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| Anthony Avila had missed a field goal at the end of the first half before coming out to win the game on the final play. d3photography.com file photo by Joe Fusco |
Mary Hardin-Baylor ran the field goal unit onto the field and came away with a win as time expired, while John Carroll survived a fourth-quarter comeback attempt and Wesley prevalied in overtime in action among teams ranked in the D3football.com Top 25 on Oct. 26, 2019.
Top-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor decided to punt on fourth-and-6 from the Hardin-Simmons 45 with 7:28 left, trailing 14-12, and very nearly did not get the ball back. Jaquan Hemphill led the No. 15 Cowboys on a bruising 12-play, 22-yard drive which took up 6:11 of the remaining time. (HSU was called for a dead ball personal foul which cost them 15 yards.) But Tevin Jones and E'Monte Smith knocked Hemphill back for a loss on first down Jones got him against on third-and-12, and HSU got just an 18-yard punt, giving the Cru a chance with the ball at the Cowboys 47 with 1:17 left.
Out of timeouts, Jase Hammack completed four consecutive passes, the last to Gary Ruckman for 11 yards to get the Cru to the HSU 26. On fourth down and 2, with no way to stop the clock, Anthony Avila and the field goal unit rushed onto the field and Avila connected from 43 yards out to win the game, 15-14.
Here's the clutch last-second field goal that gave UMHB the 15-14 Homecoming victory over Hardin Simmons. Seems like the kind of play @espn might be interested in, no? pic.twitter.com/43YjQ6GeG6
— Mary Hardin-Baylor (@UMHB) October 26, 2019
Avila had missed a 45-yard field goal as time expired in the first half and had also hit an extra point off the upright, but was ready to go for the game-winner. "I was just focused ... as soon as it was two minutes I was just focused and knew that we had to get out there," Avila said in the postgame news conference. "Like coach said, we always practice that."
UMHB was limited to 211 yards of total offense on the afternoon and ran just 48 plays as HSU controlled the clock for 35:56, running the ball on 58 of 65 plays from scrimmage. Kyle Jones, a former UMHB quarterback, went 6-for-7 for 53 yards for the Cowboys (5-2).
Marietta cut into JCU's lead on its first possession of the fourth quarter, as Kyle McSweeney hit Andrew Barker for a 29-yard touchdown pass to cut the Blue Streaks lead to 20-14. JCU answered with a field goal, but Marietta went on a 11-play drive and McSweeney found Robert Nelson for a TD with 4:29 left. The Pioneers forced a three-and-out and got the ball back at their own 38 with 2:17 left, but Conner Bogard started the possession with a sack for JCU and he ended it by teaming up with Tyler Frederick on a fourth-down sack just beyond midfield, allowing JCU to run out the clock for the 23-21 win. Michael Canganelli ran for 140 yards and two touchdowns for the Blue Streaks.
Ricky Hess caught a touchdown pass with 38 seconds left in the game to tie the game, then caught a big pass in overtime from John Mullin. That helped set up Ruhann Peele for a 1-yard touchdown run in overtime, giving No. 13 Wesley a 20-17 victory against Montclair State. Peele's touchdown, his second of the day, came after Anthony Marinel had kicked a 35-yard field goal for Montclair State in its half of the overtime. Montclair had taken a 14-7 lead into halftime after Zahir Wilder intercepted Mullin and returned it 31 yards to the end zone. But neither team was able to threaten on offense in the second half until Wesley took over with 3:23 left in regulation and drove 13 plays for the game-tying touchdown.
No. 24 Linfield blew the game open in the third quarter and pulled away to defeat Pacific Lutheran 42-10. The win ensured that the Wildcats will extend their streak of consecutive winning seasons to 64 in a row, the most at all levels of college football. Wyatt Smith threw for 311 yards in the win as Linfield improved to 5-1, 4-0 in the Northwest Conference.
Cortland overcame a nine-point halftime deficit – the first time it has trailed at the half this fall – and the 19th-ranked Red Dragons held on late for a 42-37 win at St. John Fisher. Cortland extended a 39-37 lead to 42-37 on Nick Mongelli's 26-yard field goal with 26 seconds left. Fisher (4-4, 1-3 E8), however, returned a short kickoff to the beyond its 30-yard line, and a late hit call on Cortland moved the ball just shy of midfield. Fisher quarterback Hunter Walsh completed three sideline passes to Will Blake covering 15, 12 and 11 yards to advance the ball to the Cortland 13-yard line with 10 seconds left. Cortland's Anthony Gamble, however, broke up a pass at the 5-yard line with five seconds left. Fisher's final pass into the end zone was broken up by Joshua Cordero, and a holding call on the Cardinals was declined to end the game. Cortland improved to 7-0 overall, 4-0 in Empire 8 play with the victory.
Josh Petruccelli carried the ball on well more than half of Mount Union's plays from scrimmage and his three touchdowns helped carry the No. 2 Purple Raiders to a 27-0 win against Heidelberg. The Student Princes, who managed just 151 yards of total offense, fall to 5-2. Petruccelli had 41 carries for 194 yards and three touchdowns in the win. The teams combined for just 105 passing yards, as D'Angelo Fulford was 7-for-13 for 60 yards for UMU and Jimmy Gephart and Wendell Morrison combined to go 6-for-13 for 45 yards for Heidelberg.
No. 3 UW-Whitewater scored 21 consecutive points over a 15-minute span in the second and third quarters that proved to be the difference in a 49-28 victory at UW-River Falls. The Warhawks (7-0, 4-0 WIAC) scored with 2:32 to play in the second quarter and added touchdowns at the 11:35 and 2:28 marks of the third to turn a one-score game into a 42-13 advantage. UW-Whitewater was outgained 495-429 in total yards by the Falcons (1-6, 0-4), but forced five turnovers, including three interceptions in the second half.
Kai Barber ran for two touchdowns and caught a touchdown pass as No. 4 St. John's rolled past St. Olaf 54-17. It is the second consecutive loss for St. Olaf after a 5-0 start. Jackson Erdmann threw for 496 yards and four touchdowns in the win. The Johnnies (7-0, 5-0 MIAC) led 20-17 at halftime before scoring 34 unanswered points to secure the win. It was very similar for St. Thomas in Northfield, Minnesota, on Saturday as well. The No. 18 Tommies led Carleton 14-9 at the half, then outscored the Knights 49-6 in the second half of a 63-15 win. Josh Parks had 21 carries for 180 yards and three touchdowns and also caught a 75-yard touchdown pass in the victory. Carleton fell to 4-4, 2-4 in the MIAC.
No. 14 Delaware Valley cruised past Lebanon Valley 51-3 to set a MAC record for consecutive victories in conference play with the Aggies' 26th straight. The Aggies jumped in front when Jamir Prevard returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown. Prevard also had two interceptions for a Del Val defense that held conference rushing leader Hunter Wilson to two yards on 15 carries. Lebanon Valley finished with 3 rushing yards as a team.
It was raining in Cleveland, as well as across much of the Illinois/Indiana/Ohio area, where No. 21 Case Western Reserve took a 24-7 lead at the half over Geneva and held on to win 30-23 to remain unbeaten. Sophomore quarterback Drew Saxton threw for three touchdowns and three interceptions and completed 18 of his 30 passes for 237 yards to lead the offensive attack as Case improved to 7-0, 6-0 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference. Geneva fell to 3-5, 3-4.