STAGG BOWL Raiders going for title No. 8

Mount Union won championships in 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2002.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The way the last decade has gone for Mount Union, anything less than a trip to the Division III championship game would have been a disappointment.
The Purple Raiders are making their eighth trip in 10 years to the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, which will be played today in Salem, Va. Mount Union won six of its first seven appearances in the game.
"It's always in our minds every year," linebacker Mike Gibbons said. "Not getting here last year, there was a bit more of a sense or urgency to get back this year."
Long drought
The story is much different for Wisconsin-Whitewater. The Warhawks haven't played for a national championship in 39 years, so long ago that their quarterback then, Bob Berezowitz, is now their head coach, and has been for the last two decades.
"I've always said it would be nice to bring a team here," Berezowitz said.
The road has been treacherous but rewarding for Whitewater. The Warhawks (14-0) took out 2003 national champion St. John's of Minnesota in the second round, 34-7, and then dispatched defending national champion Linfield in the third round, 44-41.
"We've been tested, playing the No. 2 and 3 teams in the country," Whitewater quarterback Justin Jacobs said. "That prepared us for this game."
A 58-6 thrashing of Wesley last week capped the run, and when Mount Union beat Rowan 19-7 in the other game, it gave Berezowitz' team one more huge hurdle to overcome.
"The reward for winning is to play somebody better the next week," he said.
The standard
In D-III, it doesn't get any better than the Purple Raiders.
When Mount Union lost, 21-14, to Ohio Northern on Oct. 22, it marked the first time the Purple Raiders have been beaten in the regular season since 1994, or 111 games.
Coach Larry Kehres is in his 20th season at Mount Union, and his record is 230-19-3. Nine of those losses have come in the postseason, with two in the Stagg Bowl.
But the one that came this year, the Purple Raiders said, was needed.
"It was an eye-opener," tailback Nate Kmic said. "We started practicing better after that. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise. Everything started clicking."
Mount Union (13-1) won its last three regular season games by a combined 125-3, and has rolled over four playoff opponents by 146-51 on its way to Salem.
"Our defense has been the rock-solid part of our team all year," Kehres said. "That's where most of our veterans are playing, where more seniors are playing."
Offensively, the Purple Raiders are balanced, dominating both ways. They have run for 3,632 yards and passed for 3,981 while scoring 78 touchdowns in 14 games.
But the Purple Raiders have actually scored one fewer touchdown than Wisconsin-Whitewater, which averages 495 yards per game, just shy of Mount Union's 526 yards per game.
"They have a lot of speed, the same as we do," said Warhawks sophomore tailback Justin Beaver, who has run for 2,295 yards and 23 touchdowns this year. "A good hitting team, they play with a lot of emotion. They're pretty much just like us."