Mount Union missed three field goals on Saturday, including one which was blocked by John Carroll in the first overtime. John Carroll athletics photo by Peter Wangechi

John Carroll throttled the Mount Union offense and won in double overtime, while Wheaton recorded a big road win, Berry finished its sweep of Trinity, Johns Hopkins won going away against Salisbury and Susquehanna ended Eastern's playoff run in shutout fashion on Saturday. In the late games, River Falls cruised, while Bethel and North Central eliminated the rest of the WIAC on Saturday in the third round of the Division III football playoffs.

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Mount Union scored on an 85-yard touchdown pass from Mikey Maloney to Nick Turner on its first offensive snap of the game. But the John Carroll defense and special teams kept the Purple Raiders off the scoreboard the entire rest of the game, and the defense got one final stop on a Maloney draw inside the 5 in the second overtime and the Blue Streaks scraped together just enough offense to defeat the Purple Raiders, 10-7. 

Nick Semptimhelter hit Shane Lindstrom over the defense for a 29-yard touchdown on the Blue Streaks' first possession of the second half, and Colin Schuler hit the extra point to tie the game at 7-7. Neither team was able to crack the scoreboard for the rest of regulation, with Mount Union choosing to punt from midfield with 2:53 left. The kick ended up pinning John Carroll on its 1-yard line. JCU got as far as the Mount Union 35 but was not able to get into field position on a blustery day in Alliance, Ohio, sending the game to overtime. 

JP Germano broke up a third down pass on Mount Union's possession in overtime, setting up a 37-yard field goal attempt for Ivan Maric, who had already missed two field goals in the swirling winds. That kick was blocked by Tommy Wasinski, giving JCU the ball with the ability to win with any score. And the Blue Streaks (12-0) were a yard away from doing so, as Tyren Montgomery took a handoff on an end around and leaned and stretched out as far as the 1, setting up third and goal. But Semptimphelter had the ball slip out of his hands on third down, and Schuler's 18-yard field goal attempt, from the extreme right hash, was pushed too far and hit the left upright, setting up a second overtime.

Jaeson Anderson came up with a big pass breakup for UMU (11-1) in JCU's possession in the second overtime, forcing a longer field goal attempt, but Schuler had a much better angle on the goalposts and he drilled it to give his team a 10-7 lead. On Mount Union's possession, Maloney scrambled twice in a row to get the ball down to a fourth-and-2 from the 4. After a Purple Raiders timeout, they had Maloney run a draw, which Davon Badley stopped after a 1-yard game, securing the victory. 

"We knew the quarterback, the ball in his hand, he's a phenomenal player and someone that has scored a lot of touchdowns for them in that zone, in that area," said John Carroll coach Jeff Behrman. "We just had to do our job. I mean, the defense did that. I mean, they did their job with the exception of one play, the first play of the game, right? I would say that the defense played one heck of a football game.

Lindstrom finished with a game-high 10 catches, going for 144 yards and John Carroll's only touchdown. Semptimphelter was limited to 25-for-40 passing, well below his completion percentage entering the game, but he finished with 264 yards and did not throw an interception.

It was the first time Mount Union was held to seven points or less at home since the 1986 quarterfinals, when the Purple Raiders lost to Augustana, 16-7.

Berry survived a choppy start and a furious fourth-quarter surge from Trinity to earn a 31-23 win and the program’s first-ever trip to the national quarterfinals. The Vikings opened the game with two interceptions in their first three possessions, and neither team scored in the first quarter. In the second quarter Berry settled in and seized the game’s momentum. Christian Lewis hit Josh Rogers for a 24-yard touchdown, added a two-point conversion, and then capitalized on a botched Trinity punt snap that set up a short-field score. Colby Sikes’ 28-yard sprint stretched the lead to 22-0 at halftime, mirroring Berry’s regular-season control of the matchup. Trinity finally came alive in the second half, mounting a pair of 75-yard touchdown drives behind Hondo Franklin to trim the deficit to 28-15 entering the fourth quarter. 

