| Wesley's defense did the job
against rival Salisbury. Wesley athletics file photo |
Wesley won the Route 13 rivalry game for the seventh consecutive year, as the No. 7 Wolverines shut down No. 11 Salisbury 23-14. The Sea Gulls were held to just 301 yards of total offense in the defeat, which ends Salisbury's bid for a top seed in the playoffs and keeps Wesley's Pool B playoff hopes in good shape.
Shane McSweeny completed 16 of 22 passes for 233 yards and also rushed for 80 yards and a touchdown as the Wolverines improved to 7-1.
Snow was present in New Jersey, where No. 18 Kean won a low-scoring NJAC battle with Rowan 13-6. Cougars senior Bekim Bujari made 10 tackles and added an interception return for a touchdown late in the game to help seal the win. Rowan got 61 of its 64 yards on its lone scoring drive on one run by Keith Corcoran.
No. 3 St. Thomas, No. 8 Thomas More and No. 14 Johns Hopkins clinched the automatic bids from the MIAC, Presidents' Athletic Conference and the Centennial Conference, respectively, joining Monmouth (Midwest Conference) in the Field of 32. Thomas More defeated Westminster (Pa.) 27-10 while Waynesburg lost to Thiel to wrap up the PAC. Jonathan Rigaud ran for 166 yards to help the Blue Jays past Ursinus 37-9 in the Centennial. The Tommies eased past Gustavus Adolphus 20-7. No. 10 Cal Lutheran wrapped up its third consecutive SCIAC title with a 54-6 pasting of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
Levell Coppage did some record-breaking of his own rushing for 245 yards on 29 carries and setting the WIAC career rushing mark as top-ranked UW-Whitewater defeated UW-Stevens Point 31-16. He passed former Warhawk Justin Beaver and now has 6,776 career yards. UW-Whitewater has won 38 games in a row.
Would a team that only lost to Mount Union and UW-Whitewater get an at-large bid to the NCAA playoffs? We may never know because UW-La Crosse dealt No. 15 UW-Oshkosh another loss, 30-24 in overtime. Ben Hertrampf scored the game-winning touchdown for the Eagles, who dominated the Titans in terms of yardage. The loss helped UW-Whitewater clinch the WIAC automatic bid.
No. 25 Hobart scored 20 points in the first quarter and made it stand up in a 27-13 win against WPI. No. 17 Montclair State got 231 yards and three touchdowns from running back Chris D'Andrea and survived the snow in beating Western Connecticut 38-7.
Millikin saw its second-half rally fall short as the Big Blue fell to 24th-ranked Illinois Wesleyan 28-25. The Titans' Ryan Jenkins came up with a fourth-down sack in the red zone to keep Millikin at bay. No. 9 Wabash survived the long trip to Allegheny with a 22-16 win. No. 23 Trinity (Texas) defeated Birmingham-Southern 24-16, setting up a de facto title game against Centre next week.