Week 9 Game Recaps

Crown College Storm [14-41] Martin Luther College Knights
The Knights were led by their young offensive stars QB Luke Rothe and RB Matt Olson in their 41-14 rout of the Storm. Both teams started the game slow offensively with 2 interceptions and punts by each team and the first half ended with a 14-0 lead by Martin Luther after rushing scores by both Rothe and Olson. The second half was a different story however as the Knights came out and scored unanswered on their first three possessions of the half with 2 touchdown runs by Matt Olson from 24 and 16 yards out, followed by a 52 yard scoop-and-score by defensive lineman Derek Loewen. The Knights were now up 34-0, only six minutes into the third quarter, and had only allowed 58 yards to the Crown offense up to this point of the game. Crown wasn't ready to be shut out and put together a 61 yard drive led by QB Wes Safford and RB Amos Schmidt and converted a fourth down pass to WR Kyle Knox to put their first points on the board. MLC's Rothe kept the Knights momentum moving by returning the Crown kickoff across midfield to the Crown 47 yard line before connecting with WR Scott Henrich on the next play for 37 yards. Matt Olson got the ball to the goal line before RB Mark Voss was able to punch it in on 4th down to make the score 41-7 with 3:27 left in the third. A few drives later, Crown scored again on a 10 yard run by Kurt Fickle, who then kicked in the extra point to reduce the deficit to 27, but the effort came much too late in the game and Martin Luther easily claimed the victory nine minutes later.

Rothe finished the game with 6 completions on 11 attempts for 132 yards as well as 131 yards rushing on 12 attempts and a score. Olson finished with a 5.5 average per rush and a total of 121 yards and 3 touchdowns. The Storm's QB Wes Safford was held to 13-29 passing and 144 yards with a TD and 2 INTs and DB Eli Dahl picked off Rothe twice. Crown ends the season 1-7 in conference and 2-8 overall and has a lot of work to be done in the offseason to improve their young team. Martin Luther finishes the season 4-6 overall and 2-6 in conference, ending with a two game win streak, and seem to have found a few promising young players to build their team around.

MacMurray College Highlanders [29-14] Eureka College Red Devils
Talk about a disappointing end to not only a season, but also to the college career of NCAA-record holding QB Sam Durley. After playing tough against the UMAC co-champion Northwestern College last week, they fall to MacMurray for the second consecutive year with Durley going 18-43 passing (41%) and throwing 3 interceptions. Leading the team on the other sideline was QB Cody Hussey, who opened the scoring for the game with a 8 yard pass to WR Deshonta Smallwood to cap a 90 yard drive. The next possession for the Highlanders started at their own 3 yard line, but again, they marched 95 yards down the field and this time K Taylor Hosta booted in the 19 yard field goal to give MacMurray a 10-0 advantage heading into halftime. The third quarter was fairly quiet with a lot of punting and a few turnovers, but the score was unchanged heading into the fourth quarter. After a punt gave the Red Devils great field position at the MacMurray 48 yard line, Durley found WR Jordan Kindred on a 49 yard completion to get Eureka on the scoreboard. The Highlanders answered on the next drive however as Hussey moved the ball down the field before hitting receiver Zach Mudd for the 6 yard score. A failed extra point made the score 16-7 as the ball was kicked to the Red Devils. Three plays into their drive, Durley's pass landed in the hands of MacMurray LB Howard Glover who returned it to the Eureka 28 yard line, setting up Hussey to hit Smallwood again on a 27 yard strike. With eight minutes remaining, Eureka trailed by 15 and needed to get moving. Durley completed 5 passes on the drive to arrive at the goal line before the quarterback pushed it in himself from 2 yards out to close the gap to 8 and keep the game alive. MacMurray started the next drive trying to run as much clock out to keep their one possession lead, and RB Patrick Hall and Hussey were alternating runs and gained 2 first downs before Cody Hussey broke free for a 44 yard sprint to the end zone. The score now 29-14 with under 2 minutes remaining and no timeouts remaining, Eureka's hope was fading and after four plays, vanished completely as Durley's fourth down pass fell incomplete and the Highlanders ran the clock out to claim the victory.

