SyRus McGowan made his pitch for keeping Salisbury undefeated. Salisbury athletics photo by FOTOJOE Photography, Inc.

The Sea Gulls survived a back-and-forth battle with Rowan, UW-Platteville regained the axe, UW-La Crosse got a key win, Wartburg held off Coe and No. 23 Johns Hopkins and No. 25 Wheaton each found themselves trapping some bears. Plus Linfield secured its 68th consecutive winning season.

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Ronald Clark ran for touchdowns of 51 and 38 yards. Michael Cox's TD runs were much shorter, but super timely as his second TD came with just 17 seconds left to lift No. 6 Salisbury past Rowan 42-35. After taking a 13-0 lead, Salisbury trailed 21-13 at halftime as the Profs (3-4, 1-2 New Jersey Athletic Conference) scored twice in the final 3:03 of the second quarter. That included a seven play, 96-yard drive that took just one minute of game time. SyRus McGowan, in his third appearance in place of injured quarterback Gage Katzenell-Hall, had his best performance of the season as the freshman completed 10 of 12 passes for 143 yards and a TD and ran for a touchdown as well. 

McGowan's keeper gave Salisbury (7-0, 4-0) a 35-27 lead with 10:56 to play, but Rowan was able to battle back as Matt Welsey threw a 30-yard score to Luke Hoke for a TD, then ran for the two-point conversion and just got into the left corner of the end zone to even it up at 35. But even after a bad decision on a kickoff return set Salisbury up at its own 11, the Sea Gulls were able to move the ball, including a 25-yard pass from McGowan to Daniel Clark to set Salisbury up at the Rowan 25. McGowan had three keepers to get them down to the 2, and Michael Cox took it from there, up the middle for the game-winner with 0:17 to play.

No. 19 UW-Whitewater led No. 8 UW-Platteville 10-7 into the fourth quarter, but stalled out and faced a fourth-and-goal from the Pioneers' 8. But instead of sending Jackson Fox out for a short field goal attempt, Whitewater elected to go for the end zone, and Jackson Chryst's pass was hurried and off target, leaving the Pioneers deep in their own territory. They didn't stay there for long, however, as on the third play of the drive, Michael Priami went up top, found Brandt Stare near midfield, and Stare did the rest to turn it into a 92-yard touchdown catch and a 14-10 lead with 7:27 to play. Chryst was intercepted on his next pass and Platteville (6-1, 3-1 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) converted that into a Trevor Schulz field goal with 2:48 to play. From there, Whitewater (4-3, 2-2) had one more drive and got as far as the Platteville 36 before Nicholas Alberico broke up a fourth-down pass to seal the 17-10 win. 

In need of a win to stay in the WIAC race, UW-La Crosse got one as Gabe Lynch ran for 229 yards and a touchdown to lead the Eagles past UW-River Falls 28-24. The Eagles played keep-away, using a ball-control offense to hold the ball for 42:07 of the game and keep the Falcons offense off the field. Riley Warzynski threw for 241 yards and ran for 30 for the Falcons. Platteville, Oshkosh and Stout are all 3-1 in WIAC play, while River Falls, La Crosse and Whitewater are each 2-2 through four weeks of conference play. UWL has now won 28 of the last 31 meetings with UW-River Falls, including eight straight.

Carter Markham ran for a third-quarter touchdown and his backup, Leo Dodd, directed a fourth-quarter touchdown drive as No. 13 Wartburg survived a defensive battle to win 14-7 at Coe. Markham was just 6-for-11 passing for 40 yards and ran for 57 yards, but he had a key possession in the third quarter after Joey Anderson had a big 25-yard punt return. He hit Jagger Schmitt for a 30-yard pass down to the Coe 15, then later found Matt Dufoe down to the 2 before Markham ran it in from there for the TD. Dodd came on in the fourth and hit a deep ball to Justis Bachman on play-action rfor a 43-yard TD pass to make it 14-0. That was when Coe answered, as Clay Krosie led a TD drive by going 5-for-6 passing before Trenton Barnes ran it in for a 10-yard TD, but the Wartburg defense got the stop and held on for the victory.

Twice during the Blue Jays' two-decade run at or near the top of the Centennial Conference – in 2005 and 2017 – the Blue Jays suffered their first loss of the season as the hands of Ursinus. On Saturday, No. 23 JHU returned the favor, handing Ursinus its first loss of the season, 16-7, on Ursinus's home field. After the Bears (6-1, 2-1 Centennial) scored on their first drive, they never scored again. Ursinus had the ball inside the Blue Jay 30-yard line four times in the final 29 minutes, but the Johns Hopkins (6-1, 3-0) defense turned the Bears away each time, including on an interception by PJ Penders in the closing minutes.

No. 25 Wheaton held off charging Bears as well, as the Thunder led 27-3 in the fourth quarter before the Bears scored late to make the final 27-20. The Thunder are in sole possession of second place in the CCIW with a 5-1 conference record, and 5-2 record overall. The Wheaton offense amassed 347 total yards with four touchdowns. The defense only allowed three points through the first three quarters, surrendering 17 points after Wheaton had taken control of the game. Mark Forcucci finished his afternoon with 232 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, and one touchdown on the ground. Bonga was the leading receiver for the Thunder with seven receptions, a touchdown, and 118 yards. The Bears fell to 5-2, 4-2 CCIW.

Linfield last had a losing season in 1955 and the Wildcats are in no danger of that streak ending as the Cats improved to 6-1, clinching their 68th consecutive winning season with a 62-13 rout of Puget Sound. The 68 seasons is a record at all levels of college football. Blake Eaton threw for two touchdowns, ran for a score and caught a TD pass as well. Linfield piled up 644 yards, notching 333 yards rushing and 311 passing. 

Luis Salgado blew away Whitworth's single game rushing record to lead the visiting Pirates to a 39-32 win at Pacific. He ran for 354 yards on 26 carries, averaging 13.6 yards a carry, and scored three touchdowns in the win. It's the second weekend in a row that No. 14 Whitworth allowed a team to stick around, as Pacific was within a two-point conversion of tying the game in the third quarter. Salgado put the game out of reach with a 9-yard touchdown run with only 2:37 to play in the game that gave the Bucs a 39-25 lead after Cameron Sheley scored on a reverse for the two-point conversion. The clinching score was set up by Ryan Blair's 12-yard run on the previous play on third and one at the Pacific 21-yard line. Whitworth outgained Pacific 537-455.

Hope honored its last unbeaten team and its current team remained unbeaten in dominant fashion as the No. 17 Flying Dutchmen defeated Adrian 45-0, sending the Bulldogs to their second defeat of the season. In the third quarter, the Flying Dutchmen took advantage of two turnovers deep in Adrian territory – an interception by safety Brad Raredon and a fumble recovery by linebacker Cole Luhmann after a sack by defensive lineman Caleb Paarlberg. The plays sparked a 21-point third quarter that erased any hope of a Bulldog comeback after Hope had led 38-0 at the half.

Top-ranked North Central scored on six consecutive possessions as Luke Lehnen threw five TD passes and ran for two more in a 49-10 win at Augustana. Meanwhile, No. 2 and No. 3 each delivered shutouts, as Cortland scored on its first seven possessions and blanked St. John Fisher 49-0 and third-ranked St. John's shook off a slow start and blanked Gustavus Adolphus 34-0.