Contact: Jenna McElroy, Sports Info & Social Media Intern, mcelroy@midwestconference.org
GRINNELL, Iowa – After the bye week, the Midwest Conference (MWC) football teams were back in action with cross-divisional play on Saturday afternoon. It appears the rest did some good, as multiple teams broke school records or scored a program-high for points in at least the last five years. While a few games were blowouts, Cornell College and Lake Forest College provided some dramatics Saturday afternoon as they rallied from a 17-7 and 27-14 deficits respectively.
UChicago’s quarterback Jeffrey Jackson picks up this week’s MWC Offensive Performer of the Week honors after posting impressive numbers in his first collegiate start, while Ripon College’s Lane Barnes was all over the field Saturday to earn Defensive Performer of the Week. Special Teams Performer of the Week goes to St. Norbert’s Spenser Thompson-Meyer for a second time this season as he tied a Division III record over the weekend.
Players are nominated for Performer of the Week by their institution’s Sports Information Director; then one player is selected for offense, defense, and special teams by the Conference office. Selection is based off, in no order of priority, a nominee’s statistics, the strength of opponent, team record, individual accomplishments, and intangibles.
Below are Week Four’s MWC Performers of the Week and highlights from Saturday’s games.
Offensive Performer of the Week
Jeffrey Jackson, QB, UChicago
Freshman, San Diego, Calif.
In his first collegiate start, Jackson led the Maroons to their first victory of the season as he completed 22-of-31 passes for 234 yards and four touchdowns. He led an offense that totaled 470 yards on an average of 6.7 per play in a dominating 56-9 over Illinois College. The first-year spread the ball around as he connected with 10 receivers and hit four different players on each touchdown.
Defensive Performer of the Week
Lane Barnes, DB, Ripon
Junior, Clovis, Calif.
Barnes has played a key role in Ripon’s defense holding its opponent without a touchdown for the second game in a row. Against Knox, the defensive back was all over the ball on as he recorded 12 tackles, nine solo and three for a loss, with a sack, two interceptions, a pass break-up, and two forced fumbles.
Special Teams Performer of the Week
Spenser Thompson-Meyers, K, St. Norbert
Senior, San Ramon, Calif.
In St. Norbert’s 91-0 shutout of Grinnell College, Thompson-Meyers went 13-for-13 on PATs to tie an NCAA Division III record for extra-point attempts made in a single game. The record had stood since 1977 and Thompson-Meyers is the first to make 13 PATs without a miss. He also averaged 61.8 yards per kickoff with seven touchbacks to earn his second performer of the week honor of the season.
Previous POW
Game Notes
Beloit
vs. Cornell L17-28
Two weeks ago the Buccaneers staged a 16-point fourth quarter comeback, unfortunately, this week their opponent was the team that rallied in the second half as Beloit dropped its homecoming game 17-28 to Cornell. Late in the first quarter, James Miranda forced a fumble, giving the Bucs the ball at the Rams 11-yard line. Quarterback Erick Mitchell hit Tyler Korous for his first of two touchdown receptions on the day. The Beloit added an Andy Berlin field goal and a diving TD catch by Korous to take a 17-7 advantage into halftime. Sadly, that would be all the points the Bucs would score as the Rams put up 21 unanswered points in the second half to win. Beloit came close the regaining the lead on the first drive of the fourth quarter as it reached the redzone but the Cornell’s defense came up with the stop. Mitchell finished 10-of-29 for 108 yards and two touchdowns, while Korous caught four receptions, including the two TDs. Ethan Conley added four catches for 45 yards.
Cornell
at Beloit W28-17
Cornell’s defense held the Beloit to 66 yards in the second half allowing the offense to score 21 unanswered points to comeback and give the Rams their fifth straight win over the Buccaneers. Coming out of halftime trailing 7-17, running back Trevhon Porterfield got the Rams offense going as he took off on a 73-yard run midway through the third quarter to set up Mickey Hines 10-yard touchdown run. Now within three, Milton Spradley intercepted a pass on the next play leading to a Blayze Griffis to Blake Langhurst connection and the Rams first lead of the afternoon. A Griffis two-yard run with 4:19 remaining sealed the game for Cornell. Griffis completed 25-of-35 passes for 198 yards, while Langhurst made ten receptions for 86 yards. Despite the slow start, the Rams had 462 total yards, 264 on the ground thanks to dual 100+ yard rushing days for Porterfield and Hines. Porterfield recorded a career-high 130 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown, while Hines added 120 yards on 27 carries with a touchdown.
