MCMINNVILLE, Oregon — As the fourth quarter unfolded, it seemed the door had opened for a Linfield comeback. Then UMHB’s Da’Marion Morris slammed the door shut.
Two fourth-quarter interceptions by the sophomore defensive back on critical Linfield drives helped seal UMHB’s 28-18 third-round playoff win on Saturday afternoon, as The Cru wrote another chapter in its storybook postseason run.
Yet another week as the underdog. Another week on the road. And another playoff victory as UMHB continues to prove its doubters wrong.
Morris’ first interception, highlighted by a 71-yard return, set up The Cru with its best field position of the day with 5:20 left. Jake Wright then scored on a seven-yard run two plays later, extending UMHB’s lead back to two possessions.
Morris then intercepted Linfield quarterback Blake Eaton again with 1:41 left on a 3rd & 16 play, putting an exclamation point on the program’s first playoff win in McMinnville. The Wildcats were No. 14 nationally in D3football.com’s Top 25 poll entering the postseason, and 6-0 at home this fall.
With the victory, UMHB advances to next week’s national quarterfinal, facing Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland. JHU, 11-1 overall, defeated DePauw, 14-9, in a third round contest on Saturday.
How it unfolded
UMHB led 21-3 for the first five minutes of the third quarter, having held the powerful Wildcat offense, averaging 451.5 yards per game, at bay for much of the game. Long touchdown runs from Kamerin Ferguson and Asa Osbourn built the lead, and the Crusader defense defended it well through the first two quarters and into the third.
But with less than six minutes to go in the fourth, UMHB’s postseason fate and its chances of reaching next week’s national quarterfinal were now in serious question. Linfield found a way out of its offensive rut and came alive on offense. The Wildcats, held to a 29-yard field goal for the entirety of the first half, scored on back-to-back drives, taking UMHB’s sizable lead and erasing much of the comfort The Cru and its fans had only minutes before.
When Luke McNabb’s four-yard rushing touchdown was followed by a strike from Blake Eaton to Jacob Slifka at the back of the end zone for a two-point conversion, it seemed the momentum officially rested on the sideline of the hosts. Linfield now trailed by just three, 21-18. And the fourth quarter wasn’t even half over.
UMHB’s offense failed to counter the score, instead sending the punting unit on after yet another three-and-out possession. Linfield started its drive with 8:02 left, and was across midfield in just three plays, aided by an unnecessary roughness penalty against UMHB’s Mason Cavness. Eaton then completed three straight passes and Linfield found itself on The Cru’s 35-yard line.
Insert Morris.
The sophomore defensive back, who came up big with a 61-yard punt return in the second round win over HSU, stepped up in crunch time against the Wildcats. Eaton dropped back and fired a pass intended for Wolfe, running a slant route towards the middle of the field. But the high pass hit Wolfe’s hands and went into the air, corralled by Morris, who was in perfect position for the interception. Then he used the speed that has been seen so often on punt returns, accelerating up the left sideline, avoiding multiple tackles, and finally hurdling a Linfield player as his 71-yard return went to the Linfield 9.
Wright, who had good vision in the pocket all afternoon, stepped up and ran right, capitalizing on The Cru’s best field position of the day. Going one-on-one against a Linfield defender, it was Wright who reached the right pylon first, completely changing the game’s outlook.
Linfield put the pressure on late, but as The Cru did against Trinity (TX) in the first round, and a week ago at Hardin-Simmons, UMHB refused to give in. The Crusaders didn’t cave to the magnitude of the moment, and instead remained poised. It resulted in three crucial defensive stops of Linfield’s high-octane offense in addition to Wright’s touchdown, UMHB’s third rushing score of the day.
The first half had a striking number of parallels to last week’s 17-13 win at Hardin-Simmons. UMHB’s defense was incredibly effective in disrupting Linfield’s passing attack, forcing incompletions on multiple third-down plays, and holding Eaton to just 75 passing yards. And just as was seen against HSU, a key play on special teams set up UMHB’s second touchdown after taking the lead on a rushing score.
In one of the first half’s most impactful plays, a punt from UMHB’s Edwin Lopez hit the turf and bounced off the leg of Linfield’s Johnny Miller. In a heads-up reaction, Samuel Steffe immediately fell on the loose ball, now live because it made contact with a member of the return unit, and completely changed the outlook. Seconds before, UMHB’s defense was strapping on its helmets, the offense having posted a drive without a first down.
But upon Steffe’s recovery, it was the Crusader offense—not the defense—that walked back onto the field, all of a sudden inside the red zone. Steffe’s recovery on the Linfield 19-yard line was UMHB’s best starting field position of the day, and Wright & Co. took advantage of the opportunity, as the sophomore quarterback rolled right and found Ranius Daramola in a tight window for the 18-yard score. 12:25 remained in the second quarter.
