D3 Roundup: St. John’s survives on last second TD

Mary Hardin-Baylor quarterback Blake Jackson dives into the endzone from 6 yards out to score Saturday against Redlands in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs. The top-ranked Crusaders won 50-28. (http://www.cruathletics.com/)
Mary Hardin-Baylor quarterback Blake Jackson dives into the endzone from 6 yards out to score Saturday against Redlands in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs. The top-ranked Crusaders won 50-28. (http://www.cruathletics.com/)

Dusty Krueger’s 1-yard touchdown run as time ran out gave No. 9 St. John’s a 32-31 victory over No. 12 Wisconsin-Platteville in a first-round NCAA Division III playoff game on Saturday at Collegeville.

Wis.-Platteville took a 31-20 lead with 12:02 to play in the fourth quarter on Sean Studer’s 1-yard run.

NCAA DIII PLAYOFFS
St. Thomas bracket

  • No. 3 St. Thomas 43, Northwestern 0
  • No. 16 Coe 21, No. 21 Monmouth 14
  • No. 9 St. John’s 32, No. 12 Wis.-Platteville 31
  • No. 4 Wis.-Oshkosh 49, Washington (Mo.) 13

Wis.-Whitewater bracket

  • No. 6 John Carroll 37, Olivet 12
  • No. 18 Wesley 38, No. 20 Stevenson 17
  • No. 17 Wittenberg 33, No. 15 Thomas More 30 (4 OTs)
  • No. 2 Wis.-Whitewater 45, Lakeland 27

Mary Hardin-Baylor bracket

  • No. 1 Mary Hardin-Baylor 50, Redlands 28
  • No. 8 Linfield 24, No. 11 Hardin-Simmons 10
  • No. 13 Wheaton 45,No. 25 Huntingdon 10
  • North Central 41, Rose-Hulman 7

Alfred bracket

  • No. 14 Alfred 33, Bridgewater State 27 (OT)
  • Western New England 44, Husson 27
  • No. 7 Mount Union 38, No. 19 Hobart 21
  • No. 10 Johns Hopkins 42, Randolph-Macon 21

The Johnnies cut the margin to 31-26 with 8:10 to play in the fourth when Jackson Erdmann hit Zack Sundly from 19 yards out.

The teams exchanged punts before St. John’s took over with 4:56 to play. But Platteville’s Josh Mackie intercepted an Erdmann pass, setting up the Pioneers at the St. John’s 45.

St. John’s used all three of its timeouts before forcing Wis.-Platteville to punt. The Johnnies got the ball with 2:20 on the clock.

Erdmann hit Evan Clark twice for big gains on the final drive, the first for 17 yards on the second play and the second for 32 yards to the Pioneers’ 12-yard line.

Erdmann then hit Will Gillach for 11 yards to the Wis.-Platteville 1, setting up Krueger’s final score.

Erdmann completed 18 of 33 passes for 235 yards. Krueger finished with 73 yards rushing on 20 attempts.

No. 16 Coe 21, No. 21 Monmouth 14

Trevor Heitland’s 46-yard run up the middle with 1:26 to play in the third quarter sealed the victory for Coe (11-0) at Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Heitland rushed 50 times for 251 yards, helping Coe gain the second round next Saturday at St. Thomas.

Monmouth (10-1) took a 7-0 lead with 6:23 to play in the first quarter on Tanner Matlick’s 69-yard scoring pass to Jacolby Maxwell. Coe tied it at 5:07 of the second quarter when Gavin Glenn hit Tyler Gunderson from 6 yards out.

It stayed that way until 3:30 remained in the third quarter, when Glenn pass 9 yards to Daniel Vega, putting Coe ahead 14-7. Heitland’s TD run made it 21-7.

Matlick closed out the scoring with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Alec Dutko with 6:51 to go in the fourth quarter.

Matlick completed 26 of 46 passes for 369 yards, but Coe intercepted five of his passes.

No. 1 Mary Hardin-Baylor 50, Redlands 28

Markeith Miller ran for three touchdowns, and Blake Jackson passed for three more as Mary Hardin-Baylor (11-0) had to rally to beat unranked Redlands (8-2) at Belton, Texas.

Redlands took a 21-7 lead with 3:32 to play in the second quarter when Aaron Mandell returned a fumble 40 yards for a touchdown. Mary Hardin-Baylor answered less than two minutes later when Jackson hit Bryce Wilkerson with a 57 scoring strike. It was all Crusaders from there.

Miller ran 36 times for 186 yards. Jackson completed 18 of 23 passes for 239 yards.

No. 2 Wis.-Whitewater 45, Lakeland 27

Josh Ringelberg rushed for 150 yards and three touchdowns to lead Wis.-Whitewater (11-0) to the home victory over Lakeland (7-4).

The Warhawks’ Chris Nelson completed 8 of 15 passes for 214 yards and three touchdowns.