Trinity had one final push left in them. With 2:10 left, Franklin found Alejandro Tavarez for their second touchdown connection of the day and hit Tavarez again for the two-point conversion to trim the Viking deficit to 31-23. The Tigers followed with a recovery of a textbook onside kick and pushed the ball near midfield, suddenly threatening to erase that 22-point first half deficit. But on a second-down throw, Franklin sailed a pass high, it was tipped and intercepted by Chaz Pope, ending the rally and sealing Berry’s historic win.

Statistically, Berry controlled the trenches, outgaining Trinity 167–10 on the ground and forcing four turnovers. Lewis finished with 140 passing yards, a touchdown through the air, and two rushing scores. Tavarez led Trinity with 117 receiving yards and two touchdowns, sparking the Tigers’ comeback bid. Berry improves to 11–1, matching the program’s best record set in 2017, and advances to the quarterfinals for the first time. Trinity closes its season at 10–2, with both losses coming against the Vikings. Berry will square off with John Carroll next week.

Wheaton scored 21 points in the second quarter, including a defensive score, and the Thunder continued rolling into the national quarterfinals, defeating DePauw 49-24. Mark Forcucci threw three touchdown passes in the first half and four for the game as Wheaton set up a quarterfinal match with UW-River Falls. By the time the game entered the fourth quarter, Wheaton (11-2) had extended that lead to 42-10 before DePauw scored twice in the final six minutes.

Chandler Bryant extended Wheaton's lead to 21-7 early in the second quarter when DePauw fumbled and Chandler picked it up and ran 51 yards the other direction for a touchdown. The Thunder had taken the lead on two Forcucci touchdown passes, a 39-yarder to Seth Kortenhoeven and a 60-yarder to Whit Jewett.

Forcucci finished 16-for-27 passing for 293 yards and four touchdowns, while Mark Crider ran for 120 yards and two scores in the win. Tight end Riley Howard also got into the mix, catching a touchdown pass as Ben Juska has been out since early in the Wartburg game.

Salisbury needed exactly one play and 10 seconds to grab an early 7-0 lead at Johns Hopkins in Saturday's Round of 16 NCAA Division III playoff game at Homewood Field. Those seven points were one more than the Blue Jay defense would allow over the final 59-plus minutes and the Johns Hopkins offense struck a nearly perfect balance once again in what became a 45-13 victory that propels JHU into the NCAA quarterfinals for the third consecutive year. The Sea Gulls wasted no time jumping on the Blue Jays as quarterback SyRus McGowan found Micah Brubaker a step behind the Blue Jay secondary on the first play of the game to stake Salisbury to the early seven-point lead.

Johns Hopkins answered with an 11-play, 78-yard drive that quarterback Bay Harvey extended with a 19-yard completion to Geoff Schroeder on fourth-and-5 from the Sea Gull 45 and later capped with a 3-yard run up the middle. In a sign of things to come, the drive took nearly seven minutes off the clock (6:51).

The Sea Gulls would move inside the Blue Jay 5-yard line three times over the following quarter-and-a-half, but twice the Blue Jay defense forced short field goals and once they forced a turnover on downs.

Harvey had a hand in five of Johns Hopkins's six touchdowns as he was 18-of-29 for 276 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 96 yards and the two scores. McGowan was 3-of-10 passing for 117 yards and the one touchdown to Brubaker and he added 44 yards on nine carries before exiting the game in the third quarter.

UW–La Crosse struck first, but North Central responded with a championship-caliber surge, scoring the next 28 points on the way to a 35-27 win and a sixth straight trip to the national quarterfinals. The Eagles opened with a crisp 12-play, 81-yard march capped by a 19-yard touchdown from Kyle Haas to Marko Rajkovic. Donovan McNeal, back in North Central’s starting lineup, tied the game with a 5-yard run late in the first quarter, and the Cardinals dominated the second. Thomas Skokna stretched the field for a 42-yard score, Garrett Wilson added a 14-yard touchdown on a quarterback keeper, and Rahmareon Roby delivered a huge blow with a 59-yard interception return 39 seconds before the half to put North Central ahead 28-7 at the break.

By the time UW-La Crosse mounted a late surge with Rajkovic scoring twice more in the final 5:20 including a fourth touchdown as time expired, the Cardinals’ lead was too large to overcome.

