Mount Union Earns Third Consecutive Trip To Stagg Bowl
Mount Union College, the six-time National Champion ('93, '96, '97, '98, '00, '01), earned its sixth trip to the Division III National Championship game in the last seven years with a 57-19 victory over visiting John Carroll University in front of a Mount Union Stadium record crowd of 8,387 fans on Saturday, December 14.
The previous Mount Union Stadium high attendance mark of 8,075 fans occurred earlier this season when the Raiders defeated the Blue Streaks 35-16 in Ohio Athletic Conference regular season play.
The Purple Raiders (13-0), winners of 95 of their last 96 games and a current NCAA best 41 straight, jumped out to a 21-0 first quarter advantage.
Running back Dan Pugh scored from 4 yards out at the 13:27 mark of the first quarter, capping a quick 2 play/41 yard drive. Kicker Chad Teague added the first of his seven PATs in the game. Following safety Matt Caponi's interception, wide receiver Nick Sirianni was on the receiving end of a Rob Adamson 21 yard touchdown pass at 9:39 of the first quarter, finishing off a 5 play/25 yard march. Pugh scored from 10 yards out at the :30 second mark, completing a
9 play/80 yard drive.
Adamson found tight end Josh Liddell for a 4 yard touchdown strike at the 6:15 mark of the second quarter, completing a 14 play/56 yard drive and putting the Raiders up 28-0.
The Blue Streaks (12-2) got on the board with 1:30 to play before halftime when quarterback Tom Arth connected with wide receive Antoine Dunklin for a 47 yard touchdown. That short drive covered 53 yards on two plays and made it 28-7 Mount Union at half.
Pugh scored twice in the third quarter - a 14 yard run at the 13:36 mark, capping a 3 play/63 yard drive, and an 8 yard scamper at the 10:21 mark, finishing off a 5 play/56 yard march. Mount Union stretched its lead to 42-7.
John Carroll wide receiver Brian Shellito was on the receiving end of an Arth 15 yard touchdown pass at the 6:33 mark of the third. That completed John Carroll's longest drive of the game - a 9 play/70 yard march. The PAT was missed.
Raider wide receiver Randell Knapp was on the receiving end of Adamson's third touchdown pass - an 18 yard strike with 4:01 to play in the third quarter. The Raiders went 60 yards on five plays on that drive. Teague added the PAT.
John Carroll running back Ryan DeGeorge then scored from 5 yards out, completing a 7 play/35 yard drive with 1:22 left in the third. The PAT was blocked and the Raiders led 49-19.
Pugh scored for the fifth time - a 1 yard run with 8:04 to play to complete a 10 play/58 yard drive. The Raiders then scored on a two-point conversion following a botched PAT attempt when Zac Bruney found Chris Carter in the endzone.
Pugh's fifth rushing touchdown tied an NCAA Division III playoff mark held by five other players. He also finished the contest with single-game career highs in carries (45) and yards rushing (254).
Adamson finished the day 12-of-17 for 225 yards and three touchdowns. Knapp led all receivers in receptions (5) and receiving yards (129).
"Some teams are terrific offensively while others are very strong defensively," said John Carroll head coach Regis Scafe. "The difference with Mount Union and everyone else is that they are outstanding in all phases of the game. They just keep coming at you. Some people say they are slipping back to the pack somehow. I certainly don't see any evidence of that."
Defensively, Raider middle linebacker Josh Church had eight hits while outside linebacker Justin Burton had seven. Caponi had six hits and two passes deflected to go along with his interception. The Raiders also finished with four sacks on the day.
Arth was 21-of-35 for 246 yards and two touchdowns for the Streaks. De George had 35 yards rushing on 17 carries to go along with 38 receiving yards on four receptions. Dunklin had three receptions for 86 yards. Defensively, inside linebacker Chris Cubero had a game-best 15 hits while defensive backs Scott Greenberg and Liam Stull each had 10 hits.
The Purple Raiders finished with 516 yards of offense compared to the Blue Streaks' 278. Mount Union averaged 7.3 yards per play to John Carroll's 4.5
"We've improved overall in each of our three playoff games to date," said Raider head coach Larry Kehres. "Today, we played an outstanding John Carroll team with a great leader in Tom Arth. Fortunately, we were able to get off to a good start and ride that momentum throughout the contest."
Mount Union will play Trinity University (14-0) of Texas in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 21 in Salem, Virginia. Kick off is set for noon. The contest will be televised live on ESPN2.
Trinity reached the National Championship game with a 41-34 victory over Saint John's University of Minnesota. Mount Union and Trinity met once before - in the 1998 National Semi-finals with the Raiders coming away with a 34-29 win.
Tickets can be purchased starting Monday morning, Dec. 16 at 10 a.m., by calling the Salem Civic Center at 1-540-375-3004. Tickets can also be purchased in person beginning Monday at 10 a.m. at the College's Hoover-Price Campus Center Information Desk.