Mount Union faces Wabash

Staff report

ALLIANCE

Mount Union, ranked No. 2 by d3football.com, plays host to No. 9 Wabash College in the national quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III football playoffs today.

Kickoff is at noon at Mount Union Stadium in Alliance.

Mount Union (12-0) completed its sixth straight undefeated regular season to win its 23rd overall and 20th straight Ohio Athletic Conference and an automatic bid into the 32-team tournament.

The Purple Raiders have playoff victories over Benedictine (Ill.) 47-7 and 30-10 last week over Centre (Ky.).

The Purple Raiders are making their 23rd NCAA tournament appearance with a 71-12 record in the playoff games.

Mount Union has advanced to the Stagg Bowl 15 time and have won a record 10 national championships.

Wabash (12-0), located in Crawfordsville, Ind., scored a 38-20 first-round win over Illinois College then rallied from a 28-7 deficit to defeat No. 6 North Central (Ill.) 29-28 in the second round last Saturday.

The Little Giants won the North Coast Athletic Conference championship and automatic bid to the tournament. Wabash is making its seventh NCAA tournament appearance with a 9-6 record. .

This will be the second meeting between the two teams. They previously met in the quarterfinals of the 2002 NCAA playoffs which Mount Union scored a 45-16 win in Alliance.

Wabash is led by fourth-year coach Erik Raeburn, who played and coached at Mount Union and is the nephew of Purple Raiders coach Larry Kehres.

Mount Union is ranked No. 1 in Division III in total defense (179.1 yards per game), pass defense (1009.3 ypg) and scoring defense (7.33 points per game).

The Purple Raiders have battled injuries on offense all season, the latest running back Jeremy Murray who left last week’s game after just five carries.

Blair Skilliter came in and rushed for 78 yards and a touchdown against Centre.

Wabash is ranked fifth nationally in rushing defense (73.3 ypg) and No. 6 in scoring defense (12.3 points per game).