Veteran Mount Union goes for another crown

Associated Press

The numbers are staggering, as if there must be a typo.

But there is none.

In 27 years as the head football coach at Mount Union, Larry Kehres’ Purple Raiders have played 358 games and won 331. They’ve lost 24, and tied three. His winning percentage of .929 is easily the best in college football history, and five of his losses have come in the NCAA’s Division III national championship game, a game his team has also won 10 times. All the appearances have come since 1993.

Tonight in Salem, Va., the Purple Raiders (14-0) will play for the title again, meeting St. Thomas of Minnesota (14-0). It will be Mount Union’s 15th title appearance in 17 years, and the Tommies’ first.

For Mount Union safety Nick Driskill and 24 other seniors on the Purple Raiders, the game is much more than just another trip to Salem Stadium. It’s also their last chance to finally win a championship.

For three seasons in a row heading into this one, Driskill’s memory has been a long bus ride back to Alliance, the Purple Raiders having been beaten by Wisconsin-Whitewater for the championship.

Since the Purple Raiders won their first title in 1993, no class at Mount Union has gone all four years without winning at least one national championship. Driskill’s class could be the first.

It’s why, he said, for all the awards he has won as an athlete and scholar, this game is the one that will determine whether he looks back on his college career in a positive light, or a negative one.

“This is why I came to Mount Union,” said Driskill, from Wabash, Ind. “It’s not just to play in national championships. It’s to win. As I look back on my career, whether I look back on it on a positive note or a negative note, personally for me, this is make-or-break. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Kehres knows his players feel like they are supposed to win, and likes it that way. The Purple Raiders, after all, have 21 unbeaten regular seasons in Kehres’ career, and have put together winning streaks of 54 and 55 games, which count as the two longest winning streaks in college football history.