McClain's interception helps
Mount Union win 10th national title
SALEM, Va. -
Crown them one and all, from the rushing king to the player of the year and
the rest of the Mount Union Purple Raiders.
Because for the 10th time, they're NCAA Division III
national champions.
And they did it in a 'big' way.
UW-Whitewater's size and strength forced Mount Union
to rely on its skill and speed and like the saying goes speed does indeed
kill. The Purple Raiders used a consistent plethora of big plays in a 31-26
win at the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl Saturday afternoon in Salem, Virginia.
Senior quarterback and 2008 Gagliardi Trophy winner
Greg Micheli threw a pair of long touchdown passes to wide receiver Cecil
Shorts to give Mount Union a 14-0 just six minutes into the title contest. The early lead was the first time the Purple Raiders scored first in the
four Stagg Bowl meetings between the teams.
"They came out of the gates like we have all year,"
said Whitewater All-American linebacker Jace Rindahl. "They did to us what
we pride ourselves on doing to other teams."
The Warhawks were hellbent on stopping college
football's most prolific running back and opened themselves up for some
early game fireworks. Micheli said he and offensive coordinator Jason Candle
were looking for the "home run ball" at the start of the game.
"The thing that they did was commit plenty of guys to
stop Nate (Kmic) and fortunately Cecil (Shorts) was able to get behind
them," said Micheli. "Anytime you are playing a great opponent it makes
things easier when you get up on them. The play calling was such that (going
deep) was our No. 1 look."
The teams alternated points over the next three
quarters with Mount Union maintaining a double digit lead for the majority
of the contest. The Purple Raiders biggest lead came after Drew McClain
intercepted a Jeff Donovan pass and returned it 78 yards for a touchdown to
make it 31-13 with 11:59 left in the game.
"Drew's interception and run early in the fourth
enabled us to stay in the lead," said Mount Union head coach Larry Kehres.
The Purple Raiders needed every single one of those
points as UW-Whitewater mounted a furious rally in the game's final seven
minutes. The Warhawks used drives of 12 and 14 plays to score a pair of
touchdowns by Antwan Anderson (2-yard run) and Donovan (1-yard run) to make
it 31-26 with 1:12 remaining. Whitewater went for the two-point conversion
and Donovan connected with Jordan Wells but Mount Union senior defensive
back Daryl Ely knocked Rusch out of bounds one-yard short of the goal line.
Whitewater was forced into an onside kick attempt and
that was recovered by Mount Union senior tight end Chad Reynolds.
"I thought if we had a little bit more time, it would
have been interesting for sure," said Rindahl.
Leipold thought his team competed hard but just
couldn't overcome those two early scores by Shorts.
"They got the quick scores and put our backs to the
wall and we never got over the hump," said Leipold.
Whitewater had some chances as they ended up with more
points (26), yards (455) and first downs (31) than anybody else had against
Mount Union.
The Purple Raiders showcased their bend but don't
break mentality as they limited the Warhawks to three touchdowns - two of
which came in the final seven minutes of the game - and forced them to
settle for four field goal attempts, two of which were missed and kept the
advantage at double digits for Mount Union.
The Warhawks hed a 34:17-25:43 advantage in overall
time of possession and ran 31 more plays (83-52) than the Purple Raiders. In
the fourth quarter alone, Whitewater had the ball for more than 11 minutes
and ran 31 plays to just seven for Mount Union.
"We played a good defensive game. We were on the field
a long time in the second half and I think they wore us down with how big
and physical they were," said Kehres.
Whitewater also held Mount Union scoreless in the
third quarter for the first time this year. However, they chose to gamble
early on by making Kmic their top priority - which paid off as he finished
with his lowest rushing game of the season with 88 yards - but they simply
didn't have enough to stop Mount Union's other weapons, especially Shorts.
The junior wide receiver from Cleveland Collinwood
finished with seven catches for 178 yards and his two touchdowns tied a
Stagg Bowl record. The mark has been done 16 previous times with the last
time coming by former Purple Raider Pierre Garcon two years ago.
Micheli finished 12-of-19 but had 262 yards passing.
In addition to Shorts, Micheli also hooked up with Chad Reynolds (2 catches,
40 yards), Vince Petruziello (1 catch, 24 yards) and Judd Harold (1 catch 17
yards). The senior from Upper Sandusky finished as college football's most
efficient quarterback with a career rating of 197.4 and won his second Stagg
Bowl MVP award, tying former Mount Union running back Chuck Moore (2000 and
2001) as the only players to win that honor twice.
Mount Union, forced to reply on its skill and speed to
combat the size of Whitewater, converted eight plays of 15 yards or more in
the game including the game's longest and biggest play.
McClain, whose only other interception was a 100-yard
touchdown return against Averett (Va.) in last season's opener, said he was
fortunate to be in position to make the interception.
"I think I was in the right place at the right time. I
was lucky enough that the receiver tipped (the ball) in the air," said
McClain. "The ball kind of bounced our way."
Last year in a 31-21 loss to Whitewater, the ball
bounced the other way as Mount Union fumbled six times (losing three) and
had four turnovers in all. This season's title game featured just two
turnovers - McClain's interception and a fumble by Micheli on an acrobatic
dive into the end zone where he got completely spun around in midair before
the ball squirted free.
"I'm proud of Division III football today with two
teams competing like that in the national title game with very few mistakes
and very few penalties," said Kehres.
Wis-Whitewater 26
Mount Union 31
Wis-Whitewater
7
3
3
13
26
Mount Union
21
3
0
7
31
Scoring
MTU -
Shorts, 55 pass from
Micheli, 13:10 1st
(Wilk kick)
MTU -
Shorts, 41 pass from
Micheli, 9:15 1st
(Wilk kick)
career rating of 197.4 and won his second Stagg
Bowl MVP award, tying former Mount Union running back Chuck Moore (2000 and
2001) as the only players to win that honor twice.