|
| Andre Houston had just 10 carries but made them count for Olivet with four rushing touchdowns. Olivet athletics photo by Sabbyshots.com |
|
| Chandler Carroll had another big day on the ground for Chicago. d3photography.com file photo by David Malamut |
There's high hopes for Olivet this season, and the Comets came out firing in the second half, scoring 35 points in the final two quarters to defeat Adrian 35-7 and win the MIAA conference opener. They're just one of the many remaining undefeated and unranked teams through five weeks of the Division III football season.
The Bulldogs (2-2, 0-1) scored on their first drive of the third quarter but Braden Black hit Jason Barbosa on the next play from scrimmage to tie the game and Andre Houston did the rest of the scoring for the Comets (4-0, 1-0) with four rushing touchdowns.
The University of Chicago remains on that list of the unbeaten-unranked. The Maroons improved to 4-0 behind the second consecutive outstanding rushing day from Chandler Carroll. This time he ran for 245 yards and three touchdowns on 38 carries in a 28-14 win at Birmingham-Southern.
Denison improved to 4-0, edging past Ohio Wesleyan 10-9 on the road. OWU went for the win at home, opting for a two-point conversion attempt with 44 seconds left, and could not connect. DePauw continued its balanced attack, gaining 200-plus yards both rushing and passing in a 38-16 defeat of Kenyon. The Tigers improved to 4-0 and remain undefeated as well in the NCAC, although the four wins come against teams a combined 3-16. Wittenberg comes to DePauw next week.
Whitworth improved to 4-0, defeating George Fox 37-14. Ian Kolste outdueled his quarterback counterpart, Grant Schroeder, 362 yards to 99. Rehn Riley also had a big day, with three field goals, including kicks from 46 and 51 yards.
Gettysburg improved to 5-0. Five Bullets ran for 40 yards or more, led by Kyle Wigley's 184 rushing yards and two touchdowns in a 45-17 win vs. McDaniel. Rose-Hulman had little trouble fightin' and engineering its way past Anderson, defeating the Ravens 81-13 to improve to 4-0 as well. RHIT led 60-6 at the half and broke the 80-point mark for the first time since 1913 season, when the school was known as Rose Polytechnic.
King's did its best to keep Stevenson from remaining on this list. But on a day that started with the team's bus tires being slashed, and on which the Monarchs' starting quarterback went out, a starting wide receiver serving his ROTC commitment, and two offensive linemen also out, King's hung in there until Stevenson scored twice in the fourth quarter to win 13-7.
A 4-0 start used to be fairly commonplace for St. Norbert. But the Green Knights reached that mark for the first time since 2009, defeating Cornell 31-3. St. Norbert converted on four fourth-down attempts and the Green Knights are perfect on 11 fourth-down conversion attempts this season. Brandon Carter rushed for 96 yards and Elijah Fort added 95 yards and three touchdowns in the win.
Finlandia got the first win in program history, as the Lions, playing with all freshmen in just the fifth game of the program's existence, defeated Maranatha Baptist 30-14. Finlandia didn't convert any of its extra point attempts but it turned out not to be an issue as workhorse Jaavid Love ran for 204 yards and two touchdowns on 37 carries and Ron Brown threw for two TDs and ran for one in the win. Finlandia was ranked No. 246 in D3football.com's preseason ranking of all Division III teams, while Maranatha was ranked No. 247. Finlandia had been outscored 271-9 in its first four games.
Dayton Winn scored on a 2-yard touchdown run with 10:36 to go in the game, and what had been an offensive shootout turned into a defensive battle the rest of the way as Hendrix won 51-48 at Centre. Hendrix dominated the time of possession, including in that fourth quarter. The Colonels went three-and-out and punted from midfield after Hendrix scored and the Warriors received that punt and held onto the ball for the next 9:02, leaving Centre no time to work with in the final minute.
The power went out at Buffalo State College, but not for the Bengals offense, as they cruised to a 30-7 win vs. St. John Fisher. Buffalo State, which was slowed earlier in the season by the loss of quarterback Kyle Hoppy to injury, gave Aaron Ertel his first collegiate start and he threw three touchdowns, going 21-for-35 for 223 yards.
Plymouth State scored twice in the fourth quarter, including a touchdown with 54 seconds left, then won 20-19 in overtime when Westfield State missed an extra point. The win allowed the Panthers to exceed last season's win total as they improved to 2-3.