Week 7 Game Recaps

Presentation College Saints [28 - 35] University of Minnesota - Morris Cougars
This 35-28 non-conference win against the Saints (formerly of the UMAC), was back and forth all game and the win did not come as easily as was expected for the Cougars. Presentation, still hurting from a 75-6 whooping by the Division II South Dakota School for Mines & Technology, came out ready to play and put together a 14-play drive scoring drive to start the game. UM-Morris quickly responded with a 70 yard dash by RB Leandro Dower to even the score out. After scoring passes from the Cougars' QB1 and QB2, the Saints matched both scores and the teams went into halftime even at 21 each. After the break, the Cougars started the second half out with a solid 63-yard drive that ended with the Foss brothers hooking up for a 1-yard touchdown - the second score of the day for each. After another touchdown by the Saints, Leandro Dower ended the scoring for both teams on a 2-yard run to cap another long drive by the Cougars. Leading UM-Morris to their victory, Dower finished with 153 yards on 14 carries to go along with his 2 scoring runs. Brendan Foss, also with 2 touchdowns, put up another great day receiving for the Cougars, totaling 181 yards on 10 receptions. UM-Morris (5-3 overall, 4-2 in UMAC) will be on the road for the remainder of the year as they head to Crown College next week before finishing the year against the St. Scholastica Saints.

Westminster College Blue Jays [22 - 24] MacMurray College Highlanders
For the Highlanders, this was one of a few games all year where winning was a possibility, and luckily for them, this became a reality as they defeated Westminster by a slim 24-22 margin in a game that was not pretty for either team. Westminster's errors proved to be the biggest difference in this game as QB Joe Plassmeyer threw 4 interceptions and lost 2 fumbles to the Highlanders who turned those 6 turnovers into 12 points. The first of Plassmeyer's fumbles came just two plays into the game and MacMurray QB Cody Hussey quickly connected with WR Deshonta Smallwood on 32-yard scoring strike to put the home team up 6-0. After the kickoff, Plassmeyer fumbled again, this time on the first play of the drive, but MacMurray was unable to advance the ball and was forced to punt it back to the Blue Jays. Each team had several unsuccesful drives before Westminster put together a 6-play 75-yard drive, which ended with a 10-yard scoring reception by WR Mac Findeiss, his first of two on the day. After an interception by each team, a turnover on downs by each team, and another interception by each team, the horn sounded for halftime, both teams hoping to find a way to cut down on mistakes for the second half.

This hope was not fulfilled however, as three plays into the first Westminster drive, Plassmeyer threw his third interception of the game which was returned to the Blue Jays 18-yard line. Hussey took advantage of great field position again and threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to WR DeJohn Randle. The pair hooked up on the next drive for another score to give the Highlanders a 18-6 lead heading into the 4th quarter. The Blue Jays were not finished though as they put together a 16-play 79-yard scoring drive, followed by a 10-play 85-yard drive capped by WR Mac Findeiss catching his second score. Each score was followed by a 2-pt conversion to put Westminster up 22-18. After a drive by each team, MacMurray had the ball back with 3:18 left, hoping to gain their first win of the year. Hussey lead his team down the field and tossed a 40-yard score to DeJohn Randle who gained his third touchdown on the day, and perhaps the most important score of the year for the Highlanders. A quick drive by the Blue Jays had them within range for a possible field goal before MacMurray's John Brockhouse Jr. picked off Plassmeyer to allow the Highlanders to run the clock out for their first victory of the 2012 season. MacMurray will host Martin Luther next week and then head to Eureka to wrap up their UMAC season. Westminster moves to 2-5 in conference play and hosts the Greenville Panthers next week and then has a BYE week before a rematch against MacMurray in a non-conference game to end the year.

