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| Joey Bildstein Salisbury athletics photo by Joey Gardner, PhotoJoe Photography |
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Games of Nov. 11-12, 2022
The Team of the Week, presented by Scoutware, is D3football.com's weekly honor roll, in its 24th season of recognizing the top performance at each position from the previous week. Players are nominated by schools.
Offense
QB Michael Berluti, So., Tufts
Berluti had a career and historic game for the Jumbos, as he finished with eight total touchdowns in a 65-35 win over Middlebury. Overall, Berluti went 19-of-31 yards for 294 yards and seven touchdown throws, while also rushing 12 times for 181 yards and a 50-yard touchdown run. He hooked up with Phil Lutz six times, and also hit Jackson Butler for a scoring strike in the first half.
OL Joshua Leander, Jonathan Naniewicz, James Campos, Chris Woolaston, Josh Moore, Keystone
The big guys up front led the Giants in scoring six total TDs in their 45-44 win in OT vs Dean. Keystone had a rushing attack of 394 total yards on 48 carries for 8.2 yards per carry and four total TDs on the ground. The Giants had a total of 527 yards on the day and gave up zero sacks.
RB Paul Garrett, Sr., Greenville
Garrett shredded the UMAC's top rushing defense, going for 319 yards on 34 carries and scoring four TDs in a 43-25 win against Minnesota-Morris. He also had two catches for 29 yards. Garrett has 25 touchdowns on the season.
RB Joey Bildstein, Jr., Salisbury
Bildstein had a monster day to help the Sea Gulls clinch their fourth consecutive NJAC title with a 36-33 win vs. CNU. Bildstein rushed for a career-high 239 yards on 36 carries and scored five touchdowns. It is the first time an SU player has rushed for five scores since the 2010 season. It was also SU's first 200-plus yard game since the 2018 season.
WR Izaiah Jerenz, Sr., Puget Sound
Jerenz set career highs for receptions and receiving yards in the season finale win, catching 16 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns. He was 23 yards shy of tying the Puget Sound record for receiving yards in a game.
WR Phil Lutz, Sr., Tufts
Lutz had a historic day for the Jumbos, as he posted a program-record six touchdown catches in a 65-34 win over Middlebury. On the afternoon, Lutz posted 10 catches for 237 yards and his six scores, posting touchdown grabs of 63, 44, 12, 3, 70 and 7 yards on the day. He broke the school record for receiving touchdowns and yardage in a season, as he finished the campaign with 78 grabs for 1221 yards and 14 scores.
TE Brandon Cohen, Sr., King's
Despite a losing effort in the 26th annual Mayor's Cup game against Wilkes, Cohen led all receivers with 11 catches for 94 yards and two touchdowns. It was also in this effort that Cohen surpassed the 100-catch milestone for his career.
Defense
DE Alex Bandler, Sr., Lake Forest
The Foresters needed to defeat Chicago to secure a share of the MWC championship and a chance at the NCAA playoffs and Bendler had a standout performance recording seven solo tackles, six of which were for a loss, including three sacks. Bender also forced a fumble that the Foresters recovered and blocked a field goal on the day.
DT Angel Ramos, Jr., Wilkes
Ramos had a huge day for the Wilkes defense posting eight tackles, four and a half tackles for loss and four sacks. He also forced a fumble and had a quarterback hurry in the Colonels' win over King's.
DT Ethan Lowry, Jr., DePauw
Lowry broke up the first pass of the game to set the tone for the day in which DePauw defeated archrival Wabash 49-14. He also had one possession of the third quarter in which he recorded both of his sacks. Lowry finished with three rackles for loss of 39 yards and added two forced fumbles.
DE Noah Caldani, Sr., Lebanon Valley
Caldani had a huge day on defense to propel the Dutchmen to a big 41-24 rivalry win over Albright to clinch a spot in the Centennial-MAC Bowl series. He had a game-high 12 tackles, including 10 solo. He was constantly in the backfield with five tackles for loss totaling 27 yards including three sacks for 24 yards. He also forced two fumbles.
LB Matt DeSimpliciis, Sr., Ithaca
DeSimpliciis tallied 10 total tackles, to go along with a fumble recovery and an interception, as Ithaca defeated Cortland, 34-17, in the 63rd Cortaca Jug Game at Yankee Stadium. DeSimpliciis recovered the fumble early in the second quarter and intercepted a pass in the end zone to keep the score in favor of IC at halftime, 17-7.
LB Aaron Nice, Fr., Bridgewater
Nice set the ODAC single-game record with 6.5 sacks -- the most sacks in a game in Division III this season, third most in the division all time. Bridgewater defeated Guilford 64-22.
LB Cooper Yaggie, So., St. John's
Yaggie intercepted two passes, including one that he returned 61 yards for a touchdown late in the second quarter, to lead St. John's to a 28-10 conference championship win vs. Bethel. Yaggie also led the Johnnies with 11 tackles (six solo) and had a sack, a pass breakup, and a quarterback hurry in the game.
CB Roshaune Downie, Jr., Denison
Downie finished with nine tackles, an interception and eight pass breakups during Denison's 49-12 win vs. Kenyon. It was his fourth interception of the season and was a career-high in both tackles and pass breakups.
S Zachary Souza, So., Bridgewater State
Souza recorded a pair of interceptions, including a goal-line pick, to go along with four tackles (three solo) in a 10-0 Cranberry Bowl shutout win against Mass. Maritime.
S Jahiem Peake, Jr., John Carroll
Peake filled the box score in the season finale for John Carroll with 10 tackles, five tackles for loss, three sacks, twi pass breakups, and a quarterback hurry. The Blue Streaks defeated Otterbein 62-7.
CB Montravion Staley, Sr., Anderson
Staley didn't record a single tackle, but when you intercept three passes, you don't need to tackle so much. He also deflected a pass that resulted in a pick-six as Anderson defeated Manchester for The Bronze Ball by a score of 19-12.
Special teams
K Nicholas Bahamonde, Sr., Ithaca
Bahamonde made field goals from 37 and 24 yards and converted all four point after tries in Ithaca's 37-14 win over Cortland in the 63rd Cortaca Jug Game at Yankee Stadium. Bahamonde also booted two touchbacks in seven kickoffs.
P Jack Mulligan, Jr., Mass. Maritime
Mulligan punted five times in a 10-0 loss to Bridgewater State, helping keep the Buccaneers in the game by averaging 46.4 yards per punt.
RET BJ Stewart, So., Trinity (Texas)
Stewart tied a school record by returning two punts for touchdowns in the game, beginning with a first-quarter score of 75 yards to tie his career-long from earlier this year. He also broke free for a 57-yard touchdown in the second quarter to tie Trinity's single-game record. He finished with 141 yards on three punt returns in the Tigers' 38-0 win against Sewanee.
ST Marc Clayton, So., Ursinus
Clayton blocked a punt that turned into an Ursinus touchdown as time expired in the first half, extending the Bears' lead to 28-7 against Dickinson in a game Ursinus would go on to win 38-14.