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| Justin Howard capped off the
UW-Whitewater comeback with a 23-yard touchdown reception in the
fourth quarter. Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com |
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| Mount Union's Sherman
Wilkinson caught just two passes on the afternoon, but they were
both touchdowns. Photo by Dan Poel, d3photography.com |
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| Linfield's team with the ultimate "wish you
were here" moment for Parker Moore and the rest of the Wildcats fan
base after their win. Photo by Catdomealumni.com |
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| Sean Hopkins and Leon Jones celebrate
Hopkins' first-quarter fumble return for a touchdown. Wesley athletics photo |
UW-Whitewater rallied from a 17-point third-quarter deficit before Dennis Moore broke free for a long touchdown to start the fourth quarter and the defending champion Warhawks defeated Wartburg 37-33 to return to the national semifinals.
Logan Schrader, who led the Knights at quarterback all season, got injured in the second half. Although he returned to the game, his trademark mobility was taken away and he was ineffective.
Sherman Wilkinson caught two touchdown passes in a flurry of a second quarter for the Purple Raiders and Mount Union took a 28-21 lead into the locker room. After a safety on a botched punt attempt put Mount up 30-21, the Purple Raiders took the kick and were in the end zone four plays later to go up 36-21.
But John Carroll refused to go away. The Blue Streaks failed on fourth-and-6 from the Mount Union 9 but forced the Purple Raiders to go three-and-out and got good field position out of it. Helped by a Mount Union personal foul, John Carroll cut the lead to eight when Mark Myers hit Zach Strippy for a 3-yard touchdown pass with 6:51 left.
But that was it. John Carroll got the ball back but had back-to-back penalties, went four-and-out, and Mount Union chewed up the last 3:43 of the clock to advance with a 36-28 win. The Purple Raiders will play in the semifinals for the 20th consecutive season, and await Wesley.
"The experiences that I've had with this group, words can't describe the type of people that we have in our locker room," said John Carroll coach Tom Arth. "What they stand for and represent, the success that they're going to have far beyond the football field. I promise you that. These are some special people. (They are) some intelligent people, some high-character people who will go out and make a difference in the word. They will be great husbands, they will be great fathers. At the end of the day that's what this game's about. It's about teaching you to be the best person that you can be. And I don't think there's a better platform to do it."
Wesley overcame a driving rain and picked off Hobart quarterback Patrick Conlan three times in defeating the Statesmen 41-13. Hobart drove 64 yards in nine plays midway through the third quarter to cut Wesley's lead to 20-13, but the Wolverines answered with two long touchdown drives to put the game out of reach.
In addition to the three interceptions, Wesley broke up six passes and held the Hobart running game to just 89 yards on 43 carries, racking up eight tackles for loss. Hobart also had eight TFL, six of them from defensive end Tyre Coleman, who also had two sacks to move up the career Division III leaderboard in his final game.
The win puts Wesley in the national semifinals for the sixth time.
Linfield picked off Widener twice in the first five minutes of the game and turned each of them into touchdowns to get on top early, then shut the Pride down en route to a 45-7 win and a return trip to the national semifinals.
Sam Riddle ran for a team-high 75 yards and threw five touchdown passes, two of them to Evan Peterson, as the Wildcats improved to 11-1 and rolled into the national semifinals.
With three and a half minutes left before halftime and trailing 21-7, Widener advanced to the Linfield 27, but Klein was sacked on fourth down by Hoff, who finished with a team-high nine tackles, five of them sacks. Riddle then guided the Wildcats to their fourth touchdown of the half, leaving 52 seconds on the game clock. Peterson reeled in his second touchdown of the half, a five-yard fade pattern over the outstretched arms of Pride cornerback Jamal Goodman.
Widener quarterback Seth Klein was held to 11-for-31 passing for 97 yards and threw three picks. Anthony Davis caught three passes for 24 yards.
It's Linfield's first trip to the national semifinals since 2009.
Mount Union hosts Wesley at 12 ET on Saturday, Dec. 13, while UW-Whitewater hosts Linfield at 3:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. CT. Games will be broadcast on ESPN3.