Hussey finished with an outstanding game, going 19 of 36 for 281 yards, 3 TDS, and 1 interception, while gaining 134 yards and a touchdown on 12 attempts with his feet. RB Patrick Hall also passed the 100-yard rushing mark, going 125 yards on 33 attempts while Deshonta Smallwood led the Highlanders receivers with 104 yards on 6 receptions along with his two scores. Defensive back Raymond Smith intercepted Durley twice and also had a pass breakup to lead the Highlanders defense. For the Red Devils, WR Jordan Kindred had another great performance, gaining 151 yards on 11 receptions as well as a score. Eureka finishes the year 3-5 in UMAC games and 4-6 overall while the Highlanders are now 2-6 in conference and finish out their season next week in a non-conference matchup with Westminster College.

College of Saint Scholastica Saints [28-21] University of Minnesota-Morris Cougars
A victory for the Saints meant a possible chance at making the playoffs; a loss meant a possible fourth place finish in the UMAC. The Saints knew the circumstances and came out firing, putting up 21 unanswered points in the first 20 minutes thanks to two Tyler Harper to Cory Gebhard touchdowns and a Thomas Fragle touchdown run. The Cougars were finally able to move the ball a little bit and drove down the field and kicked 2 field goals, courtesy of kicker Cameron Adel. UM-Morris headed into the locker rooms needing to make some adjustments if they were going to make this game close. The tables turned in the second half, after a Cougar punt, they recovered a fumble by RB Thomas Fragle and set themselves up at the Saints 44 yard line. Four plays later, the Foss brothers connected on a 12 yard touchdown pass and then again for a two-point conversion to make the score 21-14. After the kickoff, the Cougars defense forced the Saints into a three-and-out and the Cougars offense got the ball at the St. Scholastica 41 yard line. QB1 Dan Gerrigan dropped back and found WR Tyler Peterson for a 41 yard score on the first play and the Cougars tied it up at 21 with a successful point after kick. The next three drives ended with punts before Saints DB Michael LaValley picked off Gerrigan and then on the Saints third play, UMM defensive back Trevor Checkal forced a fumble by Tyler Harper, which was recovered by the Cougars. Set up near midfield, the Cougars were unable to move the ball and after three plays, punted it back to the Saints with just over nine minutes remaining in the game.

The Saints, hungry for the win, put the ball in the hands of junior RB Jake Jensen, twelve times in 14 plays, and he rushed for positive yards every time, gaining 52 yards as the Saints ate up the clock and moved the ball down the field. Facing third down with 7 yards to go, the Saints were not ready to settle for a field goal and Harper found Nick Thiry for a 10 yard score to give the Saints a 7 point lead with under 2 minutes left til the final horn. The Cougars got the ball back and soon faced a 4th down with 17 yards to the first down marker but QB1 was able to find WR Roumy Desir for 21 yards to keep their hopes alive. After two more completed passes, the Saints were called for pass intereference and the Cougars now had the ball at the Saints 16 yard line threatening to tie the game up. However, on the next play, the Cougars were hit with a costly holding penalty and moved back to the 31 yard line. Now facing 2nd and 25 to go, the Cougars were unable to pass the first down marker and gave the ball back to the Saints, who kneeled the ball to run the clock out on the Cougars season. Quarterback Tyler Harper finished 16 of 27 for 169 yards and 3 touchdowns while RB Jake Jensen put up 124 yards with a 5.2 yard-per-carry average. The Saints defense tallied 8 tackles for a loss, totaling 42 yards with LBs Blake Cedarleaf and Zack Dubanoski contributing 2.5 of those tackles each. Cougars QB1 and QB2 combined to complete 25 of 49 passes for 288 yards, 2 TDs, and an interception. Three WRs for UM-Morris,Tyler Peterson, Brendon Foss, and Danny Kernan, each had 63 yards. Defensively, LB Cody Hickman led the Cougars with 12 tackles, 10 of which were solo. The Cougars finish the year with a UMAC record of 5-3 and 6-4 overall. The cards all fell in place for the Saints as they not only tied with Northwestern and Greenville to be UMAC Co-champions, they also won the random draw to represent the UMAC in the NCAA playoffs, which will have them playing on November 17th.