SUWANEE, Ga. - With its comeback win at
Trinity, the DePauw Tigers clinched a share of its second straight
SCAC championship and the league's automatic bid to the 2010 NCAA
Division III Football Championship. DePauw also became the first
team in Division III to earn a playoff bid in the process.
AROUND THE SCAC
Austin College took 24 hours and 15 minutes to
complete its Homecoming game against Rhodes College over the
weekend with severe weather suspending Saturday’s contest to
Sunday morning, and in the end the ‘Roos used a 17 yard
touchdown pass from Travis Zambiasi to Greg Harrell with 1:07 left
in the game to pull out a 17-16 victory to improve to 4-3 overall
and 2-2 in the SCAC. After play was suspended with 3:18 left in the
first quarter and no score on Saturday, the ‘Roos and Lynx
picked things up on Sunday and wasted little time putting points on
the board. The ‘Roos got an early field goal from Mitch
Anderson and after Rhodes answered with a field goal of their own,
Matt Finke stepped in front of a pass and raced 76 yards the other
way for a pick six to make it a 10-3 game. Rhodes would come back
with 13 straight points to make it 16-10 with less than three
minutes to play, but the ‘Roos moved methodically down the
field to set up Zambiasi’s game winning toss to Harrell in
the back of the endzone. Zambiasi completed 9-of-13 passes for 157
yards and added 81 yards rushing on 16 carries. Harrell was
responsible for most of those passing yards, hauling in five
completions for 126 yards. Finke finished with seven tackles to go
along with his pick, and Kenneth Eneh made 16 tackles and forced
and recovered a fumble in the win. Austin College is off this
Saturday and will return to action on November 6 against
DePauw.
Birmingham-Southern got a big Homecoming win
this week, defeating Sewanee 50-10. BSC scored four of its
touchdowns during an eight-minute span in the second quarter.
Offensively, Birmingham-Southern finished with 18 first downs and
353 yards in total offense. The league’s leading rushing team
racked up 279 yards on the ground. Senior tailback Walter
Arrington, the SCAC’s leading rusher, finished the afternoon
with 123 yards on 14 carries. The Panther defense held Sewanee to
265 yards and 15 first downs. Senior defensive end Jeremy Jones
finished the day with six tackles, including three sacks. Senior
defensive back Zac Napier recorded an interception as well as a
blocked punt returned for a touchdown. BSC travels to Greencastle,
Ind., this weekend to face league-leading and defending conference
champion DePauw at noon at Blackstock Stadium.
Entering the game with one conference loss apiece,
Centre fell 30-18 to Millsaps Saturday, Oct. 23 at
Farris Stadium in Danville, Ky. The game was played as part of
Centre's Homecoming weekend and marks the fifth straight defeat to
the Majors. The loss also evens the overall series at 11 wins
apiece between the two schools. Centre was limited to season-lows
in total offensive plays (59), total offensive yards (290), rushing
attempts (29), rushing yards (107), first downs (18) and time of
possession (23:45). The loss was also the first for Centre on
Homecoming since 2006 when the Colonels fell 17-10 to Trinity.
Centre will next take to the road to play Rhodes Saturday, Oct. 30
in Memphis, Tenn.
Michael Engle's two-point conversion pass to Nathan Evans with
20 seconds left lifted DePauw to a 32-31 victory
at Trinity. The win also gave DePauw at least a share of its fourth
SCAC title and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division
III Championship and are the first in Division III to do so this
year. The Tigers claimed their first win at Trinity in six tries.
DePauw improved to 7-0 overall for the first time since 1951 and
can claim their first outright SCAC title with a win over Austin on
November 6. Trinity took a 31-24 lead with just 1:19 left after Ben
Robinson picked off a pass at the Trinity 33 and returned it all
the way for the go-ahead score. Engle then went to work from his
own 38 and completed five straight passes with the final covering
34 yards to all-America receiver Alex Koors and closing the Trinity
lead to 31-30. The Tigers then elected to go for the lead and
eventual win and Engle's toss to Evans did just that. DePauw opened
the game with a 70-yard drive which consumed 8:57, but ended on a
fourth down fumble from the Trinity 3. The Tigers quickly regained
the lead as Engle connected with Koors for a 38-yard score with
13:32 remaining in the second before Trinity's Markham Stayton
caught a 22-yard pass from McKissic to knot the score at 14-14.
