|
| The Pride offensive line had all sorts of success in driving the ground game against the Profs in a 46-24 win. Springfield athletics photo |
Presented by 
Games of Sept. 10-11, 2021
The Team of the Week, presented by Scoutware, is D3football.com's weekly honor roll, in its 23rd season of recognizing the top performance at each position from the previous week. Players are nominated by schools.
Offense
QB Ryan Stevens, Jr., Johns Hopkins
Stevens made it 2-for-2 to open the season in the QB slot on the Team of the Week. He led Johns Hopkins to a 49-21 win over Ursinus as he was 22-of-25 (.880) for 364 yards and six touchdown passes against one interception. He set a school record for passing yards in a quarter with 197 in a 35-point second-quarter outburst for the Blue Jays. He played only the first half and two drives in the third quarter.
OL Lou Cocozza, Chris Eichler, Kevin Lind, Cameron Borges, Jon Weber, Springfield
Springfield bounced back in a strong way in its second game of the season as the Pride rushed for 495 yards, averaging more than eight yards per carry, in a 46-24 win against Rowan. A total of six rushing touchdowns were recorded, while four student-athletes had at least 75 yards on the ground.
RB Tre Vasiliadis, So., Carnegie Mellon
Vasiliadis ran for a career-high 263 yards on 39 carries and two touchdowns to help lead the Tartans offense in a 31-17 win at Geneva. He also added a receiving touchdown.
RB Robert Shufford, Sr., Birmingham-Southern
Shufford finished with 30 carries for 231 yards and four touchdowns in Birmingham-Southern's 48-9 drubbing of Huntingdon. The four rushing touchdowns is a school record.
WR Dakota Romantino, Fr., Waynesburg
In just his second game as a Yellow Jacket, Romantino recorded the second-most receiving yards in a game in program history. The freshman exploded for nine catches, 260 yards and a touchdown during Waynesburg's PAC game against Case Western Reserve, a 66-33 loss.
WR Shy'rel Broadwater, So., Alfred State
Broadwater had a big day for the Pioneers in a 28-27 loss to Rochester, bringing in nine passes for 249 yards and two scores. He caught TD passes of 25 and 53 yards in the fourth quarter.
WR Trevor Cunningham, Sr., Moravian
Cunningham had career highs of 12 receptions and 167 yards to go with one touchdown in the Greyhounds' 16-13 overtime win at Gettysburg. His TD came on the final play of the fourth quarter and tied the game at 10-10 to force overtime. Cunningham is the third wide receiver to catch 12 passes in a game from senior quarterback Christopher Mills.
Defense
DE Travis Swanson, Sr., Linfield
Swanson had four tackles, two solo, in Linfield's 56-20 win over Division II Simon Fraser. Three of his tackles were tackles for loss, for minus-11 yards.
DT Mason Caldwell, Sr., Shenandoah
Caldwell racked up nine tackles, eight of them solo, in a 30-21 win at North Carolina Wesleyan. Caldwell had four tackles for loss, two sacks, and a pass breakup in the win.
DT Keith Holmes Jr., Sr., Bluffton
Holmes stuffed the stat sheet with six tackles, four tackles for a loss of minus-27 yards, two sacks for 14 yards, a breakup, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in a 34-14 loss to St. Vincent.
DE Michael Nobile, Jr., Delaware Valley
Nobile racked up eight total tackles, four of them solo, including three tackles for loss in Delaware Valley's 26-2 win against Montclair State. Nobile also had half a sack for the Aggies, who held the Red Hawks to 29 yards of total offense.
LB Ryan Daines, So., UW-La Crosse
Daines finished with eight tackles, including four and a half for loss and two quarterback sacks in UWL's 38-7 win over Dubuque in the Eagles' home opener. UWL held Dubuque to 64 rushing yards.
LB Cam Norris, Sr., St. Vincent
Norris led a St. Vincent defense that surrendered just 173 yards and seven first downs in the Bearcats' 34-14 season opening win at Bluffton. He totaled five solo tackles, including four behind the line of scrimmage accounting for 13 yards. He had two sacks, including a second-quarter sack on which he forced a fumble.
LB Casey Counts, So., Salisbury
In the top-10 showdown with UW-Whitewater, Counts recorded a career-high 11 tackles, including three sacks and three tackles for loss. He also forced a fumble in the fourth quarter on UWW quarterback Max Meylor.
CB Jerry Woodard, Sr., Western New England
Woodard was instrumental in Western New England's shutout victory over Westfield State. He tallied only one tackle but had two huge interceptions for a total of 45 yards. This helped change momentum of the game off the jump picking off a pass from Westfield on their first play of their first drive.
S Ryan Hallinan, Sr., Denison
Hallinan came up with two turnovers in the red zone (interception and fumble recovery) in a 31-0 win against Allegheny. He also added five tackles while helping to limit Allegheny, which only reached Denison territory three times in the entire game.
S Jefferson Fritz, Sr., Mary Hardin-Baylor
Fritz totaled seven tackles against East Texas Baptist with five solo efforts. He added one punt return for touchdown (44 yards) and had one forced fumble and fumble recovery.
CB Derek Slywka, Jr., Ithaca
Slywka played a major role in Ithaca's 23-8 win at No. 20 Brockport. He recorded two interceptions and blocked a punt, to go along with three tackles. Ithaca forced six turnovers on the day in its first win against Brockport since 2014.
Special teams
K Will Caviness, Jr., Averett
Caviness went 3-for-3 on field goals, including the eventual game-winner in overtime against Christopher Newport from 37 yards out. He hit field goals from 46, 26, and 37 yards. The 46-yarder was a career long, and his 46-yarder and 37-yard were both longer than his previous career-long makes.
P Damien Silus, Fr., Concordia-Moorhead
Silus averaged 47.7 yards per punt for his three punts in Concordia-Moorhead's win against Presentation, and all three punts were placed inside the 20-yard line. The 47.7 yards per punt is the fourth highest single game average in program history. His best punt of the day was a 56-yard kick that stopped dead (not downed) 1 foot outside the end zone.
RET Devon Frenchko, Jr., Alma
Frenchko was untouchable when the ball was kicked to him. He averaged 70 yards per return on three returns, with a long of 100 yards, and had two kickoff returns for touchdowns in a 47-23 win at Manchester.
ST J.J. Slack, Jr., Southwestern
Slack recovered a Belhaven fumble on a punt return, giving Southwestern the ball on Belhaven's 28-yard line, leading to Southwestern's second touchdown. Midway through the third quarter, Slack blocked a punt and recovered it, catching it on the fly in the end zone it for a touchdown. He also blocked a kick on an attempted extra point in a game Southwestern won 34-27.