No. 1 Minnesota State-Mankato 44, Winona State 10
MANKATO, Minn. -- Minnesota State-Mankato stayed unblemished Saturday afternoon at home as it took care of Winona State with a 44-10 victory in front of 3,211 fans at Blakeslee Stadium.
With the victory, the Mavericks improve to 8-0 and 4-0 in the south division on the season with an NSIC winning streak of 19 dating back to the first week of 2012. Winona State's winning streak of five games was snapped as it fell to 5-3 on the season and 3-1 in the south division.
The Mavericks tied the record for most team sacks in a game with nine. The original record was set back in 1979 against Minnesota-Morris. The sacks leader was Josh Gordon with three on Saturday to increase his season tally to 5.5. The Mavericks went from 14 season sacks to 23.
The Maverick offense did its job as well with 520 total yards of offense. Quarterback John Wolf accounted for 328 total yards, with 90 of those yards coming on the ground, and also threw three touchdowns. Dennis Carter had nine catches for 125 yards and two touchdowns.
No. 2 Northwest Missouri State 43, Missouri Southern State 7
MARYVILLE, Mo. -- Going up against Missouri Southern State's triple-option rushing attack, It was another impressive performance as Northwest Missouri State won 43-7 in front of 8,257 fans on Saturday afternoon.
Offensively, senior running back Billy Creason was the star. He was selected MVP of the homecoming game and finished with 94 total yards and scored a touchdown on the ground and one receiving. But as a unit, the Northwest defense played the lead role in the victory.
The Bearcats went five consecutive quarters without giving up a point until the Lions scored a touchdown with four minutes left in the game.
Leading 17-0 at halftime, the Bearcats took their game to another level in the third quarter. Northwest allowed no yards passing in the first half and that continued in the third quarter. The Lions picked up 41 yards on the ground in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, the Bearcats really got on track on offense. They scored two rushing touchdowns in the third quarter and built a 29-0 lead. Bryce Young had the first of those touchdowns and with about three minutes left in the quarter, Brady Bolles added a one-yard rushing score.
No. 3 Colorado State-Pueblo 51, Black Hills State 17
SPEARFISH, S.D. -- Colorado State-Pueblo logged more than 600 yards of total offense in a road win against Black Hills State, snagging a 51-17 victory and securing its 28th consecutive RMAC victory, a conference record.
The ThunderWolves jumped out to a big lead and never looked back, using big gains on the ground from Chris Ashe and two big scoring plays -- on identical cross routes from the slot -- by Josh Sandoval helped break open a game that was 24-7 at halftime and 44-14 by the end of the third quarter.
The ThunderWolves got a career-best 345 yards through the air from Chris Bonner, who was 22 for 30 but had a would-be banner day spoiled by two batted ballsthat turned into interceptions. Ashe ran for 140 yards and two scores while Sandoval finished with six catches for 162 yards, setting a high-yardage mark by a receiver since the return of the football program in 2008.
The victory is the Pack's 34th consecutive regular-season win and its 28th consecutive Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference win. With the win, the Pack improves to 8-0 overall and 6-0 in RMAC play.
No. 12 Pittsburg State 34, No. 4 Missouri Western State 14
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- A week after being limited to 27 net rushing yards, Pittsburg State pounded out 280 rushing yards en route to a 34-14 road win against Missouri Western State on Saturday at Spratt Memorial Stadium.
The Gorillas (7-1, 6-1 MIAA) got a 24-carry, 179-yard rushing performance from Jeff Seybold, Jr. to spark the offense and help hand the Griffons (7-1, 6-1 MIAA) their first loss of the season.
Seybold scored on a 23-yard run with 11:27 to play in the second quarter to give Pitt State a 10-0 lead. His score was sandwiched in-between a pair of field goals by Connor Frazell. Frazell booted a 41-yard kick for a 3-0 lead at the 6:19 mark of the first quarter. He added a 22-yard field goal with one second remaining in the second quarter to give the Gorillas a 13-7 halftime advantage.
Jason Peete added a key defensive score early in the second half for the Gorillas. He blocked a 52-yard field goal attempt by John Schmiemeier and returned it 56 yards for a score and a 20-7 Gorillas advantage.
Seybold capped an eight-play, 71-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown run to make it 27-7 with 11:43 to play in the game.
Western countered with Travis Partridge tossing a 14-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Jordan -- the duo's second scoring connection of the game -- to make it 27-14 with 9:35 to go, but the Gorillas went 75 yards in three plays with Seybold scoring from six yards out for the game's final margin with 8:22 to go.
Pittsburg State quarterback Tony Abenoja completed 13 of 25 passes for 191 yards in the game, including three strikes to Gavin Lutman that covered 88 yards.
Partridge completed 16 of 32 passes for 193 yards and two touchdowns with an interception. The Gorillas sacked Partridge four times in the contest.
No. 5 Henderson State 45, Harding 30
SEARCY, Ark. -- Henderson State withstood Harding's tough rushing attack to beat the Bisons 45-30 on Saturday at First Security Stadium.
After giving up 24 first-half points, the Reddie defense stiffened and allowed the Bisons just two field goals to aid in the win. Harding managed 244 yards rushing in the first half, but Henderson's defense gave up 125 yards on the ground in the final 30 minutes.