McNeal anchored North Central’s offense with 149 yards on the ground and a touchdown on 12 carries in his return, while the defense shined behind Roby’s two interceptions (one for a touchdown) and six solo stops. J.P. Sullivan added nine tackles, two tackles for loss, and a sack. For UW-La Crosse, Haas threw for 308 yards and four scores, all to Rajkovic, who finished with eight catches for 100 yards. The Eagles close their season at 8–3, while North Central extends its winning streak to 27 games and advances to 12–0.

David Geebli recovered from fumbling the ball away on the first snap of the game, and Bethel dug itself out of an early 10-0 hole to rally and get past UW-Platteville 35-24. Geebli coughed it up, setting Platteville up on the Bethel 29, and the Pioneers were on the board four plays later as Trevor Burnett ran off the left side for a 1-yard touchdown run.

Bethel ended up punting the ball away after a false start on fourth-and-1 and Platteville (9-3) came right back down the field and quickly had first-and-goal at the 1. Burnett was stuffed at the line of scrimmage, however, on first down. Zackary Bothun was brought down for a loss on second down and on third down, Dylan Hageman burst through and sacked Pioneer quarterback Nate Uselding for an 11-yard loss, forcing Platteville to settle for a field goal. After that, Platteville didn't score again until the fourth quarter. In the interim, Cooper Drews threw touchdown passes to Taye Manns and Tyler Terry to make it 14-10 at halftime.

Bethel (12-0) started the second half with a pooch kick that Platteville fumbled, and Geebli redeemed his earlier miscue with a 31-yard touchdown run. Manns added a touchdown to make it 28-10 and help keep the Pioneers at bay. Geebli finished with 167 yards on the ground and a touchdown, while Drews threw for 156 yards and three TDs in the win. Rover Jackson Braun led the way for the Royals defense with 11 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

UWRF used a productive rushing attack, a three-touchdown performance from Kaleb Blaha, and a suffocating defensive effort to surge past the Johnnies 42-14 to improve its program record-breaking win total to 11, advancing to the quarterfinals, matching the farthest the Falcons have reached in program history by tying the 1995 team. The win also marked UWRF's first over St. John's since 1937.

The Falcons compiled 433 yards of total offense, including 188 on the ground, while holding the Johnnies to just 22 rushing yards on nine attempts. Blaha accounted for 342 total yards, rushing 26 times for 97 yards and a touchdown while completing 22 of 28 passes for 245 yards and three scores. With his three passing touchdowns, Blaha broke a UWRF single-season record with his 31 passing touchdowns on the year, breaking his former teammate Kole Hinrichsen's record of 28 set in 2021.

Defensively, UWRF produced two interceptions, five pass breakups, and four tackles for loss. Taylor Sussner totaled eight tackles and an interception, while Jack Olson and Kody Curtis each recorded sacks. Nick Wasko's pick-six, which made it 28-7 River Falls with 5:11 left in the third, marked one of the afternoon's pivotal turning points, his first career touchdown.

Eastern saw its storybook season come to close with a 29-0 home loss to Susquehanna. The Riverhawks (11-2) took advantage of three turnovers and a safety to earn the win. Through the first half, the Eastern defense held the potent Susquehanna offense to only a pair of field goals and 85 yards of total offense. Susquehanna kicker Dominic Bourgeois kept his perfect season going with a 45-yarder to open the scoring six minutes into the game. Through the first half, the Eagles managed only 55 yards against the physical Susquehanna defense as Eastern (10-2) trailed 8-0 at halftime.

The River Hawks opened the second half with a long, time-consuming drive, as they went 57 yards in 13 plays to extend their lead to 15-0, and although Eastern's Jason Bateman forced a fumble in Susquehanna territory on the next possession, the drive didn't last, as star cornerback Xavier Maple intercepted Eastern quarterback Brett Nabb on the next possession. Maple also stripped the ball from Eagles receiver Eddie Swinton late in the fourth quarter and returned it 80 yards for a TD to put the game out of reach.

The Susquehanna defense kept Nabb contained, as the run-pass threat was limited to just 22 yards passing, threw two picks and got sacked three times, while also finishing with just 40 yards rushing. Brian Layton led the way with four tackles for loss, while Galen Limantour had a team-high one and a half sacks. Susquehanna managed just 229 yards of total offense, with Matt Surtz going for 91 yards on the ground.