Trinity recovered the ensuing kickoff at the DePauw 31 and then
needed just three plays to take a 21-14 lead as Urban caught a
35-yard pass from McKissic. Trinity extended the lead to 24-14 in
the third as Garrett Biel hit a 33-yard field goal with 8:16 left
in the quarter. Koors caught 10 for 170 yards for his 14th 100-yard
receiving game. His three TD receptions tied a school record and
with his second catch of the game he broke the DePauw and SCAC
career reception records. Brayden Dahlstrom hauled in eight for 98
yards.
Millsaps defeated Centre 30-18 for their
fourth conference win and fifth on the season this week. The Majors
capitalized on a Colonel fumble on the Millsaps 12-yard line that
would almost certainly have given Centre the early lead. Marvis
O’Sirio forced the fumble after a 13-yard loss on the broken
play that was recovered by Will Hawkins, giving the Majors control.
Pinciotti connected on a short route to Jason O’Rear for two
yards to put the Majors up six. The defense held Centre to just a
field goal on their next possession, cutting the lead to 6-3. But,
just one play into the second quarter the Majors completed a
10-play, 80-yard drive down the field to put the game squarely in
their control. Pinciotti connected again with O’Rear, this
time for 49 yards, to put Millsaps up 16-3. Centre was able to put
up two touchdowns in the final quarter, but by that point the
Majors were already too far ahead. Garrett Pinciotti completed
three touchdown passes on the day, the two to O’Rear and one
more to Bryce Haddad for seven yards. Shane Bowser led the ground
attack for the Majors with 153 yards on the day in 25 attempts for
an average of 6.1 yards per carry. The Majors will return home next
Saturday to host the final home game of the 2010 season with the
Sewanee Tigers at 1 p.m.
A Greg Harrell 17 yard touchdown reception with 1:07 remaining in
the fourth quarter, rallied Austin College to a 17-16 win over
Rhodes, in a game played in Sherman, Texas on
Sunday, October 24th. The game was resumed after being suspended at
the 3:18 mark of the first quarter on Saturday, October 23rd,
because of severe lightning in the Sherman area. Rhodes led for the
majority of the second half and extended their lead to 16-10 on
Lucas Stockhausen's 3rd field goal of the day, from 28 yards with
2:53 to play. Austin College started their game winning drive from
their own 28 yard-line and marched 72 yards in 6 plays for the
winning score. The game winning touchdown was the only offensive
touchdown the Kangaroos could score against a stingy Lynx defense,
led by senior linebacker Andrew Meier. Meier recorded a team high
12 tackles, and returned a fumble 19 yards.
A 28-point second quarter by Birmingham-Southern doomed
Sewanee, as the host Panthers ran away with the
win, 50-10. The Tigers turned in a sharper offensive performance
than what they’ve had most of the season, but
Birmingham-Southern was able to capitalize on several Sewanee
miscues to seal up the victory. Statistically, the Tigers were much
improved this week. Sewanee totaled 265 yards of offense, while the
Panthers tallied 353. The Tigers gained 128 yards on the ground and
137 in the air. Schurlknight finished the day 10 for 17 passing
with two interceptions. Cleveland led the Tigers’ receiving
corps with 56 yards on five catches. He gained 123 all-purpose
yards after running for 32 yards and returning kickoffs 35 yards as
well. Wilson led the Sewanee rushing attack with 99 yards on 20
attempts. The Tigers fall to 1-7 on the season and head to Jackson,
Mississippi to take on the Millsaps Majors on Saturday.
Trinity lost a heartbreaker in the final SCAC game
against DePauw on Saturday, with DePauw’s two-point
conversion with 20 seconds left giving the visitors a 32-31
victory. The Trinity Tigers led 24-14 in the second half, but
DePauw was able to tie it early in the fourth quarter. With less
than two minutes to play, DePauw drove into Trinity territory and
was poised to get at least a field goal, but Ben Robinson
intercepted a pass and took it 67 yards for the touchdown to
seemingly pull off the upset. DePauw wouldn’t go quietly,
though, taking less than a minute to march down the field again.
This time, it resulted in a touchdown, though, and DePauw went for
the two-point conversion and the win. It marks just the second time
DePauw has defeated Trinity, though both wins have come in the past
two seasons. Trinity travels to Huntingdon College this weekend for
its final non-conference game of the season. The Tigers are facing
the Hawks for just the third time ever, with Trinity winning the
two previous meetings. Trinity won 15-10 in San Antonio in 2005,
followed by a 24-13 road win the following season.
For the complete
SCAC Gridiron Weekly for Week 8,
click
here.