RIVER FALLS, Wisc. – Before a crowd that was wrapped, bundled and swaddled against temperatures that dipped below zero, the University of Wisconsin-River Falls football team defeated Illinois’ Wheaton College 46-21 on Saturday to advance to the NCAA Division III semifinals.

The third-ranked Falcons, making their first quarterfinal appearance, got 407 passing yards and four touchdowns from quarterback Kaleb Blaha, a Coon Rapids product. The right-hander, who doesn’t use a glove on his throwing hand, completed 32 of 50 passes against the Thunder, which received an at-large playoff berth.

“What stood out today was his composure,” said sixth-year Wheaton coach Jesse Scott of Blaha, a player often known for his running, but who carried only seven times for 7 yards Saturday.

“He does not seem to get frazzled, and he’s clearly comfortable with the decisions he’s going to be presented with.”

River Falls (12-1) hosts No. 8 and Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins (12-1) on Dec. 20. Ninth-ranked John Carroll (12-1) from Ohio and top-seeded North Central of Illinois (13-0) meet in the bracket’s other semifinal. The championship game is scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 4, in Canton, Ohio, adjacent to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“All week, everyone told us what how difficult it was going to be with the cold,” said 15th-year River Falls coach Matt Walker, whose team won the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title outright for the first time since 1985. He prohibited anyone in the program from saying the word cold during the week’s preparations.

“Obviously, it was going to be cold, so shut up about it and prepare,” Walker said with a smile. “We had a full plan to rotate players in and out of (sideline warming) tents and (reserve) players who were responsible for wearing guys’ coats and keeping them warm while they were on the field.

“We wanted to throw the ball in conditions some people thought we couldn’t do it in.”

Wheaton tight end Ben Juska said the playing conditions weren’t as bad as he’d feared. He used two pairs of tights and socks and ducked into the tents after every drive but rapid breathing proved painful.

“My body was fine, but my lungs were on fire,” Juska said.

River Falls opened the scoring three minutes into the game when Woodbury product Blake Rohrer caught an 11-yard Blaha pass. The hosts led 20-7 at halftime. The field and stands emptied rapidly for intermission, the announced crowd of 1,849 seeking a building or running to a vehicle in which to warm up.

Wheaton pulled within 20-14 just two minutes into the third quarter on a 44-yard touchdown pass from Mark Forcucci to Caleb Titherington and Mateo Jesch’s extra point. However, the hosts scored four of the afternoon’s final five touchdowns and finished with 507 offensive yards while allowing 429.

Defensive back Taylor Sussner, a Chaska native, led River Falls with 11 tackles, a forced fumble and one of his team’s two interceptions. Trevor Asher topped the Falcons with 106 yards and three touchdowns in 22 carries. Rohrer led Falcons receivers with seven receptions for 119 yards and a touchdown.

Forcucci completed 27 of 53 pass attempts for 331 yards and a touchdown and had two passes intercepted. Matt Crider led the Thunder (11-3) with 68 rushing yards and a touchdown in 18 carries. Titherington caught nine passes for 153 yards and a touchdown.

Notes: River Falls punted twice and Wheaton once… Radio color commentator Mike Farley is a former Falcon and the son of former River Falls coach Mike Farley, Sr., who guided the program from 1970-89. He recalled a 1971 victory over Wisconsin-Whitewater with temperatures similar to Saturday’s numbers. “I was a ball boy and at halftime, I went and laid in a sleeping bag inside my folks’ van to get out of the wind,” he said…. No players competed with bare arms and Walker said he prohibited such action, calling it “fake tough”… One of Wheaton’s three buses wouldn’t start after the game, meaning roughly 40 people and assorted equipment faced a delayed return to suburban Chicago and the town that claims the late NFL star Red Grange as a native son. The “Galloping Ghost” played professionally from 1925-34.

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Amid the exciting off-ice news of the trade for star defenseman Quinn Hughes, the Minnesota Wild found some on-ice good news, as well, on Saturday.

