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    2004 Playoffs

     Mount Union put together a tenth consecutive unbeaten regular season and did it in dominant fashion, trailing just twice during the entire 10-game schedule.  The Purple Raiders opened the campaign with a 38-0 victory over Washington (MO) in St. Louis, followed by a 55-3 drubbing of John Carroll before a Mount Union Stadium record crowd of 8,972 in the first evening contest in Alliance in six years.

     Mount Union followed that up with a 41-10 victory at Otterbein and then back to back 49-7 wins over conference title contender Capital and Wilmington, before a 57-0 stomping of Marietta improved the record to 6-0. 

     Week seven saw the best game of the regular season as Mount Union found itself trailing Ohio Northern late in the third quarter in Ada before it scored the game's final 21 points to secure a 41-27 victory. 

     The Purple Raiders followed that up with a businessman like 24-7 victory in Berea vs. Baldwin-Wallace on a tremendously windy afternoon, and then a 34-7 win over Muskingum in a game that was still tied 7-7 entering the fourth quarter before Mount Union exploded for four final quarter touchdowns.  The Purple & White then capped the regular season with a 59-10 dominant performance over Heidelberg.

     With the 10-0 regular season, Mount Union won its 13th consecutive Ohio Athletic Conference championship, and the college's 16th football conference title overall.  The Purple Raiders entered the playoffs riding a 103 game regular season win streak and a conference record 93 game consecutive win streak.

-Second Round-

     Mount Union received the number one seed and a first round bye in the playoffs.  Wheaton (IL) (10-1) was the opponent for a second round match-up at Mount Union Stadium after the Thunder, co-champions of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, defeated Mount St Joseph 31-7 in the first round.

     The Purple Raiders used a strong running game and a bend-but-don't-break defense to defeat the Thunder 27-6 in front of 3,132 fans at Mount Union Stadium.  The nation's second ranked defense limited Wheaton, ranked fourth in the nation offensively, to almost 200 yards less than their season average, and kept the Thunder out of the endzone by creating five turnovers in the contest.

     The Raiders ran for 399 yards as a team, averaging 8.7 yards per rush.  Both numbers were better than twice the average Wheaton had allowed in its first 10 games.  Two big rushing plays in the contest were a 36-yard dash by Zac Bruney with :37 remaining in the first half to give the Purple & White a two touchdown lead, and an 81-yard scamper by Jeff Strauch with 5:44 to play to push the advantage to three scores and pretty much put the game away.

     Jesse Clum had a monster day as he grabbed two interceptions, forced a fumble and recorded 14 tackles.  Justen Stickley forced one fumble and recovered another, while Ken Whitefield forced a fumble that Ross Watson pounced on.  Shaun Spisak led the team in tackles with 18, while Josh Ludwig and Jesse Wells had 11 apiece and Mike Gibbons had 10.  Stickley and Wells each recorded sacks, while Ludwig and Joe Culler shared a third.

     Bruney finished with 145 rushing yards on 14 carries and was not sacked in the game.  He completed nine of 12 passes for 90 yards.  Rick Ciccone added 30 rushing yards on four carries and one reception for 11 yards.  Jason Cavell had two catches for 27 yards, while Joe Bugara and Drew Hanley each had one grab totaling 16 yards.

     The win was the 41st in Mount Union's storied playoff history, the most victories of any Division III team in playoff competition.  The Raiders have now won 120 of the last 122 games they have played.

Mount Union 27       Wheaton 6

Scoring

-Quarterfinals-

     Carthage traveled to Alliance, Ohio for a quarterfinal match-up after defeating Alma (31-28) and Wooster (14-7) in the previous two weeks.  This was the first ever meeting on the gridiron between the Purple Raiders and the Redmen, who brought an 11-1 record into the contest and were co-champions of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin along with Wheaton.

     Mount Union used numerous big plays, both offensively and defensively, to pull away for a 38-20 victory in front of 3,069 fans at Mount Union Stadium.

     Carthage proved to be quite a challenge for the Raiders and kept the game close through three plus quarters, trailing by only four, 24-20, with just over ten minutes remaining in the game.  But two fourth quarter Mount Union scores probably made the final margin of victory a little larger than how close the game was actually played. 

     The Purple Raiders had converted 50% of its third down opportunities heading into the contest, but were held to just one of 11 conversions against the aggressive, very quick Redmen defense.  Mount Union was 0-5 in the first half and 1-6 in the second, but that was offset by a 5-5 clip on fourth down opportunities in the contest.

     Zac Bruney finished 10 of 17 for 230 yards passing, with three touchdowns and one interception.  He added two rushing scores and 28 yards on six carries.  Jason Cavell led all receivers with three grabs covering 78 yards and one score.  Jeff Strauch led the ground attack with 46 yards on 18 carries, while Rick Ciccone added 45 yards on 14 attempts. 

     Shaun Spisak led the defense with 17 tackles, Jesse Clum added 15 in the contest, while Josh Ludwig totaled 11 and Jesse Wells chipped in with 10.  The Purple Raiders finished with 349 total yards (6.2 ypp) while Carthage had 282 (4.4 ypp).

Mount Union 38       Carthage 20

Scoring

-Semifinals-

     Mount Union hosted Mary Hardin-Baylor in the semifinal round at Mount Union Stadium in the first ever meeting between the two schools.  The Crusaders won their bracket with victories over Trinity (TX) (32-13), Hardin-Simmons (42-28) and Washington & Jefferson (52-16), and entered the contest 12-1, their lone blemish coming against American Southwest Conference rival Hardin-Simmons, a loss they avenged in the second round of the playoffs.

     The Purple Raiders twice grabbed first half leads only to see their visitors tie up the score both times.  Matter of fact the two teams traded scores again in the third stanza before Mount Union put 14 points on the board in a little over a minute to take a 35-21 lead into the final quarter.

     The ten point advantage looked good since Mount Union had allowed just 13 fourth quarter points all year, but UMHB scored 17 unanswered points in the final period, the last score coming on a 24-yard pass on fourth and 12 in the final minute of play to take a 38-35 lead.

     The Purple Raiders had one final chance but a desperation pass from it's own 42 fell incomplete.  It marked just the fourth time in the 12 years the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl was played in Salem, Virginia without Mount Union as a participant.

     The Crusaders finished with 477 yards to 311 for Mount Union.  Chad Starnes led all rushers with 110 yards on 21 carries, while Rick Ciccone's 15-carry, 53-yard performance paced the Raiders.  Austin Schrader caught four passes for 87 yards while Scott Casto had three receptions totaling 83 yards.  Both quarterbacks finished with almost identical numbers.  Zac Bruney completed nine of 22 passes for 191 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, while Josh Welch was nine of 21 for 169 yards, two scores and one interception. 

     Shaun Spisak paced both teams with 18 tackles, while Jesse Clum finished with 15.  Mary Hardin-Baylor went on to lose to Linfield in the championship game 28-21 the following week in Salem, Virginia.

Mary Hardin-Baylor 38       Mount Union 35

Scoring