BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Trey Yocum rushed four times for 30 yards in the third overtime, finishing with a 7-yard touchdown run, to give Monmouth a 33-27 victory Saturday over Illinois Wesleyan in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs.

Monmouth got the shot at victory after sophomore quarterback Rob Gallik fumbled the ball at the 1-yard line on Illinois Wesleyan’s possession.
Monmouth (10-1) advanced to the second round to face No. 4-ranked St. Thomas, a 48-2 winner over St. Scholastica.

The score was tied at 17 at the end of regulation.

Illinois Wesleyan (9-2) needed six plays to score in the first overtime on a 1-yard run by sophomore Sean Conley and freshman Tony Angelos’ extra-point kick.

Monmouth answered with quarterback Alex Tanney passing 15 yards to Michael Blodgett for the touchdown. Matt Batton added the kick to tie the score at 24.

The teams traded field goals in the second overtime.

Illinois Wesleyan led 14-0 early in the second quarter on a 6-yard pass from Gallik to Conley and Conley’s 2-yard TD run, sandwiched around linebacker Ryan Gresko’s pass interception.

The Titans made it 17-0 with 6:58 to go before hafltime on Angelos’ 31-yard field goal.

Monmouth got a lift with 1:30 to play when Nick Law ran in from 7 yards and Batton added the extra point to cut it to 17-7.

Monmouth scored again 4:54 into the third quarter when Tanney passed for 13 yards to Yocum, then Batton tied it with a 38-yard field goal with 13:17 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Monmouth gained 323 yards in the second half and 448 yards for the game, compared with 418 for the Titans. Tanney completed 32 of 43 psses for 336 yards and the two TDs. He was sacked five times. Blodgett was on the receiving end of 12 tosses for 162 yards.

For Illinois Wesleyan, Gallik completed 21 of 43 passes with four interceptions and 280 yards.

St. John Fisher 23, Johns Hopkins 12

BALTIMORE — St. John Fisher (9-2) got three field goals from Chad Monheim to take a closely fought game to upset previously unbeaten Johns Hopkins (10-1).

St. John also got a 7-yard touchdown pass from Ahmed Hassanien to Ryan Francis and a 2-yard scoring run from Cody Miller to set up a second-round match next Saturday against Deleware Valley.

Johns Hopkins scored on a 6-yard pass from Hewitt Tomlin to Daniel Wodicka and Scott Barletta’s 1-yard run that made it 13-12 with 4:15 to play in the third quarter.

Wis.-Whitewater 59, Albion 0

WHITEWATER, Wis. — Byron Stanford rushed nine times for 114 yards and a touchdown, and Jaren Borland scored twice on a 56-yard blocked punt return and a 54-yard fumble return as top-ranked Wisconsin-Whitewater (11-0) ran roughshod over Albion of Michigan (6-5).

Levell Coppage added 80 yards rushing and three scores to help Whitewater ring up 475 yards of offense and advance to the second round next Saturday against Franklin (Ind.).

Mount Union 47, Illinois Benedictine 7

ALLIANCE, Ohio — Jeremy Murray capped three long drives with touchdown runs, and Blair Skilliter added two as No. 2 Mount Union (11-0) rolled over Illinois Benedictine (7-4).

Mount Union outgained Benedictine 444-213 to set up a second-round matchup against Centre (Ky.).