Crown College Storm [13 - 45] College of St. Scholastica Saints
After a shaky game last week for the Saints, they looked like they got their act back together this week as they quickly got out to a 28-0 lead just minutes into the second quarter. Crown never really looked to have a chance in this game and struggled against the Saints defense, only gaining 1.8 yards per rush on 40 attempts and going 28% on third down conversions. Saints QB Tyler Harper lead the team to victory with 13/20 passing for 161 yards and 3 touchdowns, two of which went to WR Nick Thiry. The Saints rushing game continue to produce as RBs Thomas Fragle and Chris Gassert gained 106 yards and 64 yards respectively on 9 carries each for an average of 9.4 yards per carry between the two. Crown's offensive line struggled to protect their QB as Wes Safford was sacked 4 times and threw an interception. The Saints improve to 6-1 in conference after this 45-13 victory and have a non-conference contest at Presentation College next week. Crown drops to 1-5 in UMAC play and faces the UM-Morris Cougars next week in St. Bonafacius.

Martin Luther College Knights [26-47] Northwestern College Eagles
This could have been a close game had the Knights defense not made mistakes and if they would have been less error-prone on offense and exploited the holes in the Eagles defense earlier in the game as they should have. But Martin Luther came out undisciplined in the first half and let the Eagles throw over the top of them as Northwestern needed just 5 completed passes to gain 225 yards, with 4 of them going for touchdowns of 39 yards or more. The Knights couldn't stop the running game all day either and allowed the Eagles to average 6.5 yards a carry for a total of 280 yards on the ground. RB Josh Sinnen led the ground attack for the Eagles with 136 yards and a touchdown while WR Brian Lecheler led the receiving corps with 128 yards and 2 scores. Northwestern was able to limit last week's Outstanding Athlete of the Week, QB Luke Rothe to only 12/29 completions with 143 yards and 2 touchdowns and only 28 yards on the ground. There seemed to be several miscommunications between Rothe and his receivers as spasses sailed out to unoccupied areas of the field as he was scrambling from Northwestern's dominating pass rush. The Knights look to tighten things up this week before they make the trip to Jacksonville, Illinois to face the MacMurray Highlanders, fresh off of their first conference win. Northwestern will need to stay disciplined through the rest of the year if they hope to be crowned UMAC champs as they face Eureka College next week before they wrap the regular season up at home versus the Greenville Panthers and their explosive offense.

Eureka College Red Devils [38-45] Greenville College Panthers
These two offenses could not be any different as Eureka lives and dies through their passing game led by QB Sam Durley while the Panthers run nearly 80% of their plays on the ground. On the other side of the ball though, the teams are very similar as they both allow an average of over 380 yards and 32 points to opposing offenses. Greenville came out with the offensive line blazing the trail to open up a 35-7 lead by halftime with 5 rushing touchdowns, 3 from QB Brendan Chambers alone. After a few unsuccessful drives by each team, a touchdown reception by Eureka's RB Zach McCoy was followed by Greenville's RB Manny Gamble sprinting for a 54-yard score to bring the Red Devils' deficit back up to 28 points. The Red Devils facing a seemingly insurmountable deficit, were not giving up the fight though as they put together a valiant comeback attempt led by Sam Durley who led three unanswered scoring drives completing touchdowns to WRs Jordan Jefferson, Jake Bane and Cody Followell. But by the time Followell crossed the goal line, there was only 2:28 left on the gameclock and Eureka was out of time outs so Greenville's offense was able to run the clock out and prevent a comeback. Durley finished 32 of 57 with 416 yards and 4 touchdowns and had three receivers (Jordan Kindred, Bane, and Followell) pass the 100 yard mark. On Greenville's side, their offensive line led the way for three 100-yard rushers as Gamble and Chambers each had 14 carries for 138 and 103 yards, respectively, and Justin Honeycutt received 26 handoffs for 133 yards and 2 scores. Defensively for Greenville, LB Jacob Bronars tallied 3 sacks on Sam Durley for a loss of 22 yards. Eureka drops to .500 in the conference and plays host to Northwestern and MacMurray Colleges to close out their season. Greenville is now 5-1 in UMAC play ends the season on roadtrips to Westminster and then to Northwestern the following week.