River Falls rolls past St. John’s into Division III football quarterfinals
In what is already a magical season the University of Wisconsin-River Falls football organization accomplished something Saturday the effort has never done by doing something that has not occurred since before World War II Kaleb Blaha threw for yards and three touchdowns ran for more and River Falls dominated the second half to pull away from St John s - in a Division III college football third-round tournament Beating the Johnnies for the first time since a - mastery in the third-ranked Falcons - will be back at Ramer Field on Dec against Wheaton - The first national quarterfinal appearance in school history comes in a season River Falls won the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title for the first time since Making it this far and doing stuff that s never been done around here it s just defensive end Jack Olson explained before his voice trailed off Then after a pause adding You can t really put words to it Nick Wasko returned a third-quarter interception yards for a - Falcons lead After Dylan Wheeler s receiving touchdown got the Johnnies back within two scores Jaylen Reed scored on a -yard reception to start the fourth quarter a play neither Blaha nor coach Matt Walker would call a dagger We got our sword out at that point Walker stated A -yard amount by Blaha midway through the fourth made it - and a Goodbye Johnnies chant was voiced by various of the Falcon faithful in the packed bleachers He s really tough because he s got that quick burst St John s coach Gary Fasching revealed of Blaha I thought there were times where our defensive line had him cornered and he burst through a little hole and picked up four or five yards He did that a lot currently Throwing for yards and touchdowns and running for yards and scores makes Blaha the leading candidate for the Gagliardi Trophy that is awarded to Division III s preponderance outstanding contestant Someone s not watching very close if he doesn t get it Walker revealed after Blaha shook off an early interception Saturday to finish of through the air Hamstring injuries limited Blaha to just three games in in what was supposed to be his final season I didn t have to come back but I demanded to come back and I knew we could really make this happen I knew this was a possibility Living in it right now it s great he explained Trey Feeney was of for yards with two touchdowns with an interception for a one-dimensional Johnnies offense Andrew Harren and Wheeler caught scores for St John s - which entered averaging yards per tournament but finished with One of the more physical secondaries we ve seen Wheeler disclosed With its burly physical offensive line controlling the trenches River Falls ran times for yards St John s had yards on nine carries You re not going to win games like this if you can t run the football Fasching commented The Falcons finished with total yards yards below their average Looking to increase its - lead in the second quarter River Falls lined up for a chip-shot field-goal attempt However a fake put the ball in the hands of kicker Justin Scheberl who used his right foot and left in a different way Running right he dove for the corner but was stopped inside the by Hoyt With sudden momentum St John s countered with its best first-half drive that reached the Falcons Back-to-back sacks by Olson and Kody Curtis ultimately forced St John s to try a -yard field goal in the waning seconds It was no good Related Articles Gophers volleyball Minnesota sprints to second round of NCAA Tournament St Thomas volleyball Tommies fall in a first-round thriller Gophers likely bowl destination Rate Bowl in Phoenix Gophers dismiss defensive line coach Dennis Dottin-Carter D Football Patience persistence paid off for Matt Walker and Wisconsin-River Falls