No. 4 Wis.-Oshkosh 49, Washington (Mo.) 13

Mitch Gerhartz ran for 204 yards on 21 carries with a touchdown as Wis.-Oshkosh (10-1) dominated Washington (8-3) at Oshkosh, Wis.

Brett Kasper completed 10 of 18 passes for 192 yards and three touchdowns for the Titans, who out-gained Washington 608 yards to 314.

No. 6 John Carroll 37, Olivet 12

Anthony Moeglin completed 21 of 34 passes for 262 and four touchdowns to lead John Carroll (10-1) to the home victory over Olivet (9-2) at University Heights, Ohio.

Marshall Howell caught nine passes for 118 yards and two scores, one good for 48 yards on a third down and 13 with 3:48 to play in the second quarter. It gave John Carrol a 19-6 lead.

No. 7 Mount Union 38, No. 19 Hobart 21

B.J. Mitchell’s rushing touchdown from 3 yards out with 2:04 remaining in the third quarter broke a 21-21 tie, then Mitchell sealed the victory for Mount Union (10-1) with a 1-yard score with 1:35 to play in the fourth at Geneva, N.Y.

Mt. Union’s Dom Davis completed 20 of 29 passes for 321 yards, including a 51-yard strike to Jared Ruth to open the scoring. Shane Sweeney finished 29-of-57 passing for 291 yards for Hobart (9-2).

No. 8 Linfield 24, No. 11 Hardin-Simmons 10

Linfield (9-1) trailed by a field goal with 3:26 to play in the first half, then scored two consecutive touchdowns and a field goal to top Hardin-Simmons (9-2) at Abilene, Texas.

Linefield out-gained the Cowboys 554 yards to 269, led by quarterback Sam Riddle’s 21-of-36 passing for 367 yards and a 16-yard touchdown to Reed Peterson that gave Linfield a 7-3 lead with 10:27 to play in the first half.

No. 10 Johns Hopkins 42, Randolph-Macon 21

Jonathan Germano hit 28 of 40 passes for 418 yards and four touchdowns to lead Johns Hopkins (11-0) at Baltimore. Luke McFadden caught 11 passes for 222 yards and two touchdowns. Randolph-Macon is 9-2.

No. 13 Wheaton 45, No. 25 Huntingdon 10

Andrew Bowers passed for 204 yards and two touchdowns, including a 66-yard scoring strike to Trey Hanley in the second quarter, and Stone Watson gained 111 yards rushing with a score to lead Wheaton (10-1) to victory over Huntingdon (9-2) at Wheaton, Ill.

No. 14 Alfred 33, Bridgewater State 27 (OT)

Quarterback Tyler Johnson’s 2-yard touchdown run in overtime gave Alfred (11-0) the victory over unranked Bridgewater State (8-2) at Alfred, N.Y.

Liam Hobbins intercepted a pass to foil Bridgewater on its possession in overtime after the Bears’ Joe Savignano kicked a 43-yard field goal with 55 seconds to play in the fourth quarter to tie it at 27-27.

No. 17 Wittenberg 33, No. 15 Thomas More 30

Will Gingery kicked a 37-yard field goal in the fourth overtime to give Wittenberg (10-1) the victory over host Thomas More (9-2) at Crestview Hills, Ky.

Gingery’s fourth field goal of the game came after Thomas More’s Cole Mathias missed from 40 yards on what would have been his fourth successful kick of the game.

Wittenberg tied the score at 24-24 with 1:39 to play in the fourth quarter when Jake Kennedy passed 13 yards to Luke Landis for 13 yards for a touchdown, and Gingery kicked the extra point.

Both kickers were successful in the first overtime, but both had kicks blocked in the second. The two each converted kicks in the third overtime, Mathias hitting from 47 yards out.

No. 18 Wesley 38, No. 20 Stevenson 17

Jamar Baynard rushed 36 times for 265 yards and three touchdowns to lead Wesley (9-2) to the home victory over Stevenson (9-2) at Dover, Del.

Nick Falkenberg added 199 yards on 21 of 35 passing with two touchdown throws to Bryce Shade. He caught 12 passes in all for 123 yards.

The Wolverines of the New Jersey Athletic Conference amassed 540 yards of total offense.

North Central 41, Rose-Hulman 7

Broc Rutter passed for 299 yards and four touchdowns to lead North Central (11-0) to victory over Rose-Hulman (8-3) at Naperville, Ill.

Rutter completed 21 of 33 passes, the longest a 54-yard scoring strike to Alex Ulmer in the third quarter.

Western New England 44, Husson 27

Robert Sihlanick’s sack, fumble recovery and 8-yard return for a touchdown with 9:48 to play in the fourth quarter put the game out of reach for Western New England (11-0) at Springfield, Mass. The Golden Bears recovered two fumbles and intercepted two passes to stymie Husson (9-2).