Week 6 Game Recaps

Greenville College Panthers at Martin Luther College Knights
We predicted a close game with Greenville taking home the win, and we were spot on as the score was 46-39 in favor of the Panthers. However, it did not happen in the way we expected. Prior to this week, Martin Luther's stout defense had not given up many yards (276) or points (16) per game, and their offense was underperforming while struggling to find an identity. That all changed this week as the Knights allowed Greenville to gain 553 total yards and score 49 points. But the MLC offense was also able to find a rhythm, perhaps for the first time this year, and almost put together a comeback behind dynamic QB Luke Rothe, who threw for 223 yards and 4 TDs while also rushing for 78 yards and a score. The Knights equaled their previous season total for points in this game, but they still haven't kicked their turnover habit and had 2 lost fumbles which may have been the difference in the game. Greenville QB Brendan Chambers had a great game himself with a season high 230 passing yards while also scoring 4 times with his feet. Defensively, the Knights DB Benjamin Olson had 25 total tackles and was one of 5 MLC players with 15 or more tackles. Greenville moves to 4-1 in conference play and still remains in the hunt for the conference championship. Martin Luther still has yet to win a UMAC game and this will not get any easier as they face the dominant Northwestern Eagles next week in Saint Paul, MN.

College of St. Scholastica Saints at Westminster College Blue Jays
If you can control the clock, you can usually control the game, and the Saints dominated the time of possession in this game, their 38.5 minutes more than doubled the Blue Jays 18 minutes of possession (yes, good math Einstein, that is only 56.5 minutes). Needless to say, Westminster's offense struggled against the Saints defense and only produced only 183 yards of total offense. QB Joe Plassmeyer was inefficient, only averaging 5.1 yards per throw and their running game would have been just as effective taking a knee rather than handing the ball off. St. Scholastica's defense was tough as always and have clearly been the ones carrying their team this season as their offense still has weaknesses to clean up. QB Tyler Harper's completion percentage on the year is just above 50% and is lower than any other starting UMAC quarterback and their 36% 3rd down conversion rate is 2nd worst in the conference. On a good note for the offense, their running backs seem to be fairly effective no matter who it is in the backfield, as both Thomas Fragle and Chris Gassert gained 85+ yards and helped lead the Saints to a 20-6 victory in a game that was cut 3 1/2 minutes short due to inclement weather. The Saints can work on their offense next week as the young Crown College team makes a visit, while Westminster heads to MacMurray for their first of two meetings with the Highlanders in the final three weeks.

Northwestern College Eagles at Crown College Storm
--Before we start, we would like to give our best wishes to the players who were seriously injured in this game and hope for a full and speedy recovery to them all.--
I appreciate the positive and hopeful attitude I saw on Twitter from Crown in the week heading up to the game as there were multiple #BeatNorthwestern hashtags from their players. And they were correct in that Northwestern would "not know what hit them" - in the same sense that I do not know what I hit when a bug splatters on my car's windshield. Northwestern put the pedal to the metal to race to a final score of 34-0, which seems acceptable for Crown until you realize the game was ended four minutes after halftime due to the previously mentioned injuries. The Eagles had 291 yards at the end of the first half while the Storm had barely gained 100 yards by the time the game was called. The Eagles scored early and often starting with RB Josh Sinnen's 15 yard sprint into the end zone less than three minutes into the game. 3 Crown turnovers later, QB Josh Balzer scored with a 2 yard run of his own to make the score 27-0 at the beginning of the 2nd quarter. Five minutes later, a 3-yard pass to TE Matt Damman for his second touchdown catch on the day ended the scoring for the game. The Eagles had few errors if in this game and continue to be undefeated in the UMAC. The one positive take away from this game for the Storm is that they do have some loud fans, as anyone who watched the game online can attest to.

University of Minnesota - Morris Cougars at Eureka College Red Devils
You don't normally hear about two quarterbacks winning in the same football game, but then again, how normal is a 2-Quarterback led offense? Cougar QBs Daniel Gerrigan (QB1) and Derrick Foss (QB2) came away with the victory but they should give most of the credit to their defense who stopped the Red Devils offense. Eureka has been mostly ineffective this year when their running game does not produce and that  trend continued this week as they only netted 37 yards on the ground on 27 attempts. UM-Morris LB Cody Hickman led the Cougars in stopping the run with 5 tackles in the backfield for a loss of 15 yards and DB Trevor Checkal had 3 pass breakups as well as a key interception late to end a promising drive by Eureka. Cougars receiver Danny Kernan caught 5 catches for 125 yards and 2 TDs from QB1 to lead the statline for UM-Morris. Eureka QB Sam Durley had a decent day, going 22/44 for 271 yards and led a 4th quarter comeback attempt, hooking up with WR Cody Followell for 2 TDs, but that was not enough as the Cougars held on to win 27-23. UM-Morris moves to 4-2 in UMAC play and takes a break from conference play next week to welcome the Presentation Saints into town. The next 2 weeks will be tough for Eureka as they face the Panthers in Greenville next week and then get a visit from the Northwestern Eagles at the end of October.