turnovers, had a punt blocked and gave up two safeties in the contest.
The Bearcats registered five quarterback sacks and limited the Gorillas to 27 net rushing yards in the contest. Eric Reimer and Matt Longacre combined to sack Pitt State quarterback Tony Abenoja for the game-clinching safety with 1:46 to play in the contest.
The Gorillas got the ball back with 1:26 to go after using three timeouts and holding the Bearcats on downs at the PSU 26. Two plays later Abenoja was sacked by Reimer and fumbled the ball, which was recovered by Northwest's Brandon Yost to seal the win.
No. 3 Colorado State-Pueblo 48, Colorado Mines 28
PUEBLO, Colo. -- With Colorado State-Publo's 48-28 win against Colorado Mines, not only did John Wristen win his 50th game as head coach, but the Pack won their 27th consecutive Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference game, tying a streak by Chadron State from 2006-09.
After giving up more than 700 yards of total offense last week against Chadron State, the Pack defense sacked the Oredigger quarterbacks nine times, limiting an offense that averages 43.5 points per game to 28.
Of the nine sacks on the night, 3.5 came from defensive end Morgan Fox, which is third most in school history. Fox has been playing with a broken hand since Sept. 28 against Adams State.
The ThunderWolves, who were without leading rusher Cameron McDondle, got production on the ground from running back Chris Ashe, who finished the game with 91 rushing yards and two touchdowns. The ThunderWolves finished the night with 248 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns between four rushers.
ThunderWolves quarterback Chris Bonner followed up RMAC Player of the Week performance by going 17 of 27, 255 yards and two touchdowns.
No. 4 Missouri Western 35, Missouri Southern 21
JOPLIN, Mo. -- Travis Partridge engineered a come-from-behind victory against Missouri Southern, topped by a record-breaking 99-yard touchdown pass -- the longest play from scrimmage for Missouri Western -- as the Griffons won 35-21.
The Griffons fell behind 21-17 at halftime but came back for the win. The momentum switched sides as Missouri Western took a 28-21 lead with 3:15 left in the third quarter. Behind by a point, Partridge nailed Stephon Weaver on a six-yard pass for the score. Reggie Jordan caught the ensuing two-point conversion to move the Griffons ahead by a touchdown, 28-21.
Two drives later, the Lions moved all the way down to the goal line, but Abranas Elliott forced a Giresse Forchu fumble at the 1-yard line. John Oglesby recovered the ball instantly, and on the next play, Partridge and the offense made the Lions pay with a history-breaking play.
Partridge hit Josh Walker for a 99-yard touchdown pass to give the Griffons their longest play from scrimmage of all-time. The touchdown put the Griffons ahead 35-21 and they left Joplin with a victory for the second consecuive time.
The game started with Partridge hitting Daylon Haper in the end zone for six. Raphael Spencer followed that score with one of his own, a 1-yard rush after Southern's Terrance Allen fumbled on the Lions opening play from scrimmage. The quick 14-0 lead helped the Griffons early on. But the Lions came back and went on a 21-3 run to end the half ahead 21-17. The Griffons didn't allow another point and scored 18 of their own.
Partridge finished the day going 15 of 28 with 244 yards and three scores. He had zero turnovers on the day as well. Spencer added 20 carries for 77 yards and a touchdown.
John Schmiemeier made both of his field goals with a long of 41 yards. The Lions were led by running back Chris Barnwell, who had 21 carries for 128 yards.
No. 5 Henderson State 45, Arkansas Tech 14
EL DORADO, Ark. -- Henderson State used 556 yards of total offense to roll past Arkansas Tech 45-14 in the 2013 Murphy USA Boomtown Classic.
With the win, the Reddies take over sole possession of first place in the Great American Conference and is the only collegiate team in the state of Arkansas that remains unbeaten.
HSU quarterback Kevin Rodgers surpassed the 300-yard mark for the 15th time in his career, completing 19 of 31 passes, for 358 yards and three touchdown strikes.
Wide receiver Darius Davis had a career-best 156 yards on four receptions, including touchdowns catches for 45 and 83 yards.
The Reddie defense limited the Arkansas Tech offense to 306 yards of total offense. The Wonder Boys were held to 26 yards rushing on 29 attempts. Chris King led the Reddie defense with 11 tackles, including a pass breakup, while Ricardo Mendez and Keaton Stigger had nine tackles each.
Mendez also recorded a forced fumble and fumble recovery, while Vincent Thompson picked off a Luke Halpin pass.
Aside from Davis' big night, Robert Jordan, HSU's all-time receiving leader, had 70 yards on five receptions, while Dustin Holland had 51 yards on two catches.
No. 6 Bloomsburg 52, East Stroudsburg 38
EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. -- Bloomsburg running back Franklyn Quiteh sported a different look Saturday at East Stroudsburg, switching from his usual No. 28 to a No. 8 jersey to honor the memory of a late high school teammate. It turned out to be a day to be remembered in Husky history as he set a school record for rushing yards in a game with 304 to power the Huskies to a 52-38 victory at Eiler-Martin Stadium.
Quiteh racked up 323 total yards on the day, also catching two passes for 19 yards, and four touchdowns. The 304 yards on the ground surpassed the previous Bloomsburg record of 300 set by Jerry Marks vs. Mansfield in 1991.
As it turned out, Bloomsburg (7-0, 4-0 PSAC East) would need all of Quiteh's history-making performance in order to put down upset-minded East Stroudsburg (4-3, 1-3).
