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Late touchdown hurts RCTC in football national championship game

post-bulletin, rochester, minn.
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Dec. 2—GLEN ELLYN, Ill. — Rochester Community and Technical College came up just short of winning an NJCAA Division III football national championship on Saturday.

Host College of DuPage scored a touchdown with just 1:03 to play to rally past the Yellowjackets 33-29 and win the Division III national title for the third straight season.

DuPage quarterback Robert Brazziel hit Fabian Baez with the game-winning touchdown pass from 16 yards out. DuPage (11-1) trailed 29-26 at the time. RCTC linebacker Keshawn Johnson had a sack on the previous play to force a third-and-goal from the 16.

RCTC (8-3) trailed 24-7 at the half before making a big comeback. When Raphael Manning scored on a 4-yard run with 5:08 to play, RCTC had its first lead of the game at 29-26.

The Chaparrals scored on their very next drive to win the game. Jaden McGill returned the kickoff 50 yards and a late hit by RCTC tacked on 15 more yards as DuPage started at the RCTC 29.

After DuPage scored to take the lead, RCTC drove to its own 48 before the clock ran out.

The Yellowjackets lost despite dominating in yardage gain: 421-244. RCTC quarterback Devin Watson had a stellar game as he was 27-for-44 passing for 390 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.

Watson threw an 11-yard TD pass to Jairrus Nichols in the second quarter and a 26-yard scoring strike to Brady Walsh in the third quarter when RCTC mounted its comeback. Watson added a 1-yard TD run in the third quarter.

Walsh caught 10 passes for 169 yards while Nichols had eight catches for 94 yards. Manning rushed for 54 yards on 13 carries, but the RCTC ground game finished with just 31 yards on 26 rushing attempts.

Both teams had just one turnover, but the Yellowjackets were flagged 13 times for 134 yards. DuPage had seven penalties for 70 yards.

Victor Martinez-Sosa, a Plainview-Elgin-Millville grad, led RCTC with nine tackles and Martell Williams added seven. Johnson, Seth Thomas and Mario Mendoza all had sacks for the Yellowjackets and Thomas, a defensive lineman, also had an interception.

RCTC 0-7-14-8 — 29

College of DuPage 7-17-0-9 — 33

FIRST QUARTER

DuPage — Jaden McGill 3 run (Christian Casil kick), 8:57.

SECOND QUARTER

DuPage — Casil 29 field goal, 13:22.

RCTC — Jairrus Nichols 11 pass from Devin Watson (Rodrigo Castaneda kick), 9:43.

DuPage — McGill 4 run (Casil kick), 6:40.

DuPage — McGill 4 run (Casil kick), 3:09.

THIRD QUARTER

RCTC — Devin Watson 1 run (Castaneda kick), 9:59.

RCTC — Brady Walsh 26 pass from Watson (Castaneda kick), 2:17.

FOURTH QUARTER

DuPage — Team safety, 14:37.

RCTC — Raphael Manning 4 run (2 point conversion), 5:08.

DuPage — Fabian Baez 16 pass from Robert Brazziel (Casil kick), 1:03.

TEAM STATISTICS

RCTC — DuPage

First downs 22 — 17

Total net yards 421 — 244

Rushing yards 26-31 — 38-110

Passing yards 390 — 134

Pass att-comp.-int. 27-44-1 — 14-24-1

Fumbles lost 1-0 — 1-0

Penalties yards 13-134 — 7-70

Punts/ave. 2-28.0 — 3-39.3

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

RCTC — Raphael Manning 13-54, Caleb Waldron 1-2, Devin Watson 9-(-6), Team 1-(-19). DuPage — Jaden McGill 15-54, Jamgreon Dale 9-34, Robert Brazziel 8-16, Ernest Temple 4-11, Jamal King 1-5, Team 1-(-10).

Passing

RCTC — Devin Watson 27 completions, 44 attempts, 1 interception, 2 touchdowns, 390 yards. DuPage — Robert Brazziel 14-24-1-1, 134 yards.

Receiving

RCTC — Brady Walsh 10-169, Jairrus Nicholson 8-94, Brady Rogers 4-73, Jakson Hart 3-45, Raphael Manning 2-9. DuPage — Jaden McGill 3-19, Deszmund White 2-25, Willie Feagin 1-40, Ty Carlson 1-17, Fabian Baex 1-16, Maddix Morris 1-8, Demetrius Kellie 1-7, Amariyon Lynch-Gordon 1-3, Ethan Quaye 1-1, ChristianCasillas 1-0, Ernext Temple 1-(-2).