| Ryan Wenkman picked off
UW-Oshkosh's final pass of the game to preserve the 20-17 win for
top-ranked UW-Whitewater. Photo by Chip Manthey |
Week 8 brought titanic wins for No. 1 UW-Whitewater and No. 6 North Central (Ill.) The Warhawks rallied to beat No. 20 UW-Oshkosh and the Cardinals shut out No. 15 Illinois Wesleyan.
Levell Coppage was bottled up most of the afternoon but ripped
off a 47-yard run in the fourth quarter as top-ranked
UW-Whitewater drove 79 yards and kicked a 17-yard field goal with
1:18 left to defeat No. 20 UW-Oshkosh 20-17. It's the
second loss for the Titans, but each is to a purple power, with a
41-17 loss at Mount Union in Week 2 and the loss to Whitewater
today.
Coppage finished with 131 yards on 28 carries for the Warhawks
(7-0, 4-0 WIAC), while Matt Blanchard added 91 yards and a
touchdown on 14 carries and completed 17 of 25 passes for 209 yards
and a score. Nate Wara, whose status was in doubt for this game,
completed 17 of 33 passes for 148 yards and ran for 54 yards in the
loss. The win was the 37th in a row for the Warhawks, the best
active streak in all divisions.
North Central (Ill.) held Illinois Wesleyan to 215 yards of offense and Nick Kukuc ran for 127 yards to pace the Cardinals to a 24-0 win over the Titans. The Cardinals scored on their first drive when Jordan Tassio scored from 2 yards out. North Central pushed the lead to 17-0 at the break and the defense made the lead stand up. The Cardinals improve to 6-1 while Titans slip to the same record.
St. Thomas gave up 300 yards of total offense but junior cornerback Jack Gavin made a leaping interception in the end zone with 1:18 left in the fourth quarter to seal the No. 3 Tommies' 23-13 win at No. 10 Bethel.
| Colin Tobin got St. Thomas
off to an early lead with two first-quarter
touchdowns. Photo by Wade Gardner, d3photography.com |
The Tommies held star transfer running back Brandon Marquardt to 10 yards on 10 carries and 62 yards from scrimmage on the afternoon, but struggled on offense after taking a 17-7 halftime lead. Dakota Tracy was 4-for-11 passing after halftime but Colin Tobin picked up the slack with 133 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries in the win.
The College of New Jersey upended No. 9 Montclair State 27-20, dealing the Red Hawks their first loss. The Lions led 20-7 at the break but Montclair State rallied to take a 21-20 lead on two touchdowns by Chris D'Andrea. TCNJ responded with a touchdown pass from Jay Donoghue to Joe Falco and then the Lions sealed the win by holding the ball for the game's final 7:42.
No. 4 Mary-Hardin Baylor outscored East Texas Baptist 37-9 in the second half to turn a small halftime deficit into a convincing win, 54-30. Crusaders quarterback LiDarral Bailey threw for two touchdowns and ran for one more. No. 7 Wesley defeated Walsh, an NAIA opponent, 28-3, in a game where the Wolverines were without offensive coordinator Chip Knapp, whose son Ben went into cardiac arrest on the way to the game and is at Pittsburgh Children's Hospital. Second-ranked Mount Union started slowly but scored 17 points in the third quarter to put Capital away 27-7. Fifth-ranked Linfield had little trouble with Pacific Lutheran in a 45-7 win.
Zach Autenrieb picked off three passes to help No. 8 Thomas More defeat Bethany 41-21. Twelve players carried the ball for No. 14 Salisbury in a 61-14 win at Hartwick. LaGrange took a 10-0 lead on No. 23 Trinity (Texas) but the Tigers shut down the Panthers and rallied to win, 14-10. No. 24 St. Olaf improved to 6-1 with a 24-20 win over Augsburg despite 162 yards rushing from Auggie freshman Tyler Maxwell. Daniel Mosier ran for four touchdowns in No. 12 Cal Lutheran's 62-7 win against Pomona-Pitzer, while No. 17 Redlands survived 42-40 at Occidental.
No. 18 Johns Hopkins had a record-setting day and blasted Gettysburg 83-21. Quarterback Hewitt Tomlin threw for 501 yards and seven touchdowns, both school records. The Bluejays set a program record for total offense with 731 yards, while the 83 points are a Centennial Conference mark.