Notes on the second round of the D-III playoffs (Whitewater and Delaware Valley brackets), and previews and predictions for the quarterfinals follow the leap. Please note: the full recaps I’ve been writing will not appear from this point forward. Real life interferes, and frankly I feel as though I’m just digesting a box score. I’d rather talk about the game. I came to this realization last weekend, but forged ahead on FCS and D-II for continuity’s sake; realizing that time was catching up made the decision for me.
Whitewater Bracket:
1 Wisconsin-Whitewater 41, 4 Franklin 14
at Perkins Stadium, Whitewater WI; attendance 1083
All-World turf destructo-beast Levell Coppage tore the Franklin defense for 221 yards and three scores before he parked himself on the bench with well over a quarter to play, and Whitewater cruised to their 42nd consecutive win.
It wasn’t all Coppage; Matt Blanchard nailed an undefended Cody Robinson for a 43-yard strike in the second quarter, and found Tyler Huber for a 26-yard score in the third. Eric Kindler added a couple of field goals. Defensively, Franklin was completely overmatched on the ground. The Warhawks held them to -5 yards net on 29 carries. They were more successful in the air, at least in the first half, when Jonny West went 21-38 for 214 yards and a score. At halftime, though, Whitewater made adjustments, and West was only 1-10 for -5 yards in the second half. Whitewater’s Greg Arnold picked West off twice, and also recovered a fumble.
Mark this down: if Whitewater returns to Salem for the seventh year in a row, Coppage will clear 2,000 yards on the season. He’s now at 1777, and there’s just no way he doesn’t get 223 yards in three games. He might even get there if Whitewater falls in the semis. But they’ve got to get past this week first…
My pre-game prediction: Wisconsin-Whitewater 35, Franklin 17. Not too far off the mark. Much better than their regular-season meeting, though.
2 Salisbury 49, 3 Kean 47 (3OT)
at Sea Gull Stadium, Salisbury MD; attendance 1192
Randal Smedley ran for 202 yards and two scores, and Salisbury rolled up 382 rushing yards, but they didn’t do much to stop Kean defensively and had to fight through three overtimes to finally advance.
The two teams combined for 983 yards of offense. Salisbury took an early lead, spending much of the day up by two scores, but Kean kept fighting back; every time Salisbury went up 14, Kean scored on the next drive. Finally, with only 45 seconds to go in the game, Darius Kinney bulled through from two yards out to tie the contest and send it into overtime.
In the first overtime, Salisbury failed to record a first down and were forced to try a 34-yard field goal, but Eric Hard missed wide left. Kean did get a first down on their try, penetrating to the 11, but lost three on first down and then were stopped for no gain twice. Billy Daniels tried a 31-yard kick, but Brandon Lemon blocked it.
Kean got into the end zone on four rushing plays in the second overtime, but Salisbury immediately sent it to a third on a 25-yard pass from Dan Griffin to Ross Flanigan. The Sea Gulls scored first in the third overtime on a Smedley 2-yard run; Flanigan ran in the conversion to put Salisbury up by eight.
It looked like Salisbury was going to hold there, as two incomplete passes and a loss of two on the ground left Kean facing 4th and 10 from the 27, but Tom D’Ambrisi found Chris Suozzo for a score. On the ensuing conversion attempt, D’Ambrisi’s pass was just a little too high for T.J. Denehy, and Salisbury had escaped.
D’Ambrisi was 15-26 for 271 yards with three TDs and three picks. Chris DiMicco led Kean with 155 yards rushing on 20 carries; Kinney scored three times while running for 61 yards on 16 touches.
My pre-game prediction: Salisbury 32, Kean 21. Well… hey, with a minute left in the game it was 34-27 Salisbury. Salisbury just failed to stop Kean defensively, and there’s not much more analysis I can offer by way of explanation.
Next up:
2 Salisbury (11-1) at 1 Wisconsin-Whitewater (12-0)
Perkins Stadium, Whitewater WI, 1pm EST
Video available via Animoto. Audio available via WICO. Live stats available via Sidearm.
Series: first meeting.
