Border battles highlight weekend
The biggest surprise came from Pella, Iowa, where Central knocked off No. 14 Bethel 21-20 in overtime giving head coach Jeff McMartin his first collegiate win. It was the second straight road loss in Iowa for the Royals and eerily similar to their last against Wartburg in the first round of the 2003 playoffs. In both games the Royals fumbled on their first possession and were never able to get their offense rolling. They finished the day with three fumbles and an interception.
“We moved the ball well,” Bethel offensive coordinator Greg Peterson said, “But we had a couple drive killers — some fumbles and some dropped balls.”
The Dutch were able to control the Royals potent running attack giving up just 188 yards — down from 447 yards by Augustana in Week 1. Central exploited Bethel’s lack of a kicking game by stopping them on two of three two-point conversions including an interception in overtime that eventually led to the victory.
“I'm very proud of the way our guys played today,” McMartin said. “I'm proud of the way that we bounced back from last week. Our guys played hard and with emotion and that's what you need to win games like these.”
Three hours north on I-35 in Northfield, Minn., Luther and St. Olaf were battling in one of the strangest games of this young season. Luther exploded to a 31-0 lead following Judson Taylor’s 45-yard interception return for a touchdown with 8:30 to play in the first half.
Then, as if a new Ole team took to the field, St. Olaf started to chip away at what looked to be an insurmountable deficit. Sophomore running back Marc Olson plunged in from two yards out and freshman kicker Paul Fortman booted in a 44-yard field goal to make it 31-9 at the break. Fortman added another from ten feet closer in the third but they still trailed by 19 points going into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth, the Oles jolted the Norse with three touchdowns including a 76-yard bomb with 1:17 remaining to true freshman Horace Gant from Pensacola, Fla., giving St. Olaf a 32-31 lead. He tore through the Norse secondary like Hurricane Frances in the fourth quarter collecting 133 yards and two touchdowns. He finished with nine catches for 222 yards.
The 32-point comeback was a St. Olaf school record and the fourth largest comeback in NCAA football history, all divisions.
Later that night in Minneapolis, No. 5 Wartburg entered Edor Nelson Field as an overwhelming favorite to knock off Augsburg, the fifth place team in the MIAC last season. While these schools definitely know how to scrap it out on the wrestling mat, they carried it over to the football field on Saturday night.
The teams traded scores and turnovers (Wartburg six, Augsburg five) all night until the final seconds. With 19 seconds left and the game tied 24-24, Augsburg's Nick Schlieman attempted a career-long and school-record 53-yard field goal, but fell short.
Wartburg scrambled to attempt a game-winning 33-yard field goal, but Augsburg's Ricky Schreier blocked the attempt, seemingly ending the fourth quarter and setting up overtime. However, in the scramble to get the field goal off before time expired, Wartburg was whistled for a dead-ball, illegal-procedure penalty. This stopped the clock with three seconds left and gave the Knights another opportunity to secure the win — which they did when Jordan Maus’ 40-yard field goal split the uprights with 0:00 on the clock. Wartburg escaped.
Three games separated by five points all decided in the final minute or overtime. With Iowa schools winning two of the three aforementioned games and St. Thomas beating Coe 21-12, the conferences walked away with a 2-2 split — hopefully they’ll meet again in the playoffs.
Air Mail
Linfield Division I transfer quarterback Brett Elliott wasted no time making friends with his receiving corps on Saturday throwing five touchdowns to four different receivers. Three of those touchdowns went for over 50 yards and two for over 70. He finished with 363 yards in one half of action. Looks like another “Elliott” could have a significant role in helping his team to the playoffs and beyond this season—it worked last year for St. John’s.
Hat trick defenders
Two defensive backs in the MIAC had three interceptions in leading their teams to victory. Hamline junior Tyler Shultze had two tackles, six assisted tackles and three interceptions in leading Hamline to a 29-7 defeat of Minnesota-Morris.
St. Olaf junior Matt Dean also grabbed three interceptions in his team’s 32-point come from behind win. Dean’s last interception came with 52 seconds left to seal the victory. He finished with six tackles, one assisted tackle and three interceptions.
Not-so-special feeling
It was a rough day for special teams in Claremont-Mudd-Scripps’ 27-14 victory over Kings Point. Zach Fragapane had an extra point blocked and a two-point conversion fumbled before giving way to Griffin Halpern who proceeded to have his extra point blocked. When Kings Point finally scored its first touchdown at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Ramin Hatami came on and had his extra point blocked. On the ensuing kickoff, Spencer Schomer returned it 88 yards for a touchdown. At least they finished on a positive note with CMS scoring on a two-point conversion and Kings Point kicking a PAT through the uprights.