The fact that Daramola’s touchdown reception came just over two minutes—2 minutes, 27 seconds to be precise—after Kamerin Ferguson broke free on a 51-yard sprint down the left sideline completely pushed the momentum in UMHB’s favor. That short second quarter stretch shaped the storyline of the first half. Ferguson took a handoff on the opening play of the second quarter, found a seam in the line, and cut left, racing away from the Linfield defensive backs in a footrace that ended with Ferguson crossing the goal line, untouched, for UMHB’s first lead of the contest. It was a lead The Cru never surrendered. Ferguson, who ran for a 96-yard touchdown against UW-Whitewater in Week 3, accounted for all but 15 yards of UMHB’s five-play, 66-yard scoring drive with his highlight-reel run.
The Wildcats struggled to counter as the quarter unfolded, only getting as far as the UMHB 47-yard line on the next two drives. Linfield managed a net total of -2 rushing yards on eight attempts in the second quarter, and even a promising drive just before halftime was halted abruptly. The Cru defense stopped Luke McNabb for no gain on 1st down just past midfield, followed by Angelo Jewell and James Wright’s sack of Eaton on second down. 3rd & 15 didn’t fare much better for Linfield, as Durand Hill broke up a pass intended for Connor Wolfe, and brought up Linfield’s third straight punt.
Any doubts about UMHB’s ability to carry the momentum into the second half faded rather quickly. UMHB received the second half kickoff, and on just the second play from scrimmage, Asa Osbourn gave The Cru yet another major play on the ground. Running behind UMHB’s physical offensive line, Osbourn raced through a gap in the Linfield defensive front and into the open field. He sprinted down the middle of the turf, Linfield’s secondary having no chance to slow him down. The Cru led 21-3, getting closer and closer it seemed, to punching their tickets to the national quarterfinals.
Then the shift came. Linfield’s passing game, dormant for much of the first half, was 6-of-7 for 92 yards through the air in the third quarter alone. A significant chunk of that came on the Wildcats’ first scoring drive of the day, which spanned seven plays and traveled 73 yards in just over four minutes.
The Wildcats’ west-coast offense, characterized by its short passes and quicker tempo, worked in Linfield’s favor. But they took a handful of shots deep downfield as well, and it was the 54-yard catch by Slifka early in the third that sparked the Wildcats’ first touchdown drive. It was Linfield’s second play of the second half when Eaton connected with Slifka, firing a long pass to the middle of the field, just over the outstretched hand of Morris, who was in close coverage. It was the kind of pass that suddenly gives an offense—and its quarterback—a strong dose of confidence. Eaton was sacked on the next play, but completed his final two passes of the drive, including the three-yard toss to Will French, cutting the deficit to 21-10.
Linfield’s defense, third in the country in points allowed (10.1 per game), also clamped down on The Cru. A promising drive after Linfield’s first score ended on Chance Sparks’ interception of Wright, a play that saw the pass to Jerry Day Jr. end up just off the mark, as Sparks gathered it, making sure he kept both feet inbounds along the far sideline. The Cru then punted on each of its next two drives.
It was that sequence that set up Linfield’s second touchdown drive, and the dramatic fourth quarter that followed. UMHB never trailed in the contest, just as The Cru did in the second round at Hardin-Simmons. Through their three playoff games thus far, the Crusaders have faced a deficit for all of five minutes, nine seconds.
Notables
- UMHB has reached the national quarterfinals for the 16th time in program history. It will be the first time The Cru has ever faced Johns Hopkins, whether in the regular season or the playoffs.
- The Cru ran for 173 yards on 42 carries, heavily aided by Ferguson’s 51-yard score and Osbourn’s 68-yard rushing TD. It marked UMHB’s first performance of 170+ rushing yards against Linfield since 2015, when The Cru ran for 182 in a third round loss.
- Da’marion Morris became the seventh player in Crusader history with two interceptions in a single playoff contest. Two is also the UMHB record for interceptions by one player in a playoff game.
- It also marked Morris’ second game of the 2024 season with multiple interceptions, as he tallied two in UMHB’s Week 3 win over UW-Whitewater.
- Kamerin Ferguson crossed the 600-yard rushing mark for the season with 55 yards on the ground against Linfield. Ferguson, in his first season with The Cru, has 619 net rushing yards.
- UMHB held Linfield to just 89 rushing yards, the third-fewest in a game for the Wildcats this season. They averaged just 2.5 yards/carry.
- Linfield outgained UMHB in total offensive yardage, tallying 358 yards to The Cru’s 289. It marked the fourth time this season that The Cru won a game in which they did not have the most yards of total offense.
- Linfield ran 18 more plays than UMHB, and while the Crusaders had 69 fewer yards, they were better in yards/play, averaging 4.7 to Linfield’s 4.5.
| Box Score | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final |
| UMHB (9-3) | 0 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 28 |
| Linfield (10-2) | 3 | 0 | 7 | 8 | 18 |
Awesome display of true grit!