Wis.-Whitewater rolls, hosts St. Thomas in semifinal

NCAA DIVISION III
FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS
Quarterfinals, Dec. 3

No. 3 St. Thomas 45, St. John Fisher 10
No. 1 Wis.-Whitewater 34, No. 10 Salisbury 14
No. 2 Mount Union 20, No. 9 Wabash 8
No. 7 Wesley 27, No. 4 Mary Hardin-Baylor 24

WHITEWATER, Wis. — Levell Coppage carried the ball 31 times for 213 yards and four touchdowns as top-ranked Wisconsin-Whitewater rolled over Salisbury 34-14 to set up a showdown next Saturday at Whitewater in the semifinals with St. Thomas.

Coppage’s signature play was an 80-yard touchdown run with 3 minutes, 46 seconds remaining in the third quarter. It gave Whitewater (13-0) a 24-7 lead after Salisbury (11-2) had rallied on Dan Griffin’s 9-yard touchdown run at the 8:27 mark of the third quarter.

The run was Coppage’s longest from scrimmage as a collegian, topping a 75-yard run in the 2010 NCAA championship game against Mount Union. His previous longest this season was 60 yards on Sept. 17 against Campbellsville.

<p>Levell Coppage</p>
Levell Coppage

Coppage put Whitewater up 14-0 with a 1-yard TD run with 12 minutes to go in the second quarter, coming after a 10-yard scoring run with 5:54 to play in the first.

Coppage added a 6-yard run for a touchdown with 6:19 to play in the fourth quarter.

Eric Kindler added field goals of 26 and 37 yards for Whitewater, the defending NCAA Division III champion.

Matt Blanchard completed 11 of 17 passes for 134 yards for Whitewater.

Salisbury came into the game leading Division III in scoring at 47.5 points a game and in rushing at 364.8 yards a game. Salisbury finished Saturday with 244 yards rushing on 45 attempts, 60 coming on the last drive. Senior running back Randal Smedley came in averaging 91.0 yards a game, but Whitewater held him to 27 yards on 9 carries.

Whitewater has won 43 straight, the longest active winning streak in college football and the fifth longest in NCAA history, four short of Oklahoma’s 47-game streak (1953-57). Whitewater will be playing in its seventh consecutive semifinal.

Mount Union 20, Wabash 8

ALLIANCE, Ohio — Junior running back Jeremy Murray rushed for 152 yards and two touchdowns as Mount Union (13-0) held of Wabash (12-1).

Mount Union will play host to Wesley (12-1) next Saturday. It will be Mount Union’s 17th consecutive NCAA Division III semifinal.

Wabash, averaging 171.8 yards a game rushing, gained only 31 yards on the ground against Mount Union.

“I would say this was our best game of the year, defensively,” Mount Union coach Larry Kehres said. “This late in the season you’re facing some outstanding teams, and I thought we played exceptional on defense.”

Junior defensive back Nick Driskill blocked a punt, recovered a fumble, had a quarterback sack and forced a fumble.

“We’re definitely happy to get to [the national semifinals],” Driskill said, “but our ultimate goal is the final game.”

That would be the Stagg Bowl on Dec. 16.

Murray’s longest run, 46 yards, got Mount Union out poor field position on its own 2-yard line and set up his 17-yard touchdown run a few plays later that put Mount Union ahead 7-0 with 1:13 to play in the first quarter.

“The linemen all blocked well, and the hole just opened up,” Murray said of his big run.

Driskill’s blocked kick set up Mount Union at Wabash 11 and led to Tyler Almeida’s22-yard field goal with 10:59 remaining in the first half.

Mount Union extended its lead to 17-0 on a five-play, 47-yard drive late in the second quarter. Murray carried four times for 30 yards, including a scoring run of 1 yard with 1:11 left in the half.

The Purple Raiders extended their lead to 20-0 on a 33-yard field goal by Almeida with 13:18 remaining in the third quarter.

Wabash scored its points in the fourth quarter. Mount Union took an intentional safety with 6:59 remaining, then quarterback Chase Belton ran into the end zone from 4 yards out with 4:31 to go.

Mount Union finished with 236 total yards, including 136 on the ground.

Wesley 27, Mary Hardin-Baylor 24

BELTON, TX — Quarterback Shane McSweeney completed 15 of 22 passes for 253 yards and four touchdowns and added 114 yards rushing to help Wesley (12-1) to a 21-3 halftime lead before Mary Hardin-Baylor (12-1) scored three touchdowns to make it close.

Wesley drove 80 yards in 17 plays on the game’s opening possession and took a 7-0 lead when McSweeny hit Sean McAndrew with a 15-yard touchdown pass. Mary Hardin-Baylor cut it to 7-3 on Chad Peevey’s 43-yard field goal with 9:27 left in the half.

McSweeny threw a 4-yard TD pass to Askia Jahad four minutes later to put the Wolverines up 14-3 and added a 78-yard scoring strike to Steven Koudossou with 2:18 left in the first half.

Mary Hardin-Baylor came to life in the second half.

LiDarral Bailey found Damian Davis with a 6-yard TD pass, but McSweeny lofted a 56-yard scoring pass to Matt Barile to stretch the Wesley lead to 27-10.

Mary Hardin-Baylor went on a five-play, 55-yard drive on the next possession, capped by Michael Johnson’s one-yard scoring plunge.

Bailey struck again with a 45-yard pass to Davis to cut it to 27-24 with 5:43 remaining in the game. Wesley attempted to run out the clock, but McSweeny slid one-yard short of a first-down and was stopped on fourth-and-one to give the ball back to Mary Hardin-Baylor at its own 40 with 2:41 left to play. The drive died at the Wesley 41-yard line.

Bailey completed 14 of 27 passes for 199 yards and two scores. Davis caught seven passes for 107 yards and two touchdowns.