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North Central handled Rose-Hulman in the Fightin' Engineers first playoff trip. |
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| Blake Jackson and UMHB took to the air in rallying past Redlands. UMHB athletics photo |
Linfield booked itself a third trip to Texas, while Mary Hardin-Baylor survived an early scare and the two CCIW teams in the bracket advanced easily in the first-round games in the UMHB bracket.
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No. 1-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor fell behind 21-7 but outscored Redlands 36-7 in the second half to advance to the second-round rematch with Linfield. The Wildcats won at Hardin-Simmons, 24-10.
Redlands opened the game with a 16-play scoring drive and went ahead two touchdowns when Aaron Mandell returned a UMHB fumble 40 yards for a touchdown. But Blake Jackson threw a 57-yard touchdown pass to Bryce Wilkerson and after halftime a 38-yarder to T.J. Josey as the Cru, known for its relentless ground attack, was able to throw its way back into the game.
Redlands narrowed the score to 30-28 with a 100-yard kick return from Kyle Kabeary, but Wilkerson returned that kick 69 yards and UMHB was back up by nine two Markeith Miller runs later.
Jackson finished with 239 passing yards and three touchdowns, and rushed for 153 and another score. Miller had 186 yards rushing and three TDs for the Cru.
Across the state in Abilene, visiting Linfield held Hardin-Simmons off the scoreboard for the final 36:27 of a 24-10 win. The Wildcats and Cowboys were ranked 8th and 11th in the country but met in the first round because of their geographical isolation.
Sam Riddle completed 21 passes for 367 yards, with 11 of those going to Reed Peterson for 207 yards and a score.
Linfield earns a chance to avenge its 66-27 early-season loss at Mary Hardin-Baylor.
Broc Rutter had a fine afternoon in his first NCAA Division III playoff start, throwing for 299 yards and four touchdowns as North Central (Ill.) defeated Rose-Hulman 41-7. But it was the defense that was the story for the Cardinals. While North Central recorded just one sack, the defense broke up seven passes and held RHIT quarterback Austin Swenson to just 20-for-42 passing, and just 103 yards.
Ryan Kuhl and Alex Ulmer had seven catches apiece, for 110 and 107 yards, each scoring two TDs in the win.
Wheaton advanced to the second-round rematch as well, rolling out to a 35-3 halftime lead and cruising to a 45-10 win vs. Huntingdon. Wheaton is 10-0 all-time in first-round NCAA playoff games.
The Hawks offense, which came in firing on all cylinders, managed 310 yards, but Luke Bailey needed 39 attempts to get his 178 passing yards. Thunder quarterback Andrew Bowers completed 10 of his 18 passing attempts for 204 yards with two touchdowns. He also ran for 47 yards on six carries.