NCAA Division III Football Championship Records
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14 DIVISION III CHAMPIONSHIP Division III Championship A 32-yard field goal by Jeff Schebler with two seconds remaining before halftime gave 2007 Title Game Summary Wisconsin-Whitewater a 10-0 lead at the intermission. The field goal was set up when senior linebacker A.J. Raebel caused a fumble that senior defensive back Andy Murray recovered. Wisconsin-Whitewater holds off Mount Union in third championship meeting: The Warhawks made it a 17-point advantage with 11:05 remaining in the third quarter when In each of the last two seasons, the Wisconsin-Whitewater football team has scratched and offensive lineman Michael Sherman recovered a fumble by Beaver in the end zone. clawed its way to the Division III national championship game only to be stopped in the final Mount Union, which only trailed once all season, showed its championship mettle by cutting by perennial power Mount Union. into the deficit. A pair of Kmic touchdown runs made the score 17-14 with 19 minutes left The Warhawks, who were a combined 28-2 in 2005 and 2006 -- with both losses coming in the game. in the final to Mount Union -- were facing the same fate December 15 when their annual Kmic’s second touchdown was set up by a fumble by Beaver. nemesis lined up against them. However, the Gagliardi Trophy winner refused to let it deter him or his team from winning This time, the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl followed a different script as the Warhawks built a the national title. 17-point lead and held off Mount Union, 31-21, to capture the title in Salem, Virginia. “The biggest thing is I’ve seen so many people make mistakes and put their head down,” The cold, rainy conditions played a factor as the teams combined for six turnovers. Beaver said. “I’ve kind of learned through many things in life that if you make a mistake, just Fortunately for Wisconsin-Whitewater, it only had two of the miscues. bounce back as hard as you can.” That was the kind of statistic that went against the Warhawks in their two previous Stagg Beaver scored on a 13-yard run with 6:11 remaining in the game to give Wisconsin- Bowl defeats at the hands of the Purple Raiders. Whitewater a 24-14 lead. Leipold wasn’t surprised to see his tailback turn a negative into a “If you look back at last year’s game to this year’s, we didn’t allow big plays,” said Wisconsin- positive. Whitewater coach Lance Leipold. “Yeah, we turned it over a little bit, but there weren’t the The coach also revealed that Beaver ran for all of his 249 yards in the Stagg Bowl and a lot of explosive plays for them. They had to drive to score, and that’s a tribute to our defense.” his 2,455 yards on the season with an injury. The Warhawks set the tone on Mount Union’s first drive. The Purple Raiders drove to the “At the Gagliardi dinner, I was asked to tell something about Justin that others don’t know,” Wisconsin-Whitewater 30-yard line, but were turned away when the Warhawks stopped Leipold said. “I said that Justin played the last five, six weeks with a fractured rib, and that just them on downs. shows you once again the kind of competitor, and the heart he has.” “Our goal was to come out early and be physical, and I thought we did that,” Leipold said. “We Kmic, who had 121 yards, pulled Mount Union to within 24-21 on a 4-yard run with 3:36 played aggressively and had to make it a four-quarter game.” remaining. After stopping Mount Union’s first possession, Wisconsin-Whitewater scored the game’s However, Wisconsin-Whitewater responded with a six-play, 75-yard drive. Beaver gained 66 first touchdown with a five-play drive. The drive included a 26-yard run by Gagliardi Trophy- yards, and Jones finished the march with a one-yard run to seal the victory that ended Mount winning tailback Justin Beaver, and a 23-yard pass from quarterback Danny Jones to Matt Union’s 37-game win streak. Gifford. Both teams ended the season with 14-1 records. Jones scored on a one-yard run to cap the drive. Wisconsin-Whitewater’s 23 seniors finished their careers with a 49-6 record and received Later in the first quarter, Mount Union ventured deep into Warhawks territory again. Mount praise from the opposition. Union’s Nate Kmic was ruled down inside the 1-yard line after a video replay review on a third-and-goal play. “They deserve to be champions. We played very well in spots, but we had a few too many mistakes,” said Mount Union’s Kehres. “There were a couple of little bounces of the football Kmic received the handoff on fourth down but was stopped short of the tying score by when it got away from us and cost us the victory. But primarily, my review of the game would Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Anthony White and Ryan Ogrizovich. be Whitewater played a great game and deserved to win.” “Getting stopped on the goal line on that early drive was a key,” said Mount Union coach Larry Kehres. “That was good defense. That’s our bread-and-butter play, and we didn’t get in. I credit their defense. They stopped what I think is our best goal-line play.” SALEM STADIUM, SALEM, VIRGINIA; DECEMBER 15 Mount Union Wis.