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| Dom Shepardson, Coe Coe athletics photo |
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Games of Aug. 31-Sept. 2, 2023
The Team of the Week, presented by Scoutware, is D3football.com's weekly honor roll, in its 25th season of recognizing the top performance at each position from the previous week. Players are nominated by schools.
Offense
QB Kaleb Blaha, Jr., UW-River Falls
Blaha finished with 312 yards of total offense (260 passing, 52 rushing) and totaled five touchdowns, three passing and two rushing to lead the Falcons to a 45-22 upset victory over No. 3-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor.
OL Seth Jones, Jack Turner, Hunter Palmisano, Keller Liptrap, Carson Messemer, Allegheny
Allegheny totaled 493 yards of total offense, including 193 on the ground, in a 39-26 overtime win against Waynesburg. The offensive line allowed just one sack.
RB Hunter Clasen, Sr., Wartburg
Clasen ran for a career-high 247 yards and six TDs, averaging 10.7 yards per carry, as Wartburg defeated Monmouth 62-35 on Saturday night. The touchdown total broke a school record which had stood for 26 years.
RB Ceaser Gonzalez, Sr., Merchant Marine
Gonzalez had a career-day on Saturday to lead the Mariners to a 52-35 road victory at Western Connecticut. He carried the ball 31 times and amassed 237 yards with three touchdowns. His first two TDs were on back-to-back drives in the third quarter on runs of 26 and 39 yards before he found the end zone late in the fourth on a 13-yard run.
WR Nate Thornton, Sr., Monmouth
Thornton set career highs with 10 catches and 212 receiving yards in Monmouth's season opener at Wartburg while also scoring a touchdown. His 212 yards are the fifth-most in a single-game in school history and helped the Scots put 35 points on the board against Wartburg.
WR Dom Shepardson, Sr., Coe
Shepardson made an incredible start to his fifth-year season for the Kohawks, setting a career-high in receiving yards and touchdowns in Coe's 56-6 blowout victory over Cornell. He caught four TD passes in just over three quarters of action, while racking up 182 yards on seven catches. He began the day with a bang, scoring a touchdown on Coe's first offensive play of the season, taking a short screen pass for a 47-yard score. He later added another long touchdown, beating the Ram defense for a 67-yard TD less than four minutes after his first score. Shepardson hit pay dirt twice more before sitting out the remainder of the game, cashing in from 28 yards with 49 seconds left in the first half and just over three minutes into the second half.
TE Clayton Schwalbe, So., UW-Oshkosh
Schwalbe had career-highs in receptions (five), receiving yards (73) and touchdowns (two) during UW-Oshkosh's 48-31 win over Texas Lutheran to open the 2023 season. A 27-yard catch in the first quarter set up UWO's third score of the day. His first touchdown came in the third quarter on a jump pass from Kobe Berghammer to the back of the end zone. After an interception started a UWO drive on the TLU 33-yard line, he caught a 15-yard pass, followed by a 17-yard touchdown.
Defense
DE Austin Roy, Sr., Dean
Roy was everywhere on the defensive side of the ball for the Bulldogs helping the team to a 33-17 win vs. Fitchburg State. He finished with eight tackles, with four resulting in losses totaling 31 yards. He added three sacks. Roy also forced three fumbles, including one that was scooped up by a teammate and brought in for a touchdown to put the game out of reach early in the fourth quarter.
DT Colin Hill, Sr., Denison
Hill had four tackles and two quarterback hurries during Denison's 45-35 season-opening win at Capital.
DT Jack Tucker, Jr. Mount St. Joseph
Tucker was outstanding the Lions' win over Baldwin Wallace, as he racked up none tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack.
DE Kaden Tong, Sr., Case Western Reserve
Tong led a dominating defensive effort for the Spartans during a 14-0 win over Thiel. He led all CWRU players with nine tackles (five solo), three and a half tackles for loss, and a career-high three sacks. Tong helped the Spartans hold the Tomcats to just 190 total yards, including 55 rushing.
LB Demetrius Salley, Jr., Stevenson
Salley recorded a career high in tackles with eight, while recording two and a half tackles for loss and a sack in the Mustangs' season-opening win against Rowan.
LB Brody Robinson, Jr., Lebanon Valley
Robinson had a big day on defense for the Dutchmen in a tough 16-12 defeat at the hands of Franklin & Marshall. He had seven tackles including four solo, and returned an interception for a touchdown. His 42-yard interception return in the beginning of the second quarter gave LVC a 9-3 lead which they took into halftime.
LB Ben Bladel, So., Grove City
Bladel had two sacks, a forced fumble, 3.5 tackles for loss and a pass deflection in Grove City's 17-7 win vs. Westminster. Both of his sacks came on third down, forcing punts. The Wolverine defense held Westminster to 11 first downs and blanked the Titans on their final seven possessions of the game.
CB Nick Bostrom, Jr., Salve Regina
Bostrom had a pair of picks to secure a shutout for the Seahawks in a 48-0 victory at Curry.
S Aidan Griffin, Jr., SUNY-Maritime
Griffin set a single-game program record with three interceptions, on three successive drives in the second quarter, in a season-opening 34-11 win over Hartwick. Maritime converted each of the three picks into touchdowns. Griffin returned the first 23 yards, then nearly scored on the second, bringing it back 37 yards to the Hartwick 9. The third interception came in the end zone. He also made three tackles and broke up a pass.
S Parker Rochford, Jr., Wartburg
Rochford filed away three interceptions, one of which was a pick-six in a 62-35 win against Monmouth. His picks tied not only his career high but also the single-game school record.
CB Cortez Stoudemire, Sr., DePauw
Stoudemire had five tackles and two interceptions, helping DePauw seal a 33-21 season-opening win against Rose-Hulman.
Special teams
K Hugo Taylor, Jr., Brevard
Taylor made three field goals (36, 40, 40) including a game-tying field goal with 10 seconds left in the game that sent the contest to overtime, in addition to making two extra points.
P Shane Drake, Sr., Bridgewater State
Drake averaged 45.0 yards on five punts with a long of 60 yards. Three of his five punts landed inside the 20 in a 41-27 loss to MIT.
RET Quintral Clay, Fr., Greenville
On the first play of his college career Clay returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. He had two Kick Returns on the day returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown and returning his second kickoff out past the 40-yard line.
ST Josh Lesesne, So., Susquehanna
Lesesne scored two touchdowns off punts on his birthday for 51-19 win at Bridgewater Sept. 2. Late in the second quarter he recovered a fumble off a botched punt snap and ran it back for a touchdown to lead 30-16 at the half. In the fourth quarter, he caught the ball out of the air after a blocked punt for a 44-yard runback for the last score of the day.