(ST. NORBERT COMMUNICATIONS/WNFL) EUREKA, Ill. – St. Norbert College got on the winning track with a 31-0 win over Eureka College in both teams’ Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference opener.
The Green Knights took the opening kickoff and needed just eight plays to march 75 yards, scoring on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Fernando Rodriguez to Jacob McVane (pictured) with 9:50 left in the first quarter and a 7-0 lead. Rodriguez then found McVane again two possessions later with a 13-yard touchdown for a 14-0 lead with 16 seconds left in the quarter.
St. Norbert added a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter – an 8-yard run by Nadir Simmons and a 2-yard pass from Rodriguez to Bennett Schmidt – for a 28-0 halftime lead.
Tyler Juergensen’s 25-yard field goal with 1:08 remaining closed out the scoring.
St. Norbert outgained Eureka 292-117 and had 20 first downs to the Red Devils’ five. Simmons led the Green Knights on the ground with 60 yards on 11 attempts and one touchdown. Rodriguez completed eight of 17 passes for 99 yards and three touchdowns with three interceptions while adding 53 rushing yards on 13 carries. McVane caught four passes for 50 yards and two touchdowns.
Eureka was held to 27 rushing yards on 26 carries and had 90 passing yards.
Mason Trimberger continued a solid start to his freshmen campaign with a team-high 11 tackles, 1 1/2 tackles-for-loss, one fumble recovery and one interception. John Seitz had six tackles with one tackle-for-loss and a forced fumble. Seth Evans and Tommy McCauley had four tackles apiece.
Midwest Conference
Illinois College 54, Lawrence 7
APPLETON- The Lawrence Vikings fell to 0-3 overall and 0-1 in the Midwest Conference with the loss the the Blueboys.
Lawrence scored first on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Boris Christensen to Hunter Carlson with Illinois College then scoring the next 54 points.
Illinois College outgained Lawrence 337-158.
WIAC
UW-La Crosse 47, Wayne State 13
DETROIT – Kyle Haas completed 17-of-27 passes for 241 yards and 2 touchdowns in the Eagles’ win over Wayne State.
Nolan Wulf caught 7 of those passes for 112 yards.
UW-Platteville 37, Springfield (MA) 14
SPRINGFIELD, MASS – Nathan Uselding completed 13-of-19 passes for 286 yards and 4 touchdowns and Caden Casimino added 1 completion in his only attempt for a 75-yard touchdown in the Pioneers’ win over Springfield.
Jaxson Garbisch caught 6 passes for 175 yards and 4 touchdowns for Platteville.
UW-Oshkosh 28, Coe 7
CEDAR RAPIDS, IA – The Titans scored 3 touchdowns in the final 8:54 of the game to defeat Coe.
Demir Ashiru completed 14-of-23 passes for 270 yards, Ben Vallafseky rushed 19 times for 137 yards and Jackson Brush caught 5 passes for 86 yards for Oshkosh.
The Titans rolled up 500 yards of offense while Coe finished with 203 yards.
UW-Eau Claire 40, Carthage 0
EAU CLAIRE – The Blugolds rolled up 409 yards of offense while limiting Carthage to just 89 yards of offense.
Ayden Helder passed for 131 yards while Paxton Rothmeier rushed for 79 yards to lead Eau Claire.
UW-River Falls 31, Wartburg (IA) 14
WAVERLY, IOWA – The Falcons improved to 3-0 and outgained Wartburg 429-212 in offensive yards.
Cade Fitzgerald completed 22-of-28 passes for 190 yards and a touchdown while Trevor Asher rushed for 164 yards on 19 carries. Austin Rush caught 8 passes for 82 yards.
UW-Stevens Point 48, Pacific (OR) 13
STEVENS POINT – The Pointers built a 35-0 lead, piled up 450 yards of offense and surrendered only 187 yards defensively in the win over Pacific.
Ryan Thompson completed 20-of-30 passes for 190 yards to lead Stevens Point.
Roosevelt (IL) 31, UW-Stout Polytechnic 10
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, ILL – The Blue Devils’ Chase Pemberton completed 36-of-80 passes for 306 yards in the loss to Roosevelt.
Davonte Evans and Avron Carter caught 8 and 7 passes for 72 and 70 yards, respectively, for Stout Polytechnic.
DJ Simmons caught 5 passes for 143 yards for Roosevelt.