Grinnell
at St. Norbert L0-91
It was a rough day in De Pere for the Pioneers as they were shutout 0-91. One good thing did come out of the lopsided loss, however, as linebacker Ryan Slager set the school record for career solo tackles. He recorded 17 solo stops against St. Norbert to bring his total to 219, bettering the old record by 12. Slager’s 18 total tackles in the game improved his career tackle record to 496 which also ranks fifth all-time in Division III and is one shy of fourth. Slager added a forced fumble and fumble recovery Saturday and sits second in program history in career fumble recoveries.
Illinois College
at UChicago L9-56
The Blueboys took an early lead on a 30-yard field goal by Zack DeWitt after a Carter Hilley interception. Chicago put the came out of reach with three touchdown drives in a row to start the second half to take a 42-3 lead. Illinois College put up a sustained drive with five minutes to play as it went 82 yards on 13 plays to set up its lone touchdown of the afternoon when Hunter Toeben caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Deavon Puck. Drew Chance finished 20-of-42 for 125 yards and added a team-high 46 yards on eight carries. Mason Farris caught eight passes for 56 yards.
Knox
vs. Ripon L3-28
The two teams almost reached halftime without scoring but Ripon struck for two touchdowns with five minutes remaining in the first half before another two more in the second half to win 28-3. Knox’s only points on the day came on a 40-yard field goal from Jesus Flores late in the third quarter. Quarterback Jacob Amaro made 29-of-51 passes to finish with 242 yards, while Grant Graham and Malik Hamilton combined for 11 receptions and 117 yards. Garrett Rau contributed on offense, defense, and special teams as he recorded nine tackles, a pass completion, 21 yards rushing, and averaged 31.8 yards per punt.
Lake Forest
vs. Lawrence W35-34
Lake Forest wins the award for most dramatic finish as in the last five minutes of the game, the Foresters rallied from a 13-point deficit to take a 28-27 lead only to have the Vikings take it right back before Alex Adams scored the winning touchdown with 17.2 seconds left. Trailing by six with under a minute to go, quarterback Jagan Cleary completed four consecutive passes to bring the Foresters to the 8-yardline. Cleary then handed off to Adams as he scored his second touchdown of the game, after opening the day’s scoring with a 36-yard TD run, to give Lake Forest the one-point lead. On the ensuing possession, the Foresters forced a fumble though the Vikings recovered the ball time expired giving Lake Forest the 35-34 comeback victory. Cleary went 28-of-45 for 372 yards, the third highest total in program history, and had three touchdowns. Chris Edomwande made 11 receptions for 137 yards and two touchdowns, while Adams rushed for 62 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Defensively, Charlie Timmerman tied a career-high with 16 tackles and Johnny Laponte added ten.
Lawrence
at Lake Forest L34-35
Ethan Simmons gave the Vikings a 10-7 lead after a quarter on a 13-yard punt return which increase to 17-7 midway through the second on a Wasonu Allen touchdown run. Lawrence built their lead out to 27-14 which they held until 4:37 remained in the game. A 45-yard punt by Jacob Enos pinned Lake Forest on its own one-yard line but the Foresters used 12 plays to go the length of the field to take their first lead of the game since the opening drive. Lawrence answered quickly as quarterback D’Andre Weaver rushed for 13 yards and completed three passes for 48 yards, including a pass on 2nd and 17 to Chris Shaw who took it 25 yards for the first down to keep the drive alive. Weaver completed the 10 play, 60-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown run to regain the lead for the Vikings with under a minute to play. Unfortunately, Lawrence was unable to stop the Forester offense as they scored with just 17.2 seconds left and held on for the 35-34 victory. Weaver threw for 215 yards on 17-of-26 passing and a touchdown and added 94 rushing yards and another TD.
