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| Brandon Brubaker had an interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to help Lebanon Valley get past F&M for the first time in 40 years. Lebanon Valley athletics photo |
Not every rivalry game is played in November. Some rivalries took place as part of Saturday's Week 1 afternoon games, while other teams put up big numbers in getting back on the field.
Cortland scored twice on defense and limited Wittenberg to 19 yards on the ground as the Red Dragons came away from Springfield, Ohio, with a 38-16 victory. Dylan Dubuque got the scoring going with a 22-yard fumble return for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage and Christian Legag followed it up with a 30-yard pick-six in the third quarter. Ashton Capone led the Cortland offense with 142 yards on 29 carries.
Week 1 is a time for some key local rivalries as well, as Western New England defeated Springfield for the Pynchon Saw, Susquehanna rolled past Lycoming to retain the Stagg Hat and Lebanon Valley got past area rival Franklin & Marshall for the first time since 1981. The series resumed in 2014. F&M took a 14-7 lead early in the fourth quarter but Brandon Brubaker brought the Dutchmen within one with a 20-yard interception return for a touchdown and Braden Bohannon capped an 80-yard drive with a 1-yard toss to Andrew Olson for the 19-14 win with 1:46 left. Western New England returned to the field for the first time since a 2019 first-round loss to Brockport and Bryce Karstetter threw two touchdown passes in a 24-13 win against Springfield. The Golden Bears held the vaunted Springfield triple option attack to 211 yards on 58 carries.
Nicholas D'Ambrose ran for 155 yards and two touchdowns and Philip Martini threw for two more scores as the University of Chicago won 31-21 on Saturday. It was the first win for the Maroons over archrival Washington U. since 2014, and the delayed coaching debut at Wash U for alumnus Aaron Keen ended up in defeat.
Gustavus Adolphus did not get on the field last fall or this spring but made up for lost time on Saturday, rolling up 608 yards of offense and a school-record 80 points in an 80-58 win at Buena Vista. “Wins are hard to come by, so we were very thankful,” Gusties coach Peter Haugen said. “I mean, that’s a huge number. And honestly, we needed every one of them today. And so there’s one thing to score 80 points and it be a blowout. There’s another thing to score that many points and have it be a pretty competitive game.”
Nebraska Wesleyan scored its most points in more than 100 years, blowing out Eureka 69-20. The Prairie Wolves put up 551 yards on offense including 395 in the air with seven passing touchdowns. On the defensive side of the ball, NWU intercepted four passes. It was the most point in a game for the program since an 82-0 win against Kearney State in 1919.
Case Western Reserve's Drew Saxton threw three touchdown passes and four players scored their first career touchdowns as Spartans, helping CWRU defeat Rochester 27-20. The win was the Spartans' 17th in their last 18 season-opening games, and their third-straight victory over Rochester in a season opener. The Yellowjackets pulled as close as 27-20 with 1:24 left in the game on a 4-yard scoring run by Will Varney, but the ensuing onside kick was recovered by the Spartans, who were able to kneel on the ball and run out the clock.
Fueled by a mishandled punt snap as well as a fake punt that didn't succeed, Dubuque rolled out to a 28-0 lead at home against Marietta. And the Spartans held on after Marietta roared back to life, going on to a 30-25 win. Marietta scored on its first three possessions of the second half to cut the lead to 28-25 with 5:05 left in the third. Dubuque held Marietta without a third-down conversion in 14 opportunities.
Johns Hopkins rolled up 53 points and 596 yards of total offense and held Stevenson to three points through three quarters of a 53-18 season-opening victory at Mustang Stadium. Ryan Stevens was 31-of-46 for 483 yards and five touchdowns against one interception to lead the way for the Blue Jays. His 483 passing yards are the most ever in a season opener for a Johns Hopkins quarterback. Harrison Wellmann had a game-high 11 receptions for 230 yards and two scores in the win.
Davis Pinkston threw for three touchdowns and his teammates ran for two scores, one with 6:24 left to tie the game and one in overtime to lift Southern Virginia to a 41-34 win at Wilmington. Derek Larimer made his first career start at quarterback for the Quakers and completed 36 of 58 passes for 366 yards in the loss.