Mt. Union begins quest for 10th national crown

By Eric Hamilton

The Purple Raiders will face Randolph-Macon for the first time Saturday in Alliance.

ALLIANCE — As the Mount Union College football team begins its quest for an 10th NCAA Division III national championship, one thing is again clear — the title road goes through the Carnation City.

After another perfect 10-0 regular season, Mount Union was rewarded with the top overall seed in the 32-team tournament and the No. 1 spot in the East Region.

Saturday at noon, the Raiders will face Randolph-Macon (6-4) in the first round at Mount Union Stadium.

“We do have a young squad with many that have not played in the playoffs before,” Mount Union coach Larry Kehres said. “It will be interesting to see how they respond.

“What we do have is a veteran quarterback [Greg Micheli] and running back [Nate Kmic] who have really set the tone for our team all season and I don’t expect that to change.”

Randolph-Macon is making its second NCAA playoff appearance and first since 1984, when it lost a first-round game at home, 22-21 to Washington & Jefferson (PA).

The Yellow Jackets rallied to beat Hampden-Sydney, 31-21, and needed a 37-26 win by Bridgewater over Catholic last Saturday to claim the championship and automatic bid from the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.

Randolph-Macon is located 15 miles north of Richmond, Va., and 90 miles south of Washington, D.C.

This is first meeting between the schools. Mount Union has only played one other member of the ODAC, with wins in 2001 (30-27) and 2003 (66-0) NCAA playoff meetings against Bridgewater.

Led by offensive veterans Micheli and Kmic, the Purple Raiders rank No. 1 in the country in total offense per game (541.8 yards per game).

Micheli is the nation’s top-rated passer, finishing the regular season with a 215.8 passer rating. He has completed 76.7-percent of his passes (168-of-219) for 2,573 yards and 28 touchdown passes with just two interceptions.

Kmic posted the 10th 200-plus yard rushing effort of his career as he had 201 yards on 21 carries in the first half against Marietta.

Kmic is No. 2 on the NCAA Division III career rushing yards list with 6,924 yards and is 429 yards from NCAA Division III career leader R.J. Bowers of Grove City College, who tops the list with 7,353 yards.

The duo piled up those numbers behind an entirely new offensive line that includes Mahoning Valley natives Caleb Crowl (Lisbon) and Luke Summers (Springfield).

Mount Union’s defense is tops in Division III, giving up just 158.9 yards per contest.

This will be the second trip to Mount Union for RMC coach Pedro Arruza, who was a two-time All-American running back at Wheaton College, when they lost a 1995 playoff game to the Purple Raiders.