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| Thiel athletics file photo |
Thiel and Luther snapped long losing streaks, St. Scholastica got its first football win as a member of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and more in Week 5 action in Division III football.
Thiel's special teams came up big in the Tomcats 27-26 win at Bethany, snapping a 41-game losing streak. Andre Rogers opened Thiel's scoring with a 52-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter. Rogers later answered Bethany's first score with a 75-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to give the Tomcats a 14-6 halftime lead. Thiel opened the second half with another big touchdown, this time it was Deon Logan breaking loose for a 73-yard touchdown run. The Bison scored the game's next 20 points, however Caleb Shuler blocked Bethany's extra point attempt to hold the score at 26-20. Trailing for the first time in the contest, Rogers again made a big play for the Tomcats, returning the ensuing kickoff to midfield. Jorden Collier capped a short Tomcat drive with an 11-yard touchdown run to put the Tomcats ahead for good.
Thiel's last win came Sept. 16, 2017, at Bethany.
Matt Canada returned a fumble 51 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter and Beau Cornwell threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as Luther won for the first time since Nov. 9, 2019, defeating Simpson 33-23. The Norse (1-4) broke open the game with Cornwell's second TD, a 23-yard pass to Diego Lopez, and the defensive score and them held on, forcing a fumble at the 2-yard line to keep Simpson from being able to cut into the 10-point deficit with 4:32 remaining.
Joe Troche took over the Luther head coaching duties this season after the program had won just two of its previous 31 games.
St. Scholastica booted through a short field goal with five seconds remaining to come back and defeat Hamline, 43-42. It is the first conference win for the Saints since they moved to the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference from the UMAC before the 2021 season. St. Scholastica scored 16 points in the fourth quarter to come away with the win.
Utica won its fifth consecutive game to open the season, marking the first time the Pioneers have started 5-0 in their 22-year history of football. Utica rolled past Hartwick 57-7 on Utica's homecoming. The Pioneers held a 494-292 advantage in total offense, and the defense clamped down on the ground game and held Hartwick to -14 rushing yards. Braeden Zenelovic delivered another efficient performance at quarterback with 228 yards and two touchdowns while completing 16 of 21 pass attempts. Wide receiver Nate Palmer had 149 yards and a touchdown on seven catches in the win.
The Ron Ernst farewell tour picked up another win on Saturday, as the Redhawks came from behind to win at Illinois College, 23-21. Cormac Madigan ran for two touchdowns, the first at the end of an epic 97-yard drive to give Ripon its first score after the Blueboys had taken a 14-0 lead. The second came with 3:05 to play. Earlier in the fourth quarter, Ripon (4-0, 3-0 Midwest Conference) had flipped the field as Chase Flink punted the ball 53 yards down to the Illinois College 5. When Ripon got the ball back on a punt, it started in Illinois College territory and Jarrett Zibert threw for 33 yards before taking it down inside the 5 on a run up the middle. That set up Madigan for his second TD run, to take the lead. Fletcher Dallas got Ripon the ball back as he intercepted Logan Wongler at the 40, then broke up a pass by Elijah Pollice on fourth down in the final minute to secure the win.
Jonathan Singleton threw five touchdown passes in leading Carleton to a 56-27 victory over visiting Macalester, leaving the Knights as the lone overall undefeated team in the MIAC this season. With the win, Carleton (4-0, 2-0 MIAC) maintains possession of the series' traveling trophy — the Book of Knowledge — for the fourth consecutive year. The Knights are now 18-7 in Book of Knowledge games and 56-12-1 all-time versus Macalester (2-2, 0-2).
St. Olaf won its third game in a row by getting a fourth-down stop from its defense in the red zone to hold off Augsburg 41-36. With St. Olaf (3-1, 2-0 MIAC) clinging to a five-point lead and Augsburg (3-1, 1-1) facing a fourth-and-4 at the 12-yard line, sophomore JDon Sowell broke up a pass intended for Tyrone Wilson inside the 5-yard line to preserve the win. St. Olaf scored on its first seven possessions of the game and never trailed in the win but needed the late stop to seal the victory after Augsburg made it a one-score game with 2:21 remaining.