Week Eight and Nine Reviews

Sorry for the lack of posts, everyone; started working some day shifts (yuck) and haven't had as much time on my hands to get crap done. Because these games were a few weeks ago by now, we'll zip through them pretty quick, but I do want to touch on a few things.

Week Eight

Martin Luther 21, Northwestern 6 - I kinda thought this might turn out to be a decent game in St. Paul. It wasn't a rout, but the Knights controlled the game throughout and handled the Eagles with ease. MLC RB Austin DeNoyer led the Knights with 92 yards rushing and a score, while Eagle QB led Northwestern by tossing 224 yards and a TD. The Knights kept the ball rolling.

Thomas More 35, St. Scholastica 0 - I didn't expect this one to be close, but man; the last time the Saints were shutout was the game-that-we-shall-not-speak-of last year against St. John's. While they remain a top UMAC team, St. Scholastica has had a harder time staying on top of the hill the past few years. While Thomas More isn't a shabby team, it doesn't ever look good when you get shut out, and especially when you end the game with zero net yards rushing. Let's all just move on with our lives after this one.

Minnesota Morris 7, Westminster 25 - It was more of the same old story for the Cougars, as they again struggled to move their offensive unit, and as a result couldn't make this one close. Blue Jay QB Trent White took over the game with his legs, rushing for 145 yards and 2 TDs along with throwing for 99 yards and a score to boot. Westminster broke their streak of 4 L's in a row, though...so that's cool.

Crown 14, Greenville 41 - Crown just didn't come to play in this one. The Storm did bring it within a touchdown after RB Derek Chilcoate (16-70-1) ran one in from the three-yard line in the third quarter, but it was lights out after that, as Panther Eric Kranh scored 2 of his 4 total TDs in the third quarter as well. He weathered the Storm with 65 yards and 2 TDs rushing and 4 receptions for 105 yards and 2 TDs, while fellow Panther Courtney Mitchell rolled over the Storm defense to the tune of 186 yards and a TD.

Iowa Wesleyan 13, MacMurray 20 - Apparently, the Highlanders like to keep the scores close. This game was tied at 13 until Asa Donaldson took a 2-yard plunge into the end zone for MacMurray with only 39 seconds left on the clock. Donaldson finished with 98 yards and the score to lead the Highlanders to the dub to keep their conference title hopes alive. Tiger Jaquez Hall ended the game with 92 yards and 2 TDs rushing, but other than that, Iowa Wesleyan didn't have much to hang their hat on in this one; besides sticking

Week Nine

St. Scholastica 44, Iowa Wesleyan 20 - Oofda. The Saints took it to the Tigers in this one, with star QB Zach Edwards leading the way to the tune of 442 yards and 3 TDs passing. Edwards had two receivers tally 137 yards receiving in Eddie Lee and Mitchell Adrian, and RB Teddy Gildersleeve racked up 123 total yards and 3 total TDs. The Tigers had a tough time keeping up, but QB DeMarcus Collins was able to toss 242 yards and a touchdown, while RB Stafford Lewis rushed for 107 yards and 2 TDs. Tiger WR Kyle Divelbiss was also on the receiving end for 105 yards and a TD, but most of Iowa Wesleyan’s efforts were in a desparate attempt at keeping up with the Saints, to no avail.

Westminster 21, Crown 6 - Solid defensive game? Or just a terrible offensive game? We’ll let you be the judge, but either way, there was only 518 total yards of offense between both teams. Crown actually outgained Westminster, but they couldn’t put the yards together to cash in on scoring drives, as the Blue Jays came out on top. Westminster RB Ketrick Large led the Blue Jay offensive attack with 142 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Other than that, the offensive leaders’ numbers for both teams are just sad, so I won’t bother mentioning them. Crown kept it within reach for most of the game, but weren’t able to mount a comeback and fell to 0-9.

Martin Luther 41, Minnesota Morris 28 - The Cougars were actually able to keep up for the first half and even led a few times in this one, but the Knights tend to be a persistent bunch, and they kept pouring it on to pull away from Morris. MLC WR Josh Arndt put on a show, catching 4 passes for 222 yards and 3 TDs. Those numbers earned him a spot on the D3football.com Team of the Week.
 His QB Zach Bloomquist ended with 308 yards and 3 TDs passing, and teammate Austin DeNoyer rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown on their way to their 6th consecutive UMAC win. Cougar QB Justin Masloski threw for 360 yards and 4 TDs, with 156 of those yards and 2 of those TDs going to WR Branden Carlson. The Cougars had four defensive players tally 10 or more tackles, so you know they Knights did what they do best; they ran the ball. They just also passed the ball in this one. Tough to beat if you are killing it in both aspects of the game.

MacMurray 27, Greenville 20 - Another case of MacMurray playing to their opponent? Greenville gave the Highlanders a scare, but MacMurray QB Robert Tedesco was able to score with under four minutes to go in the game, which proved to be enough to squeak by Greenville. Panther TE Gregoire Franchomme looks like he was all over this one by the scoring summary; he caught a TD pass in the first quarter which is totally normal, we’ve seen him dominate as a receiving threat in the UMAC. But then, he ends up throwing a TD in the fourth quarter, then catches the following 2-point conversion attempt to boot. Well anyways, it’s safe to say that Gregoire Franchomme is important to the Greenville offense. MacMurray snuck by and was able to keep their UMAC championship hopes alive for another week.

Week Ten Review will be up later this week! Stay tuned for that and the final week of previews for 2018!