Jon’s Prediction:
Wisconsin-Whitewater 36, Salisbury 30. The Sea Gulls are going to give Whitewater a fight; the Warhawks aren’t all that used to the triple option. But after their defensive performance against Kean, I can’t trust Salisbury to keep Whitewater from blowing up on them. Coppage might break 2000 Saturday, never mind having to wait.
Delaware Valley Bracket:
5 Saint John Fisher 27, 1 Delaware Valley 14
at James Work Memorial Stadium, Doylestown PA; attendance 1523
It wasn’t expected to be a high scoring affair, and with a fresman quarterback forced into action one might have assumed Fisher would have trouble getting points on the board. Instead, Delaware Valley became the only #1 seed not to make it to the regional finals.
Most of the action was in the second quarter, as the teams went through a scoreless first. Fisher got on the board on the first play of the second period when Ahmed Hassanien hit Ryan Francis for a 12-yard scoring strike. The Aggies responded, scoring on a 26-yard run by Kyle Schuberth, but Francis ran the ensuing kickoff back for a score to regain the lead. With under four minutes to go in the half, Aaron Wilmer scored from two yards out to tie the game back up, but a 39-yard Chad Monheim field goal with :50 left gave Fisher a 17-14 halftime lead.
And that’s all they needed, as their defense completely shut down DelVal in the second half. Fisher added a 32-yard scoring run by Hassanien early in the third, and a 26-yard kick by Monheim early in the fourth.
Hassanien’s inexperience didn’t really matter; Fisher was held to 93 yards passing, but ran for 195 and let the defense take care of the rest. Wilmer was 29-41 for 241 yards, but was picked off four times, including their last drive of the first half and their final two drives of the game. Cody Miller ran for 145 yards on 24 carries for Fisher.
My pre-game prediction: Delaware Valley 24, Saint John Fisher 20. Flat-out missed this one. MY BAD.
2 Saint Thomas (MN) 38, 6 Monmouth (IL) 10
at O’Shaughnessy Stadium, Saint Paul MN; attendance 1775
A close game early devolved into a second-half rout as the Tommies poured it on with the help of 258 rushing yards from Colin Tobin and 336 all-purpose yards from Fritz Waldvogel, including a 100-yard kickoff return to open the second half.
The Tommies were victimized by their own mistakes in the first half. Dakota Tracy was picked off in Monmouth territory on their first drive, which led to a 22-yard Matt Batton field goal to put Monmouth up 3-0. On a later drive, Tracy fumbled at the Monmouth 7; the defense held, at least, setting up a 24-yard Tim Albright kick to tie the game. A long drive which took the game to the second quarter ended in a missed attempt wide right by Albright from 32, but after a three-and-out Tobin led the charge (including runs of 15 and 36) and Tracy punched it on from the one to give the Tommies their first lead. Alex Tanney hit Mike Blodgett for a 37-yard score late in the half to tie the game again.
Waldvogel’s kickoff return put Saint Thomas back on top for good, and they cruised from that point. Tobin added touchdown runs of 15 and 5 yards, and Tracy hit Waldvogel for a 38-yard score early in the fourth.
Monmouth’s woes were largely a result of being limited to four net yards rushing (61, but 57 lost including 52 on sacks). Alex Tanney had a decent day, going 19-35 for 227 yards and a score, but the failure of the rushing game caused him to have to force the ball in the air. The Tommies never picked him off, but his completion percentage was far below normal.
My pre-game prediction: Saint Thomas 37, Monmouth 25. Monmouth fell short of that prediction simply because the Tommies stopped Tanney far too often when it really mattered.
Next up:
5 Saint John Fisher (10-2) at 2 Saint Thomas (MN) (12-0)
Stadium, city, time
Video available via Minnesota Sports Network. Audio available via WROC and WCCO. Live stats available via Elastic Stats.
Series: first meeting.
Jon’s Prediction:
Saint Thomas 24, Saint John Fisher 14. These two teams can play some defense, and it’s going to be fairly tight, but I think the Tommies can handle it. If they can effectively shut down Alex Tanney despite shooting themselves in the foot for 30 minutes, they can handle Fisher.