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| Brite Cannon Emily Tallis for Westminster (Pa.) athletics |
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Games of Sept. 20, 2025
The Team of the Week, presented by Scoutware, is D3football.com's weekly honor roll, in its 27th season of recognizing the top performance at each position from the previous week. Players are nominated by schools.
Offense
QB Garrett Gurney, Sr., Muskingum
Gurney turned in one of the finest performances in the history of the program, completing 32 of 39 passes for a school-record 569 yards and a school-record-tying seven touchdowns in a 56-49 overtime win vs. Wilmington. He also set the Muskingum record for total offense in a game with 582 yards.
OL Thomas Wilson, Cash Topinka, Braden McIntire, William Stimmel, Jacob Pressinger, Hampden-Sydney
The Tigers' offensive line racked up 566 yards of total offense on 88 offensive snaps with no sacks allowed. It was Hampden-Sydney's highest team rushing total since 1991.
RB Zayne Cawley, Sr., Waynesburg
Cawley posted the third 200-yard rushing game of his career, moving up to Waynesburg's seventh all-time leading rusher with 2,459 career yards. He had 29 carries fro 230 yards and three touchdowns while catching three passes for 28 yards.
RB Marcus Gabriel, Jr., Gallaudet
Brown-Gabriel ran for a career-high 217 yards on 26 carries (8.3 yards per carry) and scored two touchdowns as the Bison won their ODAC debut, 39-30, over Averett. Brown-Gabriel had 94 rushing yards on nine carries (10.4 yards per carry) in the first half and went for 123 yards on 17 carries (7.2 yards) in the second half. He ran hard through Averett tacklers the entire day. He broke through several tackles late in the fourth quarter when he made a short gain turn into a 19-yard touchdown run to put the icing on the cake for the Bison in their nine-point victory. Brown-Gabriel also scored Gallaudet's first touchdown on a 7-yard run in the first quarter.
WR Jack Morvan, Sr., Nichols
Morvan totaled 289 receiving yards for the Bison this past weekend, which tied for second all-time in program history for a single game. His stat line featured 10 receptions on the day, three touchdowns (a career best mark), and an average of 28.9 yards per reception with a long of 75 yards in the epic 92-60 loss to Coast Guard.
WR Keaton Baker, Sr., Geneva
Baker was the biggest beneficiary of a huge passing night for the Golden Tornadoes in a 55-35 win over St. Vincent. Baker hauled in 12 catches for a program-record 282 yards receiving, while also scoring four touchdowns, which ties the school record for most receiving TDs in a game. He caught touchdown passes of 75 yards, 44 yards, 33 yards and 5 yards, averaging 23.5 yards per catch over his 12 grabs.
WR Westin Bruce, Jr., Hendrix
Bruce had a career day against Millsaps on Saturday, amassing 224 yards to set a single-game high in receiving yards, while averaging 56.0 yards per reception. His 224 receiving yards ranks fifth all-time in a single game in the SCAC. The junior also set a new program record with a 96-yard catch-and-run, and his second touchdown of the day came on a 76-yard reception.
Defense
DE JT Chavez, Fr., Lewis & Clark
Chavez racked up career-highs in tackles, tackles for loss and sacks in a 21-3 win against Pomona-Pitzer. He posted eight tackles, six solo stops, four and a half tackles for loss and two sacks in Lewis & Clark's win. It was the fewest points Lewis & Clark had allowed in a game since 2010 and helped Lewis & Clark move to 3-0 for the first time since 2011.
DT Myles Johnson, So., Millsaps
Johnson helped the Majors defeat Hendrix 41-19. He posted seven tackles, two and a half of them tackles for loss, including two sacks and a quarterback hurry. Johnson helped hold the Warriors to only 27 rushing yards on 29 rush attempts.
DT Michael Richino, Jr., King's
In a 27-21 win over FDU-Florham, Richino made five tackles, including three solo, with two tackles for a loss of 10 yards, a 7-yard sack, a forced fumble, and a quarterback hurry. He forced the fumble on the final FDU-Florham drive of the game that shut the door on the comeback effort and allowed King's to kneel out the clock for the win.
