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Mount Union holds off UW-Whitewater

SALEM, Va. — SALEM, VA.

Regret was on the faces and in the voices of UW-Whitewater head football coach Lance Leipold and four of his players as they answered questions after Saturday’s Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.

Discussion of the missed chances to score and the big plays they allowed dominated the 11 minutes the Warhawks spent with the media after they lost 31-26 to Mount Union in the NCAA Division III championship game at Salem Stadium.

“I thought if we had a little more time the game would have been even more interesting. That’s for sure,” Whitewater quarterback Jeff Donovan said.

Donovan came close to having that time. He drove his team 87 yards in 14 plays for the game’s final score when he sneaked in from the 1-yard line with 1:12 to play.

Had the Warhawks recovered the onside kick that followed, they would have had 1:11 to go about 40 yards for what would have been the winning score. But Mