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    2002 Playoffs

     Mount Union entered the 2002 season with a 28-game winning streak and victories in 82 of its last 83 games played.  Despite losing starting quarterback Rob Adamson to a hand injury in a season opening win over Wis-Whitewater, for three games, the Purple Raiders would not miss a beat in finishing the regular season with the school's eighth straight perfect 10-0 record.  The Purple and White won its 11th consecutive Ohio Athletic Conference championship, and the college's 14th football conference title overall.

     Highlights of the season included:

• A 28-21 win over Baldwin-Wallace at Finnie Stadium in week two in which senior running back Dan Pugh carried the ball 40 times for 210 yards and scored three touchdowns, and sophomore quarterback Zac Bruney filled in for the injured Adamson and played well, leading the Raiders to the big early season win.

• A 35-16 victory over #8 John Carroll at Mount Union Stadium in week six when the Purple Raider defense harassed Blue Streak quarterback Tom Arth all afternoon, limiting him to 148 passing yards, intercepting him once, causing him to fumble twice and sacking him six times.

• A 38-22 victory over Capital in Columbus the following week to take over sole position of first place in the conference in a game in which the offense had 341 yards in the first half compared to just 29 for the Crusaders.  Pugh had another 40 carry performance in that game, netting 213 rushing yards, and junior wide receiver Randell Knapp had five catches for a personal best 120 yards and a touchdown.

     Mount Union beat five of its ten regular season opponents by more than 45 points and Pugh set a school record with five touchdowns in one half in a week four rout of Otterbein.  The defense finished the regular season with three shutouts and the Purple Raiders won each game by an average score of 46.2 to 11.7

     Pugh set new single season school records in rushing yards (1,467), touchdowns (26), and points scored (158).  His 15.8 points per game scoring average was tops in all of Division III football.  Senior Defensive end Matt Campbell also set a new record for tackles for loss in a season with 19.

-Second Round-

     Mount Union received the number one seed and a first round bye in the playoffs.  The Wheaton Thunder traveled to Mount Union Stadium for a second round match-up after defeating Alma 42-14 the prior week.  The Purple Raiders won the only meeting ever played between these two schools, 40-14, in the 1995 quarterfinal round of the playoffs at Mount Union Stadium.

     Mount Union led 7-0 after one quarter and 21-0 at halftime after controlling the game for most of the first two quarters.  Running back Dan Pugh's five-yard touchdown run midway through the first stanza opened the scoring.  After a couple of missed opportunities, the Purple and White doubled its lead with nine minutes to play in the half when defensive end Johnny Josef blocked a Thunder punt at the Wheaton 23-yard line and Chris Kern recovered the ball in the end zone.

     After strong safety Dustin Blake's fumble recovery set the Purple Raiders up at the visitor's 29 in the final minute of the second quarter, quarterback Rob Adamson found wide receiver Randell Knapp for a 14-yard touchdown pass to give Mount Union the three touchdown advantage at halftime.

     Mount Union's defense began the third period by forcing a three and out for Wheaton and Jason Cavell's 41-yard punt return set the home team up at the Thunder 22-yard line.  Pugh scored from 10-yards out three plays later to give the Raiders a 28-0 lead early in the second half.

     Following Wheaton's second of two touchdowns to cut the lead to 28-15, Pugh took the kickoff on his nine-yard line and following five tremendous blocks from his teammates, raced down the home sidelines to electrify the home crowd with a 91-yard kickoff return to up the ante to 34-15.

     Wheaton added a touchdown a couple minutes into the final period before Pugh finished the scoring with his fourth touchdown of the day on a one-yard run to give the Raiders the 42-21 victory.

     Pugh finished with 174 rushing yards and 288 all-purpose yards in the game, while Knapp had 133 receiving yards and Adamson threw for 265 yards in the contest.

     Despite bad weather conditions that saw a steady snowfall throughout the afternoon, and game time temperatures in the high 20’s fall throughout the day, Mount Union averaged 5.8 yards per play offensively, while limiting Wheaton to 4.3 yards per play.

     Special teams were truly special as the team’s play resulted in two touchdowns directly and set the offense up in good field position all afternoon.  Head coach Larry Kehres called the blocked punt, “The singled biggest play in the game.”

Mount Union 42       Wheaton 21

Scoring

-Quarterfinals-

     Mount Union faced Wabash, winners of the North Coast Athletic Conference, in the quarterfinals.  The Little Giants came to Mount Union Stadium with a perfect 12-0 record, having defeated MacMurray (42-7) and Wittenberg (25-14) in the playoffs.

     Mount Union used an aggressive, pressuring defense and a quick-strike offense to dominate play from beginning to end.  The Raiders led 14-0 after the first quarter following quarterback Rob Adamson touchdown passes of 22-yards to wide receiver Randell Knapp and eight-yards to tight end Josh Liddell.

     After the teams traded second quarter field goals, Mount Union scored two touchdowns 20 seconds apart late in the half to give themselves a 31-3 advantage at the intermission.

     Following running back Dan Pugh’s three-yard touchdown run, defensive end Chris Carter picked off a Wabash pass on the first play after the kickoff, and raced 21 yards untouched into the end zone for the first defensive touchdown of the year.

     Each team scored once in the third quarter, as Adamson hooked up again with Knapp on a 14-yard scoring strike.  The senior quarterback completed 15 of 23 passes for 234 yards and three touchdowns in the game.  Knapp had a game high seven receptions for 133 yards and two scores.

     Pugh upped the Purple Raider advantage to 45-9 midway though the fourth stanza on a 14-yard run.  The Gagliardi Trophy finalist finished with game high 165-yards rushing and two touchdowns.  The Little Giants finished the scoring with a touchdown late in the contest as Mount Union advanced to the semifinals for the eighth straight season with the 45-16 win.

     Along with Carter’s interception, linebacker Stan Watson and cornerback Matt Sotcan each had interceptions, while the Purple and White did not turn the pigskin over in the game.  Mount Union also had an advantage in total offensive yards of 439 to 352 despite running 30 less plays than Wabash did.  The Raiders averaged 7.7 yards per play, while limiting the Little Giants to 4.0 yards per attempt.

Mount Union 45       Wabash 16

Scoring

-Semifinals-

     For the fourth time in six years, Mount Union faced an Ohio Athletic Conference rival in the playoffs.  In 1997 the Purple Raiders defeated John Carroll 59-7 in the quarterfinals, in 1999 they beat Ohio Northern 56-31 in the quarterfinals, and in 2000 they again downed the Polar Bears 59-28 in the second round.  Two of the four teams left playing in the Division III playoffs this year were from the OAC.

     The Blue Streaks won its region with victories over Hobart (27-7), Muhlenberg (21-10) and Brockport St. (16-10) in overtime.  For years, OAC football fans claimed the conference was not a one horse race, and John Carroll proved them right by advancing to the semifinal round this year.  The Purple Raiders entered the contest with a 12-0 record, while the Blue Streaks were 12-1, with its lone defeat coming in a week six 35-16 loss at Mount Union Stadium.     

     It was all Raiders on this day as the Purple Machine jumped out to a 21-0 first quarter lead and never looked back in thrashing John Carroll 57-19 in front of 8,387 fans at Mount Union Stadium.  The standing room only crowd was the largest to ever see a college football game at the stadium.  Running back Dan Pugh scored two first quarter touchdowns, on runs of four and 10 yards, sandwiched around a 21-yard scoring strike from quarterback Rob Adamson to wide receiver Nick Sirianni as the Purple and White shocked its visitors right out of the gate.

     Tight end Josh Liddell's four-yard touchdown grab from Adamson increased the advantage to 28 points in the second stanza before the Blue Streaks finally got on the board late in the half to make it 28-7 at the break.

     Mount Union began the second half the same way it did the first as Pugh scored twice, on runs of 14 and eight yards, to give the Purple and White a 42-7 lead.  John Carroll posted two scores in the quarter, but wideout Randell Knapp added another touchdown for the Raiders, catching an Adamson toss from 14 yards, to make it 49-19 after three.

