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| The River Hawks were able to walk off the field happy on Saturday. Susquehanna athletics photo |
Susquehanna got a big win with a big rally, while UW-Whitewater survived a challenge from Mary Hardin-Baylor in Division III football action among ranked teams on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023.
Susquehanna scored 17 unanswered points, all of them in the final five minutes, as the No. 22 River Hawks rallied past No. 10 Cortland on Saturday afternoon. The Red Dragons were sitting pretty, having gotten the ball back with a two-touchdown lead and 7:01 left. But Cortland got minus-5 yards of total offense the rest of the way. On their next possession, River Hawks quarterback Josh Ehrlich rattled off a 30-yard run to start the drive and Susquehanna was in the end zone two plays later. Cortland went three-and-out again, and Ehrlich ran for 21 yards to get his team in position, then hit Kyle Howes for a one-handed TD grab to tie the game. On the ensuing kickoff, Brennan Miller forced a fumble and Susquehanna started on the Cortland 31-yard line. The River Hawks got to the Cortland 15, and Christian Colasurdo finished it with a field goal on the final play of the game to secure the 38-35 victory.
Zac Boyes threw for 397 yards for Cortland, but threw just twice in the fourth quarter for just 4 yards. Ehrlich threw for 227 yards and ran for 162 more, combining for 389 yards of total offense and four total touchdowns.
Meanwhile, the game between No. 19 Mary Hardin-Baylor and No. 4 UW-Whitewater got flexed into a premiere time slot thanks to a three-hour lightning delay, and it was a classic, with UW-Whitewater holding on for the win when Thomas Wojnowski came down with an interception at the UMHB 23 with under 30 seconds remaining. The Cru defense held Jason Ceniti to just 98 passing yards, but Tamir Thomas ran 23 times for 111 yards and two touchdowns to get just enough scoring for the 17-14 win.
Mary Hardin-Baylor is 0-3, but with losses to the current No. 7, No. 6 and No. 4 teams in the country.
Wayne Ruby caught a 73-yard touchdown pass, part of a 173-yard, two-touchdown day, as No. 2 Mount Union got past Marietta 28-0. The game was scoreless in the second half. In the process, Ruby surpassed the Mount Union career record for receiving yards, with 4,706. Wartburg similary had an easy time of it on Saturday, as the No. 3 Knights held Buena Vista to 58 yards of total offense in a 47-0 victory. Nile McLaughlin threw for three touchdowns on 26 pass attempts, and Hunter Clasen ran for three on 15 carries.
No. 13 Johns Hopkins outscored Salisbury 29-0 in the second half to run away with a 42-7 win on the road. After generating 176 yards of offense in the first half, the Sea Gulls were limited to just 55 yards in the second half. Meanwhile, Hopkins put the game away with two fourth-quarter touchdowns, a 1-yard run from Geoff Schroeder, who capped his 148-yard day on the ground with the 1-yard plunge early in the fourth, and a 2-yard run from Jacob Chapman late in the game that closed out the scoring.
In its first game against a Division III opponent this season, North Central had little trouble against Carthage. The No. 1-ranked Cardinals rolled to a 49-0 lead at the half and cruised to a 70-0 victory. Joe Sacco ran for 131 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries, one of six ballcarriers who had 30 or more yards on the groun. Deangelo Hardy caught 5 passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns, out of the four TD passes Luke Lehnen threw in just 12 passing attempts on the afternoon.
UW-Oshkosh held East Texas Baptist to 135 yards as the No. 23 Titans rolled to a 60-7 win on the road. The Titans accumulated 476 yards of their own, including 216 passing and 40 rushing from Kobe Berghammer. Two Titans scored their first career touchdown in the contest. Ithaca had a similarly productive day on defense, as the No. 20 Bombers held Alfred to 155 yards in a 22-0 blanking of the Saxons. AJ Wingfield completed 21 of his 32 passes for 226 yards and two total touchdowns, while Owen O'Neill and Jon Ramsey each compiled a sack and three tackles for loss.
No. 14 UW-La Crosse improved to 2-1 on the season with a 34-3 win at Division II Northern Michigan. Keyser Helterbrand went 19-of-23 for 217 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Northern Michigan (0-3) was held to 200 yards of total offense and converted just two of 11 third downs. Alex Call got the call for Bethel at quarterback and threw for 334 yards, including eight catches for 175 yards and two touchdowns by Joey Kidder as the No. 18 Royals defeated UW-Eau Claire 24-0. Harry Roubidoux came back after last week's injury at quarterback for the Blugolds, but was ineffective, completing just six of 18 passes for 32 yards.