Waverly, Iowa -- It was the Wartburg Knights who brought the Thunder today in the second round of the NCAA Division III Football Championship. Putting up 21 first-quarter points and added two touchdowns in the second quarter, the Orange and Black overpowered the Trine Thunder, 49-7. Wartburg (12-0 overall advances to next Saturday’s quarterfinals against UW-Oshkosh at a site to be determined tomorrow.

QB Matt Sacia, now Wartburg’s single-season record-holder with 33 TD passes, tossed his first of three to open the scoring at 7:59 of the opening quarter. His 25-yard strike over the middle found a wide-open Lee Bonifas, the Wartburg TE. Wartburg scored on the ensuing kickoff when Jake Kloft picked up a fumble and ran 30 yards for the score. With 3:42 left in the quarter, RB Connor Schrader rumbled in from 14 yards out to make it 21-0.

The second quarter produced a Sacia 1-yard run sneak for a TD. It came was just three seconds off the second-quarter clock and was set up by a Sacia to WR Riley Brockway 49-yard catch-and-run. Late in the quarter, Wartburg capped another TD drive on Sacia’s 6-yard strike to WR Griffin Brennecke for a 35-0 lead.

Trine showed signs of life out of the second-half gate and drove into Wartburg territory at the 38-yard line. The drive was short-circuited when Knights CB JoJo McNair intercepted QB Evan Wyse’s attempted out route on the Wartburg sideline. McNair’s nifty return set up Wartburg with good field position. The Knights went on another TD drive, culminating in Sacia’s 23-yard pass to WR Ben Strathman.

Trine scored its only points of the day midway through the third. Taking over later in the third at its own 28, it took only two plays for Wartburg to find the end zone. Schrader sprinted 58 yards for the score, showing good speed down the Wartburg sideline. That ended the day’s scoring.

Schrader went for 147 yards on 12 carries and those two TDs. He was not tackled for a loss the entire day. Sacia passed for 236 yards on 15-of-18 passing. Brockway led all receivers in the game with five receptions and 130 yards. Wartburg held a 494-228 edge in total yards.

On the defensive side of the ball the Knights were led by Rob Rottler with 11 tackles, including 1-TFL. Marcus Johnson recorded 8-tackles, 1-sack and 1-TFL. Connor Frerichs finished with 8-tackles and 1-sack on the day while Tony Anstoetter recorded 6-tackles. 

Wartburg faces a big challenge with UW-Oshkosh next week. The Titans are 12-0 and ranked No. 3 in both the d3football.com and AFCA (coaches) polls. UW-Oshkosh defeated North Central today, 42-21. Oshkosh was the No. 1 seed in the West Region this year; Wartburg was the No. 2 seed.