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| A.J. Jackson made the most of his touches, turning five of them into touchdowns. Lake Forest athletics photo |
A.J. Jackson had a big day for Lake Forest, Hampden-Sydney had a huge fourth quarter, and Moravian came up with a big non-conference win in Saturday's NCAA Division III football action.
Destin Chance threw for 415 yards and Collin Brunstein racked up 227 yards receiving, but A.J. Jackson ran for five touchdowns to lift Lake Forest past Illinois College 42-35. Jackson, the former D3football.com All-America return specialist who keeps on trucking after missing multiple seasons to injury, had 194 all-purpose yards and helped the Foresters control the clock in the win. After IC pulled ahead in the fourth quarter, Jackson forced his way into the end zone on a 1-yard plunge to put the Foresters on top 35-28 with 2:15 to play. The Lake Forest defense recovered a fumble on the next play from scrimmage and Jackson sprinted 17 yards around the right end for touchdown number five with 1:57 on the clock. IC (1-1) scored the final touchdown of the game with 30 seconds left but the ensuing onside kick was recovered by Forester wide receiver Seth Jelovic to clinch the victory.
Carter Sido passed for career-highs of 255 yards and four touchdowns, and running back Terry Hicks added career-highs of 130 yards rushing and two touchdowns, as Hampden-Sydney scored 30 unanswered points in the fourth quarter for a 51-30 come-from-behind and non-conference win at Brevard. The Tigers (1-1) entered the fourth quarter trailing 30-21.
"Proud of the team's finish," said Luvara. "A lot of teams would have quit there in the third quarter. They finished and that is what being a champion is all about."
Sido hit Austin Fernandez for a 53-yard TD on the first play of the fourth, then went on a 11-play drive to take the lead on a Hicks TD with 8:32 to play. The Tigers forced another punt, then a turnover on downs and followed each with TDs to close out the game.
Utica took advantage of three turnovers to get out to a 13-0 lead at halftime, but Moravian rallied to score the final 18 in the win. Midway through the third quarter, a Diego Del Castillo 47-yard touchdown reception provided the breakthrough that the Greyhounds were looking for after a frustrating first 30-plus minutes. Moravian backs Declan McCarthy and Cameron Tinajero later combined for 41 yards on a 67-yard scoring drive, with Tinajero scoring from 1 yard out with 10:07 to play to cut the lead to 13-12. Both extra point kicks failed. Moravian used a big catch by Del Castillo to get into scoring position and Joey Richmond ran it in for the 18-13 lead, with a two-point conversion failing, and Utica's final drive got them into position before Moravian picked it off for the win.
Hope scored touchdowns on all five of its first-half possessions to build a 34-6 lead and cruised to a win that looked strikingly like its Week 1 victory as the Flying Dutchmen defeated Franklin 48-6. Hope's domination of the line of scrimmage paved the way to 379 rushing yards on 46 attempts – an average of 8.2 yards per carry. The Flying Dutchmen finished the game with 520 yards of total offense, and shut down All-American running back Garrett Cora, holding him to 24 yards on 17 carries.
Lebanon Valley bounced back from its Week 1 loss with an impressive win at home over Stevenson, 37-7. The Flying Dutchmen scored the first 20 points of the game and put the game away with two touchdown passes from Logan Klitsch in the third quarter. Lebanon Valley joins FDU-Florham, King's, Widener and Delaware Valley as winners in the MAC season openers.
Rowan rushed for 258 yards while limiting McDaniel to just five net yards on the ground as the Profs bested the Green Terror, 30-20. Nunes Bukula IV ran for a career-high 162 yards on 17 carries and two touchdowns, while Nick Cerulli had eight tackles and a pick. Ahmad Gantt had two and a half sacks. Tommy LaPerriere's 24-yard field goal early in the fourth made it a two-possession contest. McDaniel looked to answer as Eric Grinwis found Wesley Nchinda for a 5-yard TD with 12 minutes remaining in the game. Grinwis' throw on the two-point conversion was incomplete, making it a 30-20 score. The Green Terror drove deep in Rowan territory later in the fourth but was turned away by the Prof defense on a fourth-and-6 from the Prof 21 yard-line. Rowan totaled four sacks on the final McDaniel drive to help move the Profs to a 2-0 record.
In other Centennial-NJAC games, the NJAC ended the day winning four of seven, including the conferences splitting two matchups involving Top 25 teams. Montclair State got the game-winner on a 28-yard field goal by Greg Casimir as time expired to lift the Red Hawks to a 27-26 win against Gettysburg. Jalen Bradford went 15-of-30 for 192 yards with one touchdown pass and two interceptions as Ursinus defeated Kean 31-17. Jayson Schmidt ran for 174 yards and Trevor Bopp threw two touchdown passes as TCNJ defeated Franklin & Marshall 17-13. And Dickinson held William Paterson to 204 yards of total offense in a 24-0 win against the Pioneers..
An 89-yard touchdown catch by Ryan Neu in the third quarter swung the game in favor of Central in a 35-10 win at Cal Lutheran. Leading 14-0 to start the second half, quarterback Brady Ketchum's pass was tipped and intercepted deep inside Central's territory. The Dutch defense held up and limited the Kingsmen to a 22-yard field goal. On its next possession and faced with a third-and-13 from the Dutch 11-yard line, Ketchum found Neu who outraced the defensive backs for an 89-yard score and a 21-3 lead.
St. Olaf was seconds away from its first shutout in nearly 13 years before wrapping up a 53-7 non-conference victory over Luther in its home opener. St. Olaf (2-0) led 53-0 before Luther (0-1) avoided the shutout by scoring its lone points of the game with five seconds remaining. The Oles, who were in search of their first shutout since a 40-0 home win against Hamline University on Oct. 29, 2011, led just 3-0 after one quarter before exploding for 26 points in the second quarter to get on their way to the 46-point victory. The St. Olaf defense held Luther to 90 yards on its first 62 plays before the Norse marched 65 yards on their 13-play scoring drive down the stretch.