     The only score in the final period came from Pugh on a one-yard plunge giving Mount Union the 38 point victory.  Pugh had career highs in rushing yards (263) and attempts (45) and his five touchdown performance tied a NCAA playoff mark.  Adamson completed 12 of 17 passes for 225 yards and three touchdowns, and Knapp led all receivers with five catches for 129 yards.

     Head coach Larry Kehres said, “We’ve improved overall in each of our three playoff games to date. Fortunately, we were able to get off to a good start and ride that momentum throughout the contest.” 

     The Purple Raiders dominated play from beginning to end and had 516 yards of total offense compared to 278 for the Blue Streaks.  With the win, Mount Union increased college football's longest current winning streak to 41 games and advanced to the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl for the seventh time in 10 seasons.

Mount Union 57       John Carroll 19

Scoring

-Stagg Bowl-

     Mount Union's opponent in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl was Trinity, a team from San Antonio, Texas.  The Tigers entered its first championship contest with a 14-0 record, winners of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, and having defeated Mary Hardin-Baylor (48-38), Washington & Jefferson (45-10), Bridgewater (VA) (38-32) and St. John's (MN) 41-34 in the playoff tournament.

     This would be the second meeting between Mount Union and Trinity on the gridiron.  The two teams met in Alliance during the 1998 semifinal playoff round when the Purple Raiders defeated the Tigers 34-29.   

     Another fine following of fans from Alliance made the 400 mile trip to the Roanoke Valley in Virginia to take part in the championship weekend festivities.  They were greeted with mild game time temperatures in the high 40's but a fierce wind gusting up to 40 mph played a big part in the 30th Stagg Bowl.

     Head Coach Larry Kehres did a masterful job of coaching, using the wind to his advantage throughout the contest.  He kept the ball on the ground and used as much of the play clock as possible, thus shortening the two quarters his team traveled into the wind.

     Mount Union opened the scoring following outside linebacker Justin Burton's interception on Trinity 24.  The turnover ended the the Tigers first possession and was the only give away by either team in the game.  Running back Dan Pugh covered the 24 yards in two plays, scoring his first of four touchdowns on the day.  The first quarter ended as Trinity missed a 29-yard field goal on its first of only two scoring chances in the contest.

     Quarterback Rob Adamson threw second quarter touchdowns to wide receiver Randell Knapp and wideout Derrick Leach, giving the Raiders a three touchdown advantage with four minutes to play.  Trinity hoped to use the remaining time to get on the scoreboard and grab momentum before intermission, but instead lost one yard on three plays, taking only 31 seconds off the clock, before setting Mount Union up on the 35-yard line following a short punt.  Pugh then scored his second touchdown in the final seconds to make it 28-0 at the half.

     Against the wind in the third quarter, Mount Union traded scores with Trinity.  Pugh added his third touchdown with a minute to play in the period, making it 35-7 heading into the fourth. 

     The Purple and White put the game away three minutes into the final quarter when Pugh scored his fourth touchdown.  The senior running back set or tied Stagg Bowl records for rushing attempts (49), touchdowns (4), points scored (26) and all-purpose plays (50).  He also set tournament records for total points (92) and touchdowns (15).

     The Purple Raiders finished the scoring with ten minutes to play when Adamson hit Leach again for a touchdown strike.  Adamson finished with 222 yards passing and three touchdowns.

Pugh rushed for 253 yards, which was more than Trinity mustered as a team, and was named the game's Most Valuable Player.  He also broke Barry Sanders (Oklahoma State) NCAA all divisions record for touchdowns scored in a season (39 in 1988) with 41 and the Division III mark for all-purpose yards in a season with 3192.

     Mount Union outgained Trinity in the game 490 yards to 203, holding the high-powered Tiger offense to 300 yards under their per game average.  With the win, Mount Union won its 42nd consecutive football game, the longest current streak in the NCAA.  The Purple Raiders also won its 96th game of the last 97 games played.  The seven national championships are more than any other collegiate team that takes part in a playoff format.

Mount Union 48       Trinity 7

Scoring

 
*Read more about the 2002 Stagg Bowl and see complete statistics from the game here.
*See more on the 2002 season with complete game stories, standings and statistics here.