Macalester
at Monmouth L0-37
Macalester was shutout by the defending MWC Champions in a cross-divisional Battle of the Scots Saturday afternoon. Monmouth reached the endzone on its first two possessions of the game and rolled to a 37-0 victory. Quarterback Cody Petrich finished 17-of-32 for 193 yards, while receivers Jonathan Knee and Alec Beatty caught six passes for 92 yards and five passes for 67 yards respectively. Defensively, Kiante Miles and Josh Bartz both recorded eight tackles.
Monmouth
vs. Macalester W37-0
In the Battle of the Scots, Monmouth dominated Macalester in a 37-0 shutout as the Fighting Scots put up 405 yards of offense while holding the Macalester Scots to 263 yards. On Monmouth’s first possession of the game, DeAndre Wright completed a 77-yard drive with an 8-yard run to kick off the scoring. The Fighting Scots next two touchdowns came on Hayden Nelson completions to Yansay Williams including a 51-yard TD reception. DeAndre Wright picked up a hat trick of touchdowns when he added 23-yard and 12-yard touchdown runs to finish the game with 95 rushing yards on 17 carries and three TDs. Nelson added 70 yards rushing while completing 13-of-22 passes for 187 yards and two TDs. Williams caught the two touchdowns and finished with four receptions for 98 yards. Defensively, the Fighting Scots recorded nine tackles for loss, three by Thomas Lesniewski who also had a couple of sacks. Linebacker Clark Gaden had a team-high eight tackles.
Ripon
at Knox W28-3
The Red Hawks defense put on another stellar display as they intercepted three passes, broke up eight more, recorded 11 tackles for loss, and held Knox to only 49 rushing yards as they did not allow a touchdown for the second week in a row. Ripon got touchdowns late in the second half to take a 14-0 lead into halftime as Julian Patton hit Cameron Mignone and Austin Bunders on back-to-back possessions. While the defense held the Prairie Fire to 49 rushing yards, the Red Hawks ran for 249 yards and finished with 481 yards of total offense. Three players rushed for over 60 yards as Cormac Madigan, Tyler VanDeVelde, and Bunders picked up 93, 64, and 63 yards respectively. Madigan’s came on just nine carries as he averaged 10.3 yards per carry including an 8-yard TD run. Linebacker Ethan Hoffman recorded a game-high 17 tackles, 11 solo, while Lane Barnes added 12 tackles, nine solo and three for a loss, and posted a sack and two forced fumbles.
St. Norbert
vs. Grinnell W91-0
St. Norbert scored a school record for points in a game thanks to four defensive touchdowns that tied a program record set against Carroll in 2005. The Green Knights 91 points bettered the old record of 79 set in 2012 against Lawrence. St. Norbert added a special team’s touchdown while its defense pressured the Grinnell into six turnovers. Matt Gurgone picked up half of the defensive touchdowns as he had 36-yard interception return and a fumble return to become just the second player in program history to return both an interception and a fumble for a touchdown in the same game. Kicker Spenser Thompson-Meyers also made history as he tied an NCAA Division III record for most PATs in a game. Thompson-Meyers was a perfect 13-for-13 on extra-points making him the only one to make that many without a miss as Concordia-Moorhead’s Kurt Christenson went 13-for-14.
UChicago
vs. Illinois College W56-9
The Maroons picked up their first win of the 2018 season as they scored their most points in a game since 2010. Making his first collegiate start, freshman quarterback Jeffrey Jackson completed 22-of-31 passes for 234 yards and four touchdowns. The UChicago offense accumulated 470 total yards and Jackson spread the wealth as he found four different receivers for the touchdowns and connected with ten in all. Nicholas D’Ambrose picked up three rushing touchdowns, while Henry Imburgia added a nice 69-yard TD run and Vittorio Tricase led them all with 92 yards on 15 carries. Jackson Ross led the defense with 10 tackles, an interception at the line, and a forced fumble recovery.