FOREST, Va. --- Weather didn't treat the opening of the 2018 Division III collegiate football season too kindly with three ODAC games directly impacted by adverse conditions. Conference teams went 3-2 in non-conference play and saw the first league contest competed at new member school Ferrum College.
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Emory & Henry College and Ferrum competed in their annual Crooked Road Classic on Saturday, although this edition marked the first conference outing for Ferrum. The Wasps picked up a 45-29 road win to perch themselves atop the early ODAC standings.
The remainder of the conference's programs took part in non-conference games save for Guilford College, which saw its matchup with Huntingdon College deemed a "no contest" * after it could not be continued following a weather delay. Bridgewater College went on the road for a 34-17 triumph at Gettysburg College, while Shenandoah University out-gunned host Methodist University, 48-33. Washington and Lee University waited until overtime to secure the first victory for rookie head coach Garrett LeRose, defeating host Dickinson College, 16-10.
Weather pushed Hampden-Sydney's showdown at Averett to Sunday, with the Tigers falling to the Cougars, 33-14. Randolph-Macon College also featured on the road at Johns Hopkins University in the first game of the season on Thursday. The Blue Jays posted a 63-31 result over the Yellow Jackets.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Washington and Lee running back Josh Breece, a sophomore from Lorton, Va., picked up right where he left off from his record-breaking rookie season with his schoool-record ninth straight 100-yard effort in a 16-10 overtime road win at Dickinson College. Breece carried the ball 26 times for 122 yards and a pair of touchdowns. His first score covered 31 yards to put W&L on the board late in the third quarter. His second proved the game-winner as he punched it in from a yard-out on W&L's lone overtime possession. He carried the ball five times on the deciding drive.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Shenandoah defensive back Daquan Pridget, a sophomore from Windsor Hill, Md., helped the Hornets to a 48-33 road win at Methodist with three interceptions. It's the first time an ODAC player has picked off three or more passes in a game since W&L's Will Dyson in 2016. Pridget didn't take long to make an impact as he intercepted MU quarterback Steve Keoni on the Monarch's first play from scrimmage to setup the Hornets first touchdown. While his second takeaway didn't setup a touchdown, it averted one as he hauled in a would-be touchdown pass in the SU end zone. Pridget's final interception also came in the red zone at the 8-yard line midway thru the fourth quarter. Pridget added four tackles and a pass breakup to his stat line.
* A "no contest" designation, by NCAA rule, results in no win-loss recorded. All statistics recorded are also expunged from record.