By Staff Reports

Published: Saturday, November 17, 2012, 6:42 p.m.
Updated: Friday, January 11, 2013

Washington & Jefferson couldn't overcome the loss of starting quarterback Matt Bliss and his backup Saturday in the first round of the NCAA Division III football playoffs.

Johns Hopkins galloped to a 21-point lead in the second quarter and defeated W&J, 42-10, at Homewood Field in Baltimore. Johns Hopkins (10-1) will meet perennial power Mount Union in the second round.

W&J (8-3) had four players take snaps under center. Bliss was injured in the first quarter and didn't return. Backup Shane Smith was injured in the second quarter. Freshman Kevin Mechas played the remainder of the game in his first collegiate appearance and completed 16 of 35 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown. Wide receiver Alex Baroffio also took a few direct snaps under center.

W&J trailed, 21-0, early in the second quarter and 28-3 at halftime. Its only touchdown came on Mechas' 14-yard pass to Hunter Creel, who caught eight passes for 82 yards.

Johns Hopkins amassed 595 yards of offense. Jonathan Rigaud rushed for 155 yards and a touchdown, and Robbie Matey threw for 302 yards and a score.

Waynesburg 28, Carnegie Mellon 24 — Dominic Moore's 1-yard TD run with 3:03 remaining lifted Waynesburg (10-1) past Carnegie Mellon (6-5) in the ECAC South West Bowl. Moore rushed for 110 yards on 18 carries and scored two touchdowns. Bertrand Ngampa added 96 yards rushing and caught a 74-yard TD pass. Carter Hill threw for 272 yards and two scores.

CMU quarterback Rob Kalkstein passed for 188 yards and two touchdowns. He connected with Timothy Swanson on a 16-yard TD pass to give CMU a 24-21 lead with 8:35 remaining. Michael Trentalange led CMU with 100 yards rushing.

Division I FCS

Wagner 23, Duquesne 17 — Duquesne (5-6, 3-5) held a three-point lead in the fourth quarter, but Wagner (8-3, 7-1) rallied to earn the Northeast Conference's automatic bid in the Division I FCS playoffs. Sean Patterson's 6-yard TD run with 12:39 left put Duquesne ahead, but Wagner answered with Dominique Williams' 1-yard run and a safety for the win. Duquesne's Larry McCoy rushed for 75 yards and a touchdown and became the first player in school history with three 1,000-yard seasons.

Monmouth 26, Robert Morris 21 — A 17-point halftime deficit was too much for Robert Morris (4-7, 3-5) to overcome in its NEC loss to Monmouth (5-5, 4-3). RMU's Jeff Sinclair threw for 268 yards and two scores in the loss, and Duane Mitchell caught five passes for 116 yards and two scores.

St. Francis (Pa.) 44, Sacred Heart 24 — John Kelly rushed for 187 yards and a touchdown, and he threw three TD passes for St. Francis (5-6, 4-4) in its NEC win over Sacred Heart (2-9, 1-7).

Youngstown State 27, No. 18 Indiana State 6 — Kurt Hess threw two second-half touchdown passes to Andrew Williams, and Youngstown State (7-4, 4-4) upset 18th-ranked Indiana State (7-4, 5-3) in a Missouri Valley Conference game.

Division II

Shippensburg 58, Bloomsburg 20 — Trailing by one point at halftime, Shippensburg (11-1) scored 45 unanswered points in the second half to blitz Bloomsburg (10-2) in a Division II first-round playoff game. Zach Zulli completed 26 of 35 passes for 479 yards and three touchdowns to lead Shippensburg, which will face Winston-Salem in the next round. Winston-Salem is the top seed in the East Region. Jacob Baskerville had seven receptions for 153 yards and two scores for Shippensburg.

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