Joel Eriksson Ek scored in the final seconds to lift Minnesota to a 3-2 win, thwarting an Ottawa Senators’ comeback. It was the third consecutive victory for the Wild, who led by two goals late in the second period only to see their guests tie things up.

Taking a cross-ice pass from Marcus Johansson, Eriksson Ek blasted a long-range shot behind Ottawa goalie Leevi Merilainen with 23.1 seconds on the clock. The Senators challenged the play for a possible high stick. But after a lengthy review, the goal stood.

The victory came less than 24 hours after the Wild shocked the hockey world with trade for Hughes, who arrives on Sunday.

“It was a weird day. Injures and the trade and just an early game,” Wild defenseman Brock Faber said. “I was an interesting day, but gosh, we battled, and that was a hard, hard fought win.”

In addition to the three players sent to Vancouver for Hughes, the Wild were missing veteran defenseman Jonas Brodin due to an upper body injury.

Jesper Wallstedt’s hot run in the crease continued as the rookie goaltender had 34 saves, improving to 9-1-2 as Minnesota’s goalie of record this season. Tyler Pitlick and Ryan Hartman had second-period goals for the Wild, who are now 10-3-4 at home this season.

Minnesota had the only power play of the scoreless first period but did not muster a shot during the 2-minute advantage. It was the continuation of a problematic trend for the Wild, who had scored just once in their previous 21 power plays.

The Wild finally broke the deadlock a few minutes into the middle frame when Pitlick perfectly redirected a Jared Spurgeon shot between the knees of Merilainen. For Pitlick — who cut his hockey teeth at Centennial High School and at Minnesota State Mankato — it was his first goal as a member of the hometown Wild, and his first NHL goal in more than two years.

“Pitter’s come in and he works hard every night and he plays a strong role,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “I think it’s nice when those guys can get rewarded because they do play a thankless role on a team.”

The Minnesota power-play unit, at long last, provided some good news later in the second when Hartman tipped in a Johansson shot to double the Minnesota lead.

Then, the home team ran into penalty trouble when David Jiricek and Eriksson Ek were sent to the box 24 seconds apart, giving Ottawa 1:36 of 5-on-3 power play. The Wild killed the first penalty only to see Senators center Tim Stutzle score on a rebound in the final half-minute of the second.

As the horn blew to end the period, Hartman and Ottawa’s Ridly Greig dropped their gloves and exchanged punches, with each getting a 5-minute penalty for fighting. It was the carry-over from 10 months ago, when Hartman was ejected and suspended for 10 games for driving Stutzle’s head into the ice on a faceoff during a Feb. 1 game in Ottawa.

Wild center Danila Yurov was thwarted on a breakaway early in the third, which would have put Minnesota back up by two. Instead, after a questionable slashing call that drew a rain of boos sent Kirill Kaprizov to the box, Ottawa forged a tie on its second power-play goal.

On the game-winner, Eriksson Ek said he and Johansson locked eyes across the ice, so he had a good idea the pass was coming.

“Jojo, that vision he has, I kind of knew he was gonna pass it,” Eriksson Ek said.

Merilainen finished with 22 saves for the Senators, who will host the Wild on April 4.

Minnesota’s homestand rolls on Sunday evening when it hosts the Boston Bruins for the only time this season, with Hughes expected to be in the lineup. The game faces off at 5 p.m. at Grand Casino Arena.

“He’s one of the best players in this league,” Wild star forward Kirill Kaprizov said of Hughes, who was flying in from New Jersey during the Saturday afternoon game. “He obviously has great offense with how he’s skating and his IQ and how he reads the game.”

On Saturday the Grand Casino Arena team store was already selling Wild jerseys with number 43 and Hughes’ name on the back, after reserve forward Hunter Haight switched from 43 — which he had worn for two games early in the season — to 37.