Now Hiring: Kickers — no experience necessary
Kickers, or lack there of, have played a major role in college football at all levels this season. Division III was not exempt for the second consecutive as the lack there of in the kicking department may have cost Bethel and Willamette a chance to win. Bethel attempted no PATs on Saturday opting to go for two points on all three touchdowns converting only one — they lost by one.
Willamette nearly knocked off No. 8 Mary Hardin Baylor but had two PATs and a field goal blocked resulting in a 25-22 MHB victory.
Short-play offense
In Whitworth’s 52-49 victory over Redlands the two teams produced 15 scores but only three of them were over 11 yards. Redlands punched in running touchdowns from 3, 1, 3, 3, 11 and 5 yards out. Whitworth countered with running scores from 6, 2, 5, 5 and 10 yards and a pass from 6 yards away.
Sound byte
Linfield head coach Jay Locey on their next opponent:
"Wisconsin-Stevens Point is an outstanding team. They play in a great league. From top to bottom, the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference is perhaps the best Division III conference in the nation. They are a big school (8,746 enrollment) with nice facilities and their coaching staff does a very good job. They have a big offensive line and a good scheme. They are a very talented team that uses multiple offensive looks. On defense, they are big and fast and very physical. It’s exciting to be able to play such a great opponent."
West Region Top 5
1. Linfield
Only injuries can slow this train.
2. Wartburg
Augsburg woke them up.
3. St. John’s
Recovering from the UWEC loss and realizing the past, is well, the past.
4. Simpson
Central will determine if the Storm has life after Donnenwerth.
5. Bethel
Needs to stay out of Iowa and find a kicker.
GET to the GAME!
No. 2 Linfield at No. 7 UW-Stevens Point, 2:00 p.m., Stevens Point, Wis.: Playoffs in September? This early season match up between west region favorites is the biggest game of this young season. With both teams coming off blowouts in their season openers, this game looks to be an evenly matched affair. Both teams have outstanding talent on both sides of the ball. Division I-A transfer quarterback Brett Elliott threw for five touchdowns and ran for another in Linfield’s 58-17 win over Western Oregon. In Stevens Point, the Pointers demolished Tri-State 57-3 with sophomore quarterback Brett Borchart matching Elliott’s numbers. One major key to the game could be Linfield’s banged-up defense. All-league defender Kelley Bertrand could be out for the season with a knee injury. Look for the offensive speed of Linfield to play to their advantage.
Concordia-Moorhead at St. Thomas, 1:00 p.m., St. Paul: Both teams bring outstanding defenses into the game and it will come down to whose offense can get rolling sooner. The Cobbers have scored 97 points on the Tommies in their last two meetings but several of the Cobber weapons on those teams have graduated. St. Thomas is coming off a 21-12 defeat of Coe while Concordia-Moorhead won a lightning-shortened game against Division II Moorhead State 30-7. Look for Cobber wide receiver Andrew Passanante to haul in several acrobatic catches and St. Thomas running back Walter Dosh to get a majority of the carries for the Tommies.
Redlands at No. 13 Trinity (Texas), 7:30 p.m., San Antonio: This non-conference battle between perennial playoff teams should be a high-scoring affair. The Trinity Tigers have put up a combined 93 points in their first two victories while Redlands scored 49 points before losing to Whitworth last week. Starting 0-2 will severely hurt the Bulldogs going into their conference season. A win by Trinity could bolster confidence and put them on their way to matching their undefeated conference records of 2001 and 2002.
Central at Simpson, 1:00 p.m. Indianola, Iowa: Simpson is picked to finish second in the IIAC coaches’ poll and Central is coming off an inspiring upset of Bethel. This early-season matchup will set the tone in the IIAC for potential contenders to Wartburg’s back to back IIAC championships. Simpson defeated Central by a touchdown last season 28-21 but the Dutch lead the overall series 53-25-3. Look for Simpson wide receiver Dusty Kain to spread the Central secondary and Central linebacker Mark Sanger to stuff the run coming off a career high 21 tackles including 10 solo stops.
Comments? Disagreements? Have a human interest story to share? Feel free to send me an email at adam.johnson@d3football.com.