Last year, Thomas More rocked the PAC with a 35-29 win against Washington and Jefferson, stealing the automatic bid out from under the Presidents' nose.

This year, they did it again, holding No. 11 W&J under 30 yards of total offense in the second half and picking off three Presidents passes to win on the road, 14-7. Thomas More, ranked No. 20, became the first Division III team to clinch an automatic bid to the 2009 playoffs. Weekend scores, including game stories.

Central, Monmouth and Mount St. Joseph each clinched automatic bids as well on Saturday. Central shut out Buena Vista 17-0 to clinch the Iowa Conference automatic qualifier, Monmouth pulled away from Illinois College 44-17 to clinch the MWC and Mount St. Joseph had little trouble with Manchester to wrap up the HCAC 31-7.

No. 13 Mississippi College fell to Howard Payne 38-24 as Adam Shaffer threw five interceptions as part of seven Choctaw turnovers. No. 7 Otterbein is unbeaten no longer, struggling at Marietta without quarterback Austin Schlosser and losing 25-22 a week before its big showdown with No. 1 Mount Union. Kraig Ladd was just 23-for-48 passing but it went along with three touchdowns, including a 10-yarder to Mike Sloboda in overtime to lead Illinois Wesleyan to a 28-22 upset of No. 9 North Central. The win throws the CCIW into a three-way tie for first as Wheaton (Ill.) had little trouble with Elmhurst. No. 2 UW-Whitewater had no problem this time around with UW-Stevens Point, beating the Pointers 41-12 to avenge the only loss the Warhawks have had in the past five years of WIAC play.

Nick Bourassi set the tone with an 80-yard touchdown run on Maine Maritime's first play from scrimmage and the Mariners ran out to a Division III record for rushing yards in a 76-49 win at Coast Guard. They rolled up 730 yards on 63 carries to obliterate the mark of 670 set by Olivet in 2004, led by Bourassi's 217 yards on just nine carries. Coast Guard's Jon Resch came off the bench to answer with 469 yards passing and six TDs.

Cal Lutheran pulled away from No. 21 Occidental in a 24-14 win, taking the driver's seat in the SCIAC. The Kingsmen have yet to play Redlands. No. 23 Delaware Valley was missing quarterback Mike Isgro but rolled up 513 yards of offense behind back up Mark Hatty in a 47-21 win at King's. Hatty threw for 267 yards and three touchdowns in his first start. No. 24 Alfred did the same, rolling past Rochester without starting quarterback Tommy Secky. Middlebury defeated Trinity (Conn.) 34-21 to end the Bantams' winning streak. Union beat RPI 20-15 to get back the Dutchman Shoes for the first time since 2005. Kean edged Rowan 23-20 in double overtime to hand the Profs their second loss of the season. Albright remained unbeaten with a 49-28 victory against FDU-Florham, setting up the showdown with Delaware Valley next week. More on the scoreboard.

Dickinson, Johns Hopkins and Franklin and Marshall each won to remain in the first-place tie in the Centennial, while Moravian beat Ursinus to knock the Bears out of the group. St. Norbert closed out Minahan Stadium in style, ending a 71-year run with a 44-0 pasting of Beloit. Concordia (Ill.) scored in the first overtime and went for two, converting to defeat Concordia (Wis.) 22-21 to move into a tie for first in the NATHC.

The top Pool C candidates won out on Saturday, as No. 15 St. Thomas rolled over Augsburg 42-3, Coe handled Loras 38-13, DePauw defeated Birmingham-Southern 35-21 and Mary Hardin-Baylor crushed East Texas Baptist 52-10. The Tommies got an opening kickoff return for a touchdown from Fritz Waldvogel for the second consecutive week in the win. Wesley, Case Western Reserve and Huntingdon, the three top Pool B playoff candidates, each won.

Plus, five tight games were played on Friday at the UMAC's Dome Day: the highest-scoring game of the season, the lowest-scoring game and three more games decided by a total of eight points.