Main Page             Email

       Three-peat slips away

Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl - Division III National Championship

Miscues, misfortunes too much to overcome

     SALEM, Va. - From Warhawks to ball hawks to national champions.

     The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater completed its three-year dream by defeating Mount Union 31-21 in the 35th Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl Saturday evening.

     A steady downpour pelted the field all game and brought back a haunted past of another game against a team from Wisconsin that ended the Purple Raiders' season.

     UW-Whitewater (14-1) came into the contest near the top of the national rankings in creating turnovers.  They did nothing to hurt that statistic.  In fact, they probably moved up on the chart after forcing a total of four turnovers including three fumbles in the game.

     "I have to congratulate Whitewater for their performance tonight.  They played a great game and deserve to be champions," said Mount Union head coach Larry Kehres in the postgame press conference.

     The Warhawks looked nothing like the team that lost to the Purple Raiders each of the past two seasons.

     Two years ago, they were taken back by the mystique of facing the juggernaut known as Mount Union and last year the impending retirement of their long-time head coach Bob Berezowitz lingered with them during championship week in Salem.

     This year, there was just the game on the Warhawks' agenda.

     "We had a lot of extra storylines in the past that we didn't have this season.  All there really was now was the third meeting talk," said UW-Whitewater head coach Lance Leipold.  "The kids were definitely more focused on the game this season and the awe factor wasn't there like it was two years ago."

     UW-Whitewater looked like a team on a mission early on.  Mount Union wide receiver Pierre Garcon returned the opening kickoff 41 yards to the UW-Whitewater 41 yard-line and it looked like everything was going the Purple Raiders way once again.

     Then the Warhawks got physical and their defense held the nation's top-ranked offense of the scoreboard during their first possession for the third time in 15 games this season.

     The normally run-happy Warhawks caught the Purple Raiders off guard with consecutive pass plays of 23 and 13 yards to start their first possession before resorting to their strength.  Senior quarterback Danny Jones rushed for seven yards on a draw play and 2007 Gagliardi Award winner Justin Beaver picked up 27 more yards to move the ball to the Mount Union 1.  Jones scored the game's first touchdown on a plunge to make it 7-0.

     "It was really big for us to get that score on the first possession," said Jones.  "Our defense did a great job stopping them and giving us the chance to score first and we needed to take advantage of that."

     This was the third time in as many Stagg Bowl meetings the Warhawks took the early lead. The previous two times saw the Purple Raiders storm back to reclaim then expand the lead almost instantly.

     It looked like that would be the case again later in the quarter when the Purple Raiders marched down the field on nine plays before coming up short of the endzone.  Kmic was stuffed on a 4th-and-goal from the 1 to turn the ball over on downs for the second time in the quarter.  The fourth-down play came moments after Kmic had thought he scored a touchdown but the call was later overturned correctly by the instant replay booth.

     "The (review) process works well," said Kehres.  "It is supposed to get the call right.  We had it go our way in the past (against Whitewater) and tonight it went in their favor."

     The reversal was the first in the brief history of being used in the Stagg Bowl.  Previously it was used five times and all five resulted in the play being upheld as called on the field.

     "That was a big point in the game (getting stopped on fourth down)," said Kehres.  "It was outstanding defense.  We used our bread and butter play and we couldn't punch it in."

     UW-Whitewater was unable to generate any additional momentum following the stop.  Mount Union forced them to punt three times and recovered a fumble on their 44 yard line.  Senior safety Matt Kostelnik forced Jones to put the ball on the turf and senior linebacker Tony DeRiggi recovered it.

     The Purple Raiders (14-1) gave it right back on the very next play as Micheli scampered 12 yards before being stripped by Ben Farley.  They turned it over again on their next possession as Kmic fumbled and Whitewater's Andy Murray recovered at the Warhawks 21.

     This time, UW-Whitewater took advantage of the miscue and finished off a 10-play, 65 yard drive with a 32-yard field goal by Jeff Schebler to make it 10-0 with :02 seconds left in the first half.

     Mount Union had not trailed at halftime since their 21-14 regular-season loss to Ohio Northern in 2005 and it was the first time in at least 18 seasons they failed to score a first-half point.  The 10 total points marked the fewest in a first half of a title game played in Salem since St. John's (Minn.) led Mount Union, 7-6, in 2003.

     "The mood was pretty calm at halftime.  Our seniors did a great job talking to everyone and keeping things in perspective," said Micheli.  "We felt pretty good that if we could come out and move the ball we would be in good shape."

     The Warhawks took a 17-0 lead after one of the most bizzare plays in Stagg Bowl history.  Beaver lunged toward the goal line on a 1st-and-goal play from the one and lost control of the ball when Kostelnik knocked it loose.  The ball popped up on the air before landing in the endzone just out of the reach of Mount Union's Pat McCullough and Tony DeRiggi.  The Warhawks left tackle Mike Sherman fell on the ball for the touchdown.

     Mount Union got on the scoreboard at the 8:28 mark of the third quarter when Kmic scored on an 11-yard run.  Again, the Purple Raiders forced another fumble and this time turned it into points of their own when Kmic dove in from a yard out on fourth down to make it 17-14 with 4:14 left in the third.

     That was the score entering the fourth.

     "We had a goal coming in to the game to make it a four-quarter contest.  They had not been in any close games this season and we liked our chances if it came down to that," said Leipold.

     On the Purple Raiders second possession in the quarter, Farley forced another fumble and kept his team ahead on the scoreboard.  Following a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty, the Warhawks ran Beaver six times including five straight to take a 24-14 lead on his lone touchdown of the game.

     Mount Union responded quickly with a 10 play, 71 yard drive that lasted just over two minutes to once again cut the deficit to three points (24-21) when Kmic scored from four yards out.

     UW-Whitewater put the final nail in the coffin when Jones scored his second one-yard rushing TD of the game with 1:33 left.

     In all, Mount Union fumbled six times -- losing three and threw an interception on the game's final play.  The Purple Raiders had six drives end inside the Warhawks' 35 yard-line, three of which came via turnovers and was all to similar to a 29-24 national semifinal loss in 1992 at UW-LaCrosse where Mount Union turned it over eight times and had eight drives inside the Eagles' 40-yard line that resulted in zero points.

     "We didn't do a good job holding on to the ball," said Kmic.  "The rain was definitely a factor today.  The field was very slippery and wet.  If you got tackled the front of your jersey was soaked.  Both teams had trouble holding on to the ball."

     UW-Whitewater fumbled three times and lost two of them, one of which ended up being a touchdown for them.

     "I thought we played well in stretches tonight," said Kehres.  "But Whitewater played great all game.  We had too many mistakes."

Wis-Whitewater 31       Mount Union 21

Scoring

Individual Statistics

Rushing - Mount Union, Kmic 30-121, Micheli 21-90, Garcon 1-(-1);  Whitewater, Beaver 31-249, Jones 15-27.

Passing - Mount Union, Micheli 32-19-235-1;  Whitewater, Jones 24-9-136-0.

Receiving - Mount Union, Wray 5-52, Davis 4-98, Garcon 4-30, Shorts 2-28, Boehm 2-17, Kmic 2-10;  Whitewater, Mrkvicka 5-52, Rusch 3-61, Gifford 1-23.

  *By Jeffrey Zupanic.  Appeared in The Alliance Review 12-17-07; photos by Ed Hall Jr.