DE Robert Dorsey, Sr., Brevard
Dorsey recorded four tackles, all solo, all of them tackles for loss in a 38-34 win against Division II Erskine. His tackles for loss went for 33 yards, and one of them was a third-down quarterback sack that forced a punt.
LB Dylan Sleva, Sr., Westminster (Pa.)
Sleva registered his fifth consecutive game with a dozen or more tackles, finishing with 15 stops (10 solo) in a 28-23 victory over Case Western Reserve. He added a sack in the opening quarter.
LB Jacob Erickson, Sr., George Fox
Erickson recorded a program-record five sacks in a dominant effort for the Bruins against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. He led the team with a career-high 11 tackles, six of which were for a loss. Erickson finished with one forced fumble and three hurries to go along with his program-record number of sacks. The senior recorded six tackles and three sacks in the fourth quarter alone.
LB Caiden Bolduc, So., Calvin
Bolduc racked up 11 tackles (seven solo) and tallied a pair of quarterback sacks in Calvin's 40-37 win against Heidelberg. Four of his 11 tackles were for loss. He also forced one fumble, broke up two passes and blocked one Heidelberg extra-point try.
CB Cameron Pineda, So., Tufts
Pineda had his best game as a Jumbo on Saturday in a 22-20 win over Wesleyan in Tufts' home opener. He had the most pivotal play of the game, returning an interception 64 yards for a touchdown to put the Jumbos up 14-7. He also added eight tackles, including a team-high seven solo stops. The interception was the first of his career, while one of his solo tackles saved a touchdown in the first half.
S Nick Strusowski, So., Ursinus
Strusowski had a pair of interceptions to help lead Ursinus to a 35-7 win over Moravian. He had both interceptions in the first half with the first one stopping a Greyhounds drive in the red zone. He added seven tackles (five solo) and one tackle for a loss that tied for the team lead.
S Alec Mahoney, So., St. Olaf
Mahoney recorded a team-high eight total tackles (five solo), 1.0 tackles for a loss, a forced fumble, and the game-sealing interception for the Oles in a 17-16 victory over Concordia-Moorhead. His forced fumble came with the Cobbers approaching the red zone in a 3-0 game late in the first quarter. With St. Olaf clinging to a one-point lead and 1:00 remaining in the game, Mahoney picked off a first-down pass to secure the Oles' first win over Concordia since 2011.
CB Payton Ponteras, Sr., St. Norbert
Ponteras forced two turnovers in St. Norbert's 59-28 win over Concordia Chicago, nabbing a pick-six and forcing a fumble which led to a scoop and score. His forced fumble led to St. Norbert going up 28-0 in the first quarter, while his interception return of 15 yards in the second quarter put the game at 35-7. He also led the team in tackles with six, three of them solos.
Special teams
K Walter Kilgore, So., Chicago
Kilgore was a perfect 3-for-3 on extra points, and he drilled his first field goal of the season with a 50-yard bomb with no time left in the first half to help Chicago stretch their lead to two possessions at the break. The field goal proved to be the game-winner as the Maroons held on for a 24-21 victory.
P Jaxson Hoppes, Sr., Wartburg
Hoppes delivered the longest punt in Wartburg history with an 84-yard bomb that was downed at the 1-yard line, helping No. 11 Wartburg secure a 27-13 road win at Simpson. The record-setting punt shattered the previous program best of 64 yards, set in 2013. He finished with six punts for 266 yards (44.3 average), pinning three inside the 10-yard line.
RET Brite Cannon, So., Westminster (Pa.)
With the Titans up 14-7, Cannon returned a kickoff 100 yards to help stretch the lead to 21-7 in a 28-23 win against Case Western Reserve. It was the program's first 100-yard kickoff return since Sean Buggey took one back against Washington & Jefferson on Oct. 8, 2005. It was the second kickoff return for a score, and fifth special teams touchdown, of his career. He also finished with six catches for 126 yards and a touchdown.
ST Derek Chandler, Sr., Monmouth
Chandler blocked two punts for the Fighting Scots on Saturday. In a 21-6 game he blocked a punt on the Lake Forest 23 in the third quarter. Two drives later he blocked another punt on the Foresters 39, returning it 20 yards.