The Warriors battled back all day from an early 14-0 deficit, finally tying the score at 38 apiece following a leaping, one-handed 22-yard touchdown grab by Jon Schnaars from quarterback Matt Soltes with 9:58 left to play.
Bloomsburg quarterback Tim Kelly threw for 238 yards and one touchdown through the air while completing 17 of 22 pass attempts. His favorite receiver on the day was Hutton who hauled in a career-high eight receptions for 113 yards and a score. Connor Gades also had three catches for 27 yards and tight end Jack Sandherr set career-bests with two catches and 44 yards.
No. 24 Midwestern State 45, No. 8 West Alabama 21
WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Keidrick Jackson rushed for 136 yards and three touchdowns to lead Midwestern State to a 45-21 rout of West Alabama on Saturday night at Memorial Stadium.
The win was the fifth consecutive for the Mustangs, who improved to 5-1 on the season while sending UWA to its first Division II loss of the campaign and to 5-2 overall.
In the process, Jackson, a senior running back from Arlington, Texas, surpassed former all-American Daniel Polk as the school's all-time leading rusher, finishing the game with 3,596 yards. Polk ran for 3,590 from 2004-07.
Midwestern jumped all over the Tigers bouncing out to a 14-0 lead. Junior quarterback Jake Glover hit Derek Lockhart in stride for a 46-yard touchdown in the opening quarter. Lockhart set the next MSU scoring drive up with a strip and a recovery on a punt as Glover polished off a three-play, 46-yard drive with a 3-yard scoring run to put the Mustangs up 14-0.
The Mustangs limited West Alabama's high-powered attack to 293 yards of total offense led by the efforts of sophomore Marqui Christian (10 tackles) and senior Lynn Williams (seven tackles).
Junior quarterback Kyle Caldwell ran for 62 yards to pace West Alabama's 203-yard ground attack while also completing 8 of 15 passes for 90 yards.
No. 9 Minnesota-Duluth 52, Minot State 0
DULUTH, Minn. -- Minot State turned the ball over early -- and often -- Saturday afternoon and the Minnesota-Duluth made the Beavers pay dearly for it.
The No. 9 Bulldogs took advantage of three Minot State miscues to go up 17-0 a little more than four minutes after the opening kick off and went on to rout Minot State 52-0 in a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference matchup at James S. Malosky Stadium.
On the second play of the afternoon, senior cornerback Kenny Chowa sacked Minot State quarterback Zac Cunha, forcing a fumble which was picked up and returned by UMD senior defensive end Chris Vandervest to the Beaver one-yard line. Junior running back Austin Sikorski then plowed in for a touchdown on the Bulldogs' first snap to give UMD all the scoring it would eventually need. On Minot State's next possession, sophomore David Boegel blocked Brian Gutierrez's punt and recovered it at the Minot State one-yard line and Sikorski again hit paydirt one play later to make it 14-0. Minot State, which was making its first appearance in Duluth, fumbled once more on the ensuing series and the Bulldogs parlayed that turnover into three points -- a 35-yard field goal by sophomore Andrew Brees. UMD had itself a 17-0 lead with still 10:48 to go in the first quarter and had run only six offensive plays.
Junior tight end Taylor Grant, who transferred to UMD this fall from North Dakota, hauled in a pair of touchdown receptions -- his first two as a Bulldog -- from senior quarterback Drew Bauers. Sophomore running back Logan Lauters, sophomore quarterback Eric Kline and senior running back Steve Ierulli all rushed for one score for the Bulldogs, who moved to 6-1 on the year and remained one game back of front-running Minnesota State-Mankato in the NSIC standings. Nine different Bulldogs had carries in the victory with Sikorski leading the way (14 rushes for a game-high 77 yards).
UMD, which gave up 45 points and nearly 700 yards of total offense last week in a win at Minnesota State-Moorhead State held the Beavers to minus-35 yards on the ground and 138 yards overall.
No. 10 North Carolina-Pembroke 34, Catawba 31
SALISBURY, N.C. -- North Carolina-Pembroke racked 17 points and nearly 250 yards of total offense in the second quarter to lug a 17-3 lead into the locker rooms, but had to hold back a valiant second half upset bid by Catawba to escape with a 34-31 victory on Saturday afternoon at Shuford Stadium.
The victory kept the Braves (6-0) perfect on the season, while also giving the road team its first victory in the series as well. It was the 100th career collegiate coaching victory for head coach Pete Shinnick who is now 47-22 (.681) in six-plus seasons in Pembroke.
Luke Charles threw for 336 yards and three touchdowns on 29-for-43 passing with a pair of interceptions to lead a 421-yard attack for the UNCP offense. John Rich hauled in three catches for a career-best 117 yards, including a 81-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter, while Ben DeCelle hauled in eight catches for 82 yards.
Kellen Rankin turned in a career- and game-high 11 tackles (four solo) to lead the defense, who also got 10 tackles (nine solo) from all-American linebacker Fred Williams. The Braves also got sacks from Cadarreus Mason, DeVante Bush and Matt Turner.
UNCP's defense allowed 59 yards on the ground, but yielded a season-high 321 yards through the air as well. Maryland transfer Danny O'Brien threw for 253 yards and two touchdowns on 31 of 41 passing to pace the Indians. Nate Charest had 10 receptions for 153 yards and a touchdown, and Carlos Tarrat caught and threw a touchdown pass for the Indians as well.