-Whitewater Kickoff Returns-Yards.................................................... 6-129 4-86 (Note: The time listed at the beginning of each scoring play is the time remaining in the quarter. Interception Returns-Yards ........................................ 0-0 1-3 Listed after the scoring play or conversion are the number of plays, yards and time elapsed on Punts (Number-Avg.) .................................................... 4-33.8 7-41.1 the scoring drive.) Fumbles-Lost ................................................................... 6-3 3-2 Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Final Penalties-Yards ................................................................ 5-55 2-15 Mount Union (Record: 14-1) ................................. 0 0 14 7 21 Possession Time .............................................................. 33:33 26:27 Wis.-Whitewater (Record: 14-1) ........................... 7 3 7 14 31 Third-Down Conversions ............................................ 8 of 17 5 of 15 Fourth-Down Conversions ........................................ 1 of 4 2 of 2 FIRST QUARTER Red-Zone Scores-Chances ......................................... 3-4 5-5 10:30 Wis.-Whitewater—Danny Jones 1 run (Jeff Schebler kick), 6-71 2:24 Sacks By: Number-Yards .............................................. 2-6 3-11 Mount Union 0 - Wis.-Whitewater 7 Individual Statistics SECOND QUARTER Rushing—Mount Union: Nate Kmic 30-121; Greg Micheli 21-90; Pierre Garcon 1-minus 1. Wis.-Whitewater: Justin Beaver 31-249; Danny Jones 15-27; Team 0:02 Wis.-Whitewater—Schebler 32 field goal, 8-65 1:12 1-minus 2. Mount Union 0 - Wis.-Whitewater 10 Passing—Mount Union: Micheli 19-32-1-235. Wis.-Whitewater: Jones 9-24-0-136. Receiving—Mount Union: Justin Wray 5-52; Bryson Davis 4-98; Garcon 4-30; Cecil THIRD QUARTER Shorts 2-28; Brandon Boehm 2-17; Kmic 2-10. Wis.-Whitewater: Neil Mrkvicka 11:05 Wis.-Whitewater—Michael Sherman fumble recovery in end zone 5-52; Aaron Rusch 3-61; Matt Gifford 1-23. (Schebler kick), 12-71 3:49, Mount Union 0 - Wis.-Whitewater 17 Sacks (UA-A)—Mount Union: Nick Parr 2-0. Wis.-Whitewater: Anthony White 1-1; 8:28 Mount Union—Nate Kmic 11 run (Mike Zimmerman kick), 6-57 2:30 Mike Dufrane 0-1; Brian Reiser 1-0. Mount Union 7 - Wis.-Whitewater 17 Tackles (UA-A)—Mount Union: Pat McCullough 4-6; Chris Kappas 7-1; Matt 4:14 Mount Union—Kmic 1 run (Zimmerman kick), 8-19 3:53 Kostelnik 6-2; Tony DeRiggi 3-4; Joseph Millings 5-1; Parr 4-2; Daryl Ely 3-1; Mount Union 14 - Wis.-Whitewater 17 Jonathan Andrews 1-2; Cameron Rose 2-0; Jonah Wilson 2-0; Matt Rees 2-0; Matt Williamson 1-1; Lambert Budzinski 1-0; Craig Nickoli 1-0. Wis.- fourtH QUARTER Whitewater: Jace Rindahl 10-6; Ben Farley 8-5; Ryan Orgizovich 3-6; Andy 6:11 Wis.-Whitewater—Justin Beaver 13 run (Schebler kick), 7-50 2:52 Murray 5-2; Tristan Borzick 4-3; Matt Blaziewske 4-2; AJ Raebel 3-3; White 3-2; Mount Union 14 - Wis.-Whitewater 24 Gabe Schultz 4-0; Luke Wilson 2-0; Max Ford 1-1; Troney Shumpert 1-1; Corey 3:36 Mount Union—Kmic 4 run (Zimmerman kick), 10-71 2:29 Schroedl 1-1; Keegan Brennan 1-0; Reiser 1-0; Paul Wick 1-0; Jon Baldwin 1-0; Mount Union 21 - Wis.-Whitewater 24 Dufrane 0-1; Lane Olson 0-1. 1:33 Wis.-Whitewater—Jones 1 run (Schebler kick), 6-75 1:58 Interceptions—Mount Union-None. Wis.-Whitewater: Murray 1-3. Mount Union 21 - Wis.-Whitewater 31 Fumbles—Mount Union: Micheli 2-2; Kmic 2-1; Garcon 2-0. Wis.-Whitewater: Beaver 2-1; Jones 1-1. Mount Union Wis.-Whitewater Stadium: Salem Stadium Attendance: 5,099 FIRST DOWNS .................................................................. 22 21 Kickoff time: 4:09 p.m. End of Game: 7:36 p.m. Total elapsed time: 3:27 RUSHES-YARDS (NET) ................................................... 52-210 47-274 Officials—Referee: Randy Bruns; Umpire: Robert Colosimo; Linesman: Mike PASSING YARDS (NET) .................................................. 235 136 Gansemer; Line judge: D. Carstensen; Back judge: David Forsythe; Field judge: Passes Att-Comp-Int ..................................................... 32-19-1 24-9-0 L. Walderbach; Side judge: Kirk Johnson. TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS ................................ 84-445 71-410 Temperature: 33 Wind: SE 9 Weather: Cloudy Fumble Returns-Yards .................................................