Kaleb Blaha threw a 79-yard touchdown pass in the final minute to lift UW-River Falls football to a thrilling 48-41 win over visiting Johns Hopkins on Saturday in the NCAA Division III semifinals.
Blaha completed 30 of 48 passes for a school-record 520 yards and five touchdowns, the last coming with 45 seconds remaining to put the Falcons ahead for good.
Johns Hopkins trailed 41-34 entering the fourth quarter before quickly tying the game on a 2-yard touchdown run by Ty Pugliano to cap a 13-play, 94-yard drive. But after getting a stop on defense, the Blue Jays turned the ball over on downs on their next offensive possession. Hopkins’ defense then forced a turnover on downs to give the Blue Jays possession near midfield with 3:09 to go in the fourth quarter, but a quick three-and-out forced Hopkins to punt with 1:42 remaining.
On third-and-7 at the Falcons’ own 21-yard line, Blaha connected with Blake Rohrer, who caught a pass between two defenders and raced 79 yards for the touchdown to give UW-River Falls the lead.
Fridley’s Kaleb Blaha just cemented his all-time legacy in River Falls.
This TD pass to Blake Rohrer was Blaha’s 5th of the game, and put @UWRFFootball up with less than a minute to go! 520 passing yards for Blaha, that’s a school record. pic.twitter.com/wiEnFa0vWo
— Alec Ausmus (@A_TwiceKSTP) December 20, 2025
Hopkins got the ball back with 42 seconds left on its own 37-yard line, but quarterback Bay Harvey’s pass was intercepted on the Blue Jays’ first play, and the Falcons took a knee to seal the victory.
Harvey finished 14-for-31 for 213 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 86 yards and two scores. Geoff Schroeder had 25 carries for 162 yards and a touchdown, while Cole Crotty was the Blue Jays’ leading receiver with six catches for 99 yards. Johns Hopkins piled up 461 yards of total offense, including 233 rushing yards and 228 passing.
It marked the third time that Hopkins advanced to the DIII semifinals, joining the 2018 and 2024 teams, but the Blue Jays have yet to advance to the DIII title game known as the Stagg Bowl. UW-River Falls will face the winner of North Central (Illinois) and John Carroll for the national championship Jan. 4 at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio. The Falcons, who had 19 consecutive losing seasons from 2001 to 2019, will make their first national championship game appearance.
Rohrer had a game-high nine receptions for 236 yards and three scores and Jaylen Reed rushed for a team-high 52 yards and one touchdown for UW-River Falls.
Johns Hopkins tied a program record with 12 wins this season but dropped to 18-14 all time in the NCAA playoffs, including 6-2 under coach Dan Wodicka.
The Blue Jays’ trip to Wisconsin was not without complications.
A plane carrying the team from Baltimore to Minneapolis was forced to make an unscheduled landing in Columbus, Ohio, after one of the plane’s engines lost thrust Friday morning.
The team departed Baltimore around 9 a.m., but about one hour into the flight, one of the engines malfunctioned, according to Ernie Larossa, associate athletic director and director of athletic communications, who was traveling with the team. He said the pilots never lost control of the jet and the team was unaware of the issue at the time.
After waiting more than four hours, the Blue Jays reboarded a different jet and continued to Minneapolis, Larossa said. Although the team still needed to take a bus from Minneapolis to River Falls, Wisconsin, the players and coaches had planned to participate in a one-hour walkthrough Friday afternoon.
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