Reddies quarterback Kevin Rodgers ended the day completing 19 of 26 passes for 368 yards and four scores, while Darius Davis had five receptions for 142 yards. Robert Jordan followed with four catches for 90 yards and three touchdowns.
Keaton Stigger, who was the catalyst on defense, had 15 tackles, a forced fumble, and turned away the Bisons on several short-yardage occasions. Christian Love also had a big game for the Reddie defense with 10 tackles and an interception late in the fourth quarter.
The Bisons totaled 486 yards of offense compared to Henderson's 438. Harding also had a huge advantage in time of possession having the ball for 41:07 compared to 18:53 for the Reddies.
No. 6 Bloomsburg 35, Cheyney 7
BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Bloomsburg raced out to a 35-0 halftime lead and never looked back, finishing off a 35-7 victory against Cheyney on Saturday afternoon at Redman Stadium in front of 2,945 spectators.
With the win, the Huskies (8-0, 5-0 PSAC East) start the season with eight consecutive victories for the third consecutive year.
Bloomsburg finished with 447 yards of total offense, limiting Cheyney to 263 total yards. The biggest difference came on the ground where the Huskies outrushed the Wolves (0-8, 0-5 PSAC East) by a 282-98 margin.
Franklyn Quiteh needed only first-half action to find the end zone four times -- scoring on two runs from two yards out as well as a 13-yard scamper along with a 36-yard reception from Tim Kelly. The PSAC's all-time leading rusher recorded 114 yards rushing on 16 carries and moves to fifth all-time in Division II history with 6,848 career yards.
Dai'Shon Munger carried 14 times for 109 yards while Kelly completed 10 of 13 pass attempts for 148 yards and two scores, one on the ground and one through the air. Glenn Hutton Jr. led the team in receptions with five for 61 yards.
Defensively, Tomas Cabrera led the team with eight tackles. Ranco had an interception, forced fumble and a tackle for loss. Jerrin Toomey also had a career-best seven stops and Justin Shirk added six.
No. 7 Minnesota-Duluth 31, Bemidji State 21
BEMIDJI, Minn. -- Minnesota-Duluth bounced back from a 14-0 second-quarter deficit on Saturday afternoon to upend Bemidji State 31-21 in a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference North Division bout at Chet Anderson Stadium. In the process, the Bulldogs became the first UMD club to rally to win after being down by 14 or more points since Nov. 6, 1999.
UMD, which took its only lead of the afternoon with just more than nine minutes remaining in regulation, would have most likely been eliminated from playoff contention. Instead, the Bulldogs moved to 7-1 on the year and remained in the NSIC title hunt, one game back of league-leadig Minnesota State-Mankato.
Bemidji State used a 41-yard Ryan Shields-to-Matt Summers touchdown pass to regain the lead at the 3:50 mark of the third quarter, but it was all UMD scoring after that. Sophomore placekicker Drew Brees nailed a 38-yard field goal later in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 21-17. Then with 8:56 to go in regulation, Drew Bauer gave UMD its first lead of the afternoon slashing 14 yards into the end zone. Sophomore running back Logan Lauters sealed the victory, UMD's 12th consecutive against the Beavers, in the waning seconds of play with a 14-yard touchdown jaunt. Lauters finished with a team-high 84 rushing yards on 13 carries while Bauer ran 13 times for 52 yards and also completed 20 of 31 passes for a career-best 237 yards.
Newberry 24, No. 8 North Carolina-Pembroke 21
NEWBERRY, S.C. -- Corey Washington caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from W.T. Murden with 1:10 left in the game to give the Newberry Wolves a 24-21 upset win against the North Carolina-Pembroke Braves at Setzler Field on Saturday night.
With the win, Newberry moves to 7-1 on the year. It is only the second win against a team ranked in the top 10 of the AFCA poll since Newberry joined the NCAA. UNC Pembroke falls from the ranks of the undefeated at 6-1.
The Newberry defense limited the Braves to a season-low 21 points and that program's lowest ever rushing total of 27 yards on the ground.
Murden completed 13 of 20 passes for 116 yards and two touchdowns while adding 84 yards on the ground. Washington caught both of the touchdown passes while Raleigh Yeldell added the other Newberry touchdown.
Brice Green led Newbery with six tackles and Dominique Jacobs forced and recovered a fumble.
No. 10 Washburn 44, Lindenwood 35
TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Washburn Ichabods trailed for the first time at the half, but rallied in the second half for a 44-35 Homecoming win against Lindenwood to improve to 8-0 for the first time since 1907.
After allowing 245 yards in the first half, the Ichabod defense allowed 108 yards in the second half with eight coming in the third quarter on six plays. Calvin Kenney led the Ichabods with seven tackles and Ryan Macken had six tackles as did Bryce Atagi. Atagi added an interception in the endzone ending a Lion drive as well as two tackles for loss. Cameron Jackson had five tackles with two sacks for 18 yards and 3.5 tackles for loss for 23 yards.
Cody Heiman led the Ichabods on the ground with 20 carries for 84 yards and a socre. Mitch Buhler finished 25 of 39 with a career-high five touchdowns passes for 277 yards. DeJuan Beard returned to the line up with five catches for 69 yards. Tore' Hurst had five catches for 30 yards and two scores.