Briefly

With the Wild roster in some flux, having shipped three regulars to Vancouver on Friday and with defenseman Jonas Brodin absent due to an injury, the Ottawa game marked the Minnesota debuts of winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel and defenseman Matt Kiersted. Both were signed as free agents in the offseason. Aube-Kubel has played more than 300 NHL games, most recently with the Sabres and Rangers last season. Kiersted, originally from Elk River, played college hockey at North Dakota and skated in two games for the Florida Panthers last season.

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NAPERVILLE, Ill.  – Bethel’s hopes of advancing to the national semifinals might have turned in the closing seconds of the first half.

The Royals were denied a potential tying touchdown on the final play of the half ,and defending champion North Central took control with a pair of third-quarter scores en route to a 35-21 victory over Bethel in a matchup of undefeated teams in the NCAA Division III quarterfinals Saturday.

Bethel (12-1) went into the half trailing 14-7 following an unusual sequence in the closing seconds. On fourth-and-6 at the North Central 14, Cooper Drews hit Albert Rundell with a pass near the first-down line, but center Jaeger Ash grabbed the ball from Rundell and carried the final eight yards for an apparent touchdown.

The score was overturned after a lengthy review, but Bethel was awarded a first down at the 8-yard line with 13.8 seconds left. Drews hit Rundell with a pass to the 1-yard line. Drews was then stopped short on a keeper on the final play.

“Those are huge plays,” Bethel coach Mike McElroy said. “It was called a touchdown. It was taken off the board. It has to be indisputable video evidence. I don’t want to whine about some of that stuff, but we’ve got to be better as a division. We’re kind of half in on this stuff (replay).

“And then it has a huge impact on the game,” he said. “It affected a big part of the game. So, I think that’s the frustration. Again, not to take anything away from them, it’s just like that was a turning point of the game that I thought was handled poorly.”

Bethel running back Taye Manns runs through the defense during the Royals’ 35-21 loss to North Central in the NCAA Division-III quarterfinals in Naperville, Ill. on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (Nathan Klok / Bethel Athletics)

A 28-yard punt set up the Cardinals touchdown on their first possession of the third quarter. Jordan Williams’ 5-yard touchdown run capped the 40-yard drive to make it 21-7.

North Central pushed the lead to 28-7 on its next possession on Zeb Rashid’s 3-yard touchdown run with 5:51 left in the third quarter.

Donovan McNeal’s 3-yard touchdown run, his third score of the game, put the Cardinals up 35-7 early in the fourth quarter.

Drews scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 4:22 left to make it 35-14, and then hit Tyler Terry with a 20-yard scoring strike with just over a minute remaining.

“We’ve had times where we’ve gone into half with some momentum and then you come out and you’ve lost it,” North Central coach Brad Spencer said. “I thought this week we did a great job of holding on to it. … We came out and won the third quarter in a big way which helped us put the game away.

It was the second consecutive national quarterfinal loss for Bethel, which lost to Susquehanna 24-21 last season.

North Central (13-0), which is looking for its sixth consecutive title game appearance, won national titles in 2019 and 2022, while finishing runner-up in 2021 and 2023.

Drews completed 24 of 43 passes for 260 yards. Rundell had 10 catches for 46 yards.

North Central capitalized on a costly penalty for a 14-7 lead at the break. On 4th-and-3, the Royals jumped offside, giving the Cardinals a first down at the Bethel 33 yard line.

On the next play, McNeal skirted left end for a 33-yard touchdown with 3:10 left in the half.

After being outgained 148 yards to 3 in the opening quarter, the Royals got on tracked in the second quarter. Drews hit Rundell with a 4-yard touchdown pass in the right corner of the end zone to bring Bethel even at 7-all with 7:38 left in the half.

David Geebli kept the 12-play, 65-yard drive alive with a 2-yard gain on 4th-and-1 at the North Central 20 yard line.

The Royals went three-and-out on their opening possession and North Central responded with a 17-play, 81-yard drive that chewed up more than nine minutes. McNeal’s 1-yard plunge off the left side put the Cardinals up 7-0.

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