Staggering! Mount wins eighth crown

The Raiders fell behind, 7-0, before they battled back.
By GENE MARRANO
SPECIAL TO THE VINDICATOR
SALEM, Va. -- All is bright purple again for Mount Union, which won its eighth NCAA Division III national championship in the last 13 years under coach Larry Kehres Saturday, beating the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks, 35-28. The Purple Raiders had actually come in to the 33rd Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl as the underdog, a role Kehres said before the game he didn't mind.
As he was in the past four playoff games freshman tailback Nate Kmic was again the running star, galloping for 186 yards on 25 carries, including a 95-yard touchdown jaunt down the left sideline. That tied Chuck Moore's run in the 2001 Stagg Bowl as the longest-ever.
Got 100 percent
Kehres felt his 2005 team included many young players at the skill positions "maxed out its potential in the game. He termed it "getting everything I can out of a football team," afterwards.
Kmic had 303 all-purpose yards on the afternoon, including his receiving and kickoff return yards. Was he tired? "I played both ways in high school," he noted after the game, "plus I returned kicks and punts. I was used to it."
This wasn't the usual roll-over-the-opponent affair Mount Union had subjected many Stagg Bowl opponents to in the past, although the Purple Raiders actually lost to St. John's (Minn.) in 2003 during their previous appearance in southwestern Virginia. After Purple Raiders quarterback Mike Jorris was intercepted on the first drive of the game by the Warhawks, his counterpart Justin Jacobs (22 of 47, 310 yards, 2 touchdown passes) went to work.
Jacobs drove UW-Whitewater downfield in five plays, with first-team All-American running back Justin Beaver taking it in from the 2-yard line for a 7-0 lead at the 9:54 mark in the first quarter. Jacobs wound up tying a 28-year-old Stagg Bowl record for attempts with 47.
Stopped at 3-yard line
"We played well [but] things didn't happen the way they should have," Jacobs said. No doubt the biggest disappointment on the night came from a failed fourth-and-goal from the Mount Union 3-yard line, when the Warhawks failed to punch it in early in the third quarter.
Mount Union scored the first of four straight touchdowns with 6:32 left in the first when Jorris (20-28, 2 TDs and one interception) threw a 63-yard touchdown bomb to wide receiver Pierre Garcon to cap a 4-play, 80-yard drive that tied the score at 7.
Both teams traded the ball from there until midway through the second quarter, when on the same series two catches in the end zone were reviewed by game officials to see if one of Garcon's feet came down inbounds. On the first attempt the initial out-of-bounds ruling was upheld, but three plays later a similar catch was ruled inbounds after a review and the Purple Raiders led 14-7 following Mike Zimmerman's point after kick with 5:03 remaining in the half.
Kmic's 16th TD
Mount Union went to work again in the third quarter at the 8:35 mark when Kmic broke off the 95-yard run for his 16th rushing touchdown of the season, en route to a fifth straight 100-yard game on the ground. Shortly thereafter Purple Raiders cornerback Cameron Rose picked off Jacobs at the MUC 2-yard line, ending a Whitewater drive.
His team then marched 80 yards on 10 plays, chewing up almost five minutes that ended with Kmic diving in from the 2 for another touchdown and a 28-7 Mount Union lead with 2:08 left in the third.
"They did a heck of a job - in that second and third quarter they jumped on us," said Warhawks coach Bob Berezowitz. The 21-year coach was making his first trip to the title game.
The Warhawks made it interesting in the fourth quarter, quickly scoring two touchdowns to cut the Purple Raiders' advantage to 28-21. A 23-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jim Leszczynski (at 12:22) and another Jacobs scoring toss to Pete Schmitt (8:37) put the heat on Mount Union.
Clock exhauster
The Purple Raiders then got exactly what they needed: a long scoring drive that took almost six minutes off the clock. Kmic rushed for his third touchdown with 2:50 left for an insurmountable 35-21 lead; it was his sixth carry on the drive. He also had a season-high seventh catch in the same sequence. Kmic took the reins after all-conference running back Aaron Robinson injured a hamstring during the season and he starred in the playoffs.
A late 12-play, 80-yard scoring drive by UW-Whitewater (14-1) made it 35-28 with just two seconds left but Mount Union recovered the onside kick and Jorris kneeled to end the game.
"I'd like to go back and play another [third quarter] like we did in the fourth quarter," lamented Berezowitz.
The Purple Raiders (14-1) did something unusual on their journey to an eighth Division III crown: they lost their first regular season game since 1994.
"We looked intently and tried to fix what wasn't working," said Kehres. "We got it working. I think of this as a great team."