NCAAD3 national football playoffs: In Minnesota, Linfield sinks Saint John’s, 31-28, advances to quarterfinals
From Linfield Sports
Info 11/27/2021. Photo by Kelly Bird, Linfield Sports Info
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Andrew Starkel's 23-yard field goal with 1:01 remaining proved to be the margin of difference in the Linfield Wildcats' epic 31-28 second-round NCAA Division III playoff victory over previously unbeaten Saint John's (Minn.) Saturday at Clemens Stadium.
Linfield (11-0)
advances to play Mary Hardin-Baylor (12-0) on Saturday. UMHB defeated
Birmingham-Southern 42-7 on Saturday. The NCAA will confirm host sites for the
quarterfinal round on Sunday.
Saint John's,
champion of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, ended its season
at 11-1.
Linfield
quarterback Wyatt Smith threw three touchdown
passes, including two to Joel Valadez and the Wildcats shrugged
off a shaky start to earn the program's first win over the Johnnies in four
playoff tries.
Smith was sacked
three times on the Wildcats' opening drive, but eventually found sufficient
protection as the game wore on. The fifth-year senior completed 28 of 40 for
273 yards and three touchdowns.
Valadez, a first-year
Wildcat, caught 13 passes – two short of the Linfield single-game record – for
102 yards. McNabb had eight catches out of the back field for 64 yards.
Linfield safety Tyler Bergeron made a game-high 10
tackles for the Linfield defense, which held Saint John's to 4 of 15 on
third-down plays. The Wildcats made the most of two Johnnies turnovers, cashing
in 10 points as a result.
After SJU took a 7-0
lead with just under 10 minutes to play in the second quarter, the Wildcats
countered with Valadez's 7-yard TD grab six minutes later.
Connor McNabb, who rushed for a game-high 73 yards,
scored on a three-yard dive with 11 seconds to play before intermission, giving
the Wildcats momentum heading into the halftime locker room. The go-ahead score
was set up by Blake Rybar's recovery of a muffed
punt, spotting the ball at the SJU 20-yard line. Three plays later, McNabb
knifed over from the 3, putting the Wildcats in front to stay.
Linfield twice led by
two scores, 28-14 after Valadez's second TD catch from Smith with 2:17 left in
the third quarter, and 31-21 when Starkel converted the chip-shot field goal.
To their credit, the
Johnnies refused to go away quietly, cutting the margin to 28-21 and then 31-28
on a pair of touchdown passes by SJU quarterback Chris Backes.
After Backes hit
Blake Patrick to pull within 31-28 with 1:02 left, Franco Keplinger recovered the onside
kick for the 'Cats, sealing the victory in Linfield's favor.
CAT SCRATCH
Saint John's outgained Linfield just barely, 326-324…the Wildcats did not
commit a single turnover on the day…With 108 touchdown passes to his credit,
Smith is closing in on the Linfield career record of 110 TD tosses set by 2005
Gagliardi Trophy winner and current Linfield offensive coordinator Brett Elliott...Saturday's attendance was
2,378.
https://golinfieldwildcats.com/news/2021/11/27/football-linfield-tops-st-johns-31-28-advances-to-ncaa-quarterfinals.aspx
