Eric Soderberg makes the D3football.com Team of the Week as a linebacker, but also had a key special teams play to give St. Scholastica a win.

St. Scholastica athletics photo by Derek Montgomery



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Games of Sept. 28, 2019

Offense

QB Blaine Hawkins, Jr., Central

Hawkins matched his own school record for passing TDs in a game that he set three weeks ago, throwing six TDs. He completed 17 of his final 18 passes after starting 1-for-4. Hawkins averaged 15.4 yards per attempt, going 19-for-23 for 355 yards with an interception in a 52-33 win against Loras.

OL David Aaronson, Russell Howard, Michael Bailey, Russell Lugbauer, Travis Alvarez, Cortland

Cortland averaged 5.7 yards per rush with no sacks allowed and gained 580 yards of total offense (291 pass, 289 rush) in a 59-21 win over visiting Buffalo State.

RB Aaron Griffin, Sr., Alfred

After breaking his career-high in single game rushing yards the week prior at Ithaca College with 97, Griffin put that career high out of reach during the Saxons' first home night football game since 2002 with 229 rushing yards including a long of 80 yards as he recorded three touchdowns on the ground in a 56-13 win vs. University of Rochester. He carried the ball 18 times to average 12.7 a touch as he never lost a single yard, gaining 229 yards for his total net. He also had three catches for 38 yards.

RB Bernard Johnson, Sr., Muskingum

Johnson rushed for a career-high 172 yards and two touchdowns to help lead Muskingum past Wilmington. He averaged 8.2 yards per carry, had a long 54-yard TD run, and did not have a rush for a loss all game.

WR Kevi Evans, So., Hardin-Simmons

Evans set a pair of HSU school records. He had the longest catch in school history with a 96-yard TD from Brennen Wooten. He also set the school record of 269 yards on nine catches. He had TD catches of 46, 96 and 35 yards in a 51-6 win at Louisiana College.

WR James Gillespie, Sr., Widener

Gillespie became the first Widener player since 2012 to haul in more than 200 receiving yards in a game as the Pride defeated Alvernia. He had nine catches for 200 yards and three touchdowns. He caught nine of the 14 completed passes on the day for the Pride, including a 68-yarder, the longest play of the year for Widener. He also added a punt return for 218 all-purpose yards on the afternoon.

TE Anthony McCoy, Sr., Susquehanna

McCoy had an efficient day for Susquehanna as the River Hawks posted a 42-13 win over Franklin & Marshall. He caught five passes for a season-best 59 yards, including a career-high three touchdowns.

Defense

DE Kyle Hogan, Sr., Ohio Wesleyan

Hogan forced and recovered fumble at the Ohio Wesleyan 12-yard line on opening possession of game to thwart an Allegheny drive. He broke up a pass later in first quarter to help end a Gator threat in what was then a 7-0 game. Hogan rang up sacks on first and third downs to force a second-quarter three -and-out. He led Ohio Wesleyan with nine tackles, including two sacks and three tackles for loss, while forcing and recovering a fumble and breaking up a pass.

DT Andrew Lease, Sr., Case Western Reserve

Lease had a career-high two sacks in the team's 37-6 win over Thiel, including a safety in the fourth quarter. Lease recorded two and a half tackles for loss as part of his four total tackles.

DT Mason Caldwell, So., Shenandoah

Caldwell had eight tackles, five solo, in a 26-7 win vs. Guilford. He had two and a half tackles for loss, for minus-20 yards, and had two of the Hornets' five sacks.

DE Da'Von Keith, Sr., Emory & Henry

Keith led the Wasps' defensive unit with six solo tackles, four of which went down as quarterback sacks. Keith's final stop of the evening also went down as a strip sack where he recovered the fumble and rumbled 35 yards to the end zone in a 49-21 win vs. Bluefield.

LB Eric Soderberg, Sr., St. Scholastica

Soderberg was integral in many ways in a come-from-behind win at Westminster (Mo.). Soderberg led the defense with 13 tackles, including four and a half tackles for a loss and one sack. Three of those 4.5 TFLs, including the sack, took place in the fourth quarter in moments where Westminster could have put the game out of reach. He also had an interception in the end zone in the first quarter to keep it a one-score game. On top of that, he booted a 63-yard punt in the third quarter, which was the seventh-longest in program history. More importantly, he stepped in relief as placekicker with the score tied at 27-27 with nine seconds remaining to attempt his first extra point of his career and he split the uprights to give the Saints the 28-27 victory.

LB Derek Dunn, Sr., Texas Lutheran

Dunn collected 11 total tackles, recorded two sacks for 18 yards and made five tackles for loss resulting in 24 total yards lost by the Pirates as TLU defeated Southwestern 27-0. TLU held Southwestern to 158 total rushing yards on 55 carries, an average of 2.9 yards per carry. The Pirates came into the game against TLU having rushed for more than 300 yards in each of their previous two games. Southwestern came into the American Southwest Conference matchup averaging 48.5 points per game.

LB Mark Niles, Sr., Ohio Northern

Niles tied a career-high with 15 tackles, eight solo. He had two sacks, three tackles for loss and a pass broken up in ONU's 45-35 win over Otterbein.

CB Patrick Kelly, Jr., Wabash

Kelly made two key interceptions to help Wabash earn a 34-20 victory over Denison. His first came in the third quarter after the Big Red had taken a 17-13 lead and forced Wabash to turn the ball over on downs. He ended the Denison scoring threat with his first pick of the season in the end zone to give the ball back to the Little Giants. His second interception was in the final two minutes of the game after Wabash had taken a 27-20 lead. Kelly picked off Denison's Drew Dawkins in the red zone to secure the victory for the Little Giants.

S Sam Casey, Sr., WPI

Casey rolled up 11 tackles (eight solo) with one for loss, a forced fumble and an 46-yard interception return in a 35-21 win at Springfield. The victory over the Pride is just the third all-time in the 36-game series for Engineers.

S Max Garda, Jr., Washington & Jefferson

Garda filled the stat sheet with an interception, a forced fumble, a sack and two tackles in Saturday's 38-21 win at Grove City on Saturday. Garda and the defensive unit helped limit Grove City's Wesley Schools, one of the top rushers in Division III, to just 56 yards on 18 carries.

CB Spencer Rowland, Sr., Wheaton (Ill.)

Rowland starred in the defensive backfield in Wheaton's 62-0 victory at Millikin as the Thunder defense held the Big Blue to 181 yards of offense in the game, and only 92 passing yards as he intercepted two Millikin passes and broke up three more. His first interception came in the first quarter with Wheaton leading 7-0 as he picked off a Big Blue pass at the Thunder 38-yard line and returned it 9 yards. His second interception came in the second quarter with Wheaton leading 17-0 as he picked off a pass at the Big Blue 44-yard line and returned it 26 yards to the Millikin 26-yard line to set up a Wheaton touchdown four plays later as Wheaton took a 24-0 lead.

Special teams

K Nicholas Bahamonde, Fr., Ithaca

Bahamonde was a perfect 5-for-5 in extra points and made a career-long 47-yard field goal in Ithaca's 38-35 win over St. John Fisher. The 47-yard field goal was the second-longest in program history. Bahamonde also notched three touchbacks on kickoffs.

P Jaxon Youngblood, Fr., Brevard

Youngblood booted five punts for 228 yards -- a 45.6 yard-per-punt average -- with a career-long of 56 yards. Youngblood pinned Allen inside the 20 three times in Brevard's 40-9 victory.

RET Nate Hill, Sr., Shenandoah

Hill had two punt returns for 114 yards, punctuated by a school-record 96-yard punt return for a touchdown in a win against Guilford.

ST James Ball, Jr., Hamilton

Ball blocked a punt as part of a big second quarter outburst for Hamilton in a 45-24 win vs. Colby. He broke through the line to block the punt and Alex Ganter scooped it up at the Colby 12 and rumbled into the end zone for a touchdown.