Raiders, Cru roll; Johnnies survive No. 1 Mount Union and No. 2 Mary Hardin-Baylor dominated ranked conference opponents, but it didn't come as easily for No. 4 St. John's, which won a tight game for the second week in a row by holding on to beat No. 18 St. Olaf 30-29. The Oles led 26-17 in the third quarter, but the Johnnies scored twice early in the fourth quarter then held the ball for the final 5:29 after a St. Olaf field goal to hang on and win. Check out Saturday's scores and follow along on our live blog for more about Saturday's games. The Purple Raiders beat No. 9 Ohio Northern 44-0 behind a four-touchdown day from running back Justin Wray, playing in a three-way rotation with starter Nate Kmic (who surpassed 4,000 career yards) and Terrance Morring. No. 2 Mary Hardin-Baylor also used three tailbacks, and two of them rushed for more than 100 yards (Quincy Daniels, 142 and two TDs; Jarvis Thrasher 113 and three TDs) as the Crusaders rolled at No. 21 Hardin-Simmons 47-14. The game turned in third quarter when UMHB outgained HSU 165-1. (Photo gallery) And it started Friday night, as Matt D'Alessio's 19-yard field goal gave New Jersey a 10-7 win at its archrival, No. 19 Rowan. The Lions scored on an 82-yard interception return midway through the fourth quarter to tie the game, then got a chance for the win when Rob Richardson fumbled inside his own 20 in the final minutes. The OAC shocker was left to Heidelberg, which upset Baldwin-Wallace, burying the bad memories of a three-year losing streak. Rhodes and Augsburg put up stunning upsets, knocking down No. 12 Trinity (Texas) and No. 11 Wartburg. The Tigers lost four fumbles in losing at Rhodes for the second time in three trips to Memphis. Augsburg scored on a fourth-down touchdown pass with 2:50 left in the game, then secured the win with an interception at the 1-yard line. Without Griffin Moe at quarterback, who was knocked out late in last week's game, No. 6 UW-La Crosse turned to Alex Seguin. He was 27-for-46 for 256 yards but Craig Kolb hit a 46-yard field goal with 24 seconds remaining to give UW-Eau Claire a 31-29 victory. The Blugolds improve to 5-1, 2-1 in the WIAC. No. 5 Wheaton rallied from a 17-0 halftime deficit to win 28-24 at North Central in the Little Brass Bell game and remain unbeaten. Occidental, essentially ranked No. 26, won at home against No. 25 Redlands 28-21.
St. Norbert took the lead in the Midwest Conference race, scoring three consecutive touchdowns to break a 21-21 tie against Monmouth. Becker got the first win in the program's history, beating Gallaudet 30-6. Hampden-Sydney's high didn't last long, as the Tigers fell 29-19 at Emory and Henry. Johns Hopkins knocked Dickinson off its unbeaten perch by a 20-17 scores. (Photo gallery) RPI scored 21 fourth-quarter points to beat St. Lawrence 28-10. No. 15 Salisbury won at Geneva 20-7, handing the former NAIA program its second loss of the season. Whitworth handed Pacific Lutheran its first loss, holding off the Lutes 28-21, while UW-Stevens Point remained undefeated, beating UW-Platteville 34-31. Saturday's scores. | ||
| Permalink | Oct 6, 2007 | ||
Raiders freeze Polar Bears' offense
By Matthew Florjancic D3football.com ADA, Ohio -- In front of a Dial-Roberson Stadium record crowd of 5,177 fans, the Mount Union Purple Raiders and Ohio Northern Polar Bears battled for 60 minutes to see who would remain at the top of the Ohio Athletic Conference. The Purple Raiders remembered the loss they suffered in Alliance two years ago to ONU and made sure they played the role of spoiler for Ohio Northern’s homecoming. Mount Union scored early and often, claiming a 44-0 victory against the ninth-ranked Polar Bears. Collectively, the Mount Union defense limited Ohio Northern to just 14 first downs in the game, including two courtesy of Purple Raider penalties. The Raiders also held ONU’s ground game in check with minus-9 yards rushing. For the game, the Polar Bears tallied just 136 total yards. “The key to our defense is we’re quick and we’re in the right position most of the time,” said Mount Union coach Larry Kehres. “When we’re there, we generally do what we’re supposed to do. “(Pat McCullough) a defensive tackle who made some good plays today is quick,” Kehres added. “He’s short and you could overlook him, but whack, he’s through and into the backfield. The key is quickness. Second is responsibility and third, tackle or knock the ball down.” On the day, Mount Union broke up four passes, intercepted another and sacked the quarterback four times. Junior defensive end Joseph Millings brought ONU quarterback Jeff Pankratz down behind the line of scrimmage three times, while McCullough had five stops, one and a half of which went for a loss. Ohio Northern coach Dean Paul talked to his team all week about being ready to handle the Purple Raiders. “Poise is very important in big games,” Paul said. “We have more of a veteran team this year than last year, so I was optimistic that we’d be able to understand how important poise is, how important it is you answer. “Mount can get an avalanche of momentum going if you don’t answer,” he continued. “When we’ve had more success in this game in the past, in any of our big games, we’ve been able to answer momentum shifts.” During the week, Ohio Northern tried to change things up on offense to give Mount Union different looks at the line of scrimmage. However, the Purple Raiders were ready to strike. “We wanted to move the quarterback around a little bit,” said Paul. “Their front seven is outstanding. We felt like if we were always in the same launch point, they’re just going to tee off on us. We wanted to move the launch points. “We dropped a lot of passes in that first half,” he added. “You get yourself off schedule and now sometimes, you back yourself into a corner where you have to throw the football. That’s not a situation you want to be in against these guys because they have a good pressure package with the different blitzes they bring. We felt we had to be aggressive in our play calling and our strategy.” Pankratz and freshman Kyle Simmons combined to go 14-for-36 for 145 yards with an interception. On six carries, the duo finished the day without netting a single yard. The Purple Raider offense scored less than one minute into the game. After coming into the contest as a non-starter, Justin Wray found his way to pay dirt with a 60-yard touchdown, his first of four on the day. “It was a hot day for the running backs,” Kehres said. “Nate (Kmic) carried the load throughout the first quarter and he got hot. (Justin) Wray is a great back in terms of spelling the other guys because he’s faster than they are. “He went in because one guy got a penalty,” added the nine-time national champion head coach. “He came out, Wray happened to be in on the next play and ran 60 yards for a touchdown. Sometimes you get lucky and sub at the right time. Justin did have a great day.” Terrance Morring scored the second touchdown of the quarter for the Purple Raiders with a 13-yard run. At the end of the first frame, it was 14-0 in favor of Mount Union. They added two scores before the break when Kmic walked in from 3 yards out. Following a safety on a bad snap on a punt attempt, Wray scored with 6:33 remaining before the intermission. Wray added a pair of third-quarter 1-yard touchdown runs. “We talked a lot about getting off to a good start is important against Mount,” Paul said. “We were not able to do that. They are going to make plays and we’re going to have to answer those plays. In 2004 and 2005, we did a pretty good job of answering and making some plays. “We were not able to get that play to get a momentum shift,” he added. “Even in the second half, maybe if we can get that drive in there, maybe get some points and turn the tide a little bit. It’s a tribute to Mount and something we’re really going to have to work on.” Though he was pleased with the end result, Kehres noticed some things that need to be improved. “I thought our kickoff coverage was good because that’s a good return team,” Kehres said. “We gave up probably 25 yards per return, but we tackled fairly well. I’m a little disappointed with our field goal kicking. Today, we had two chances and missed them both.” | ||
| Permalink | Oct 6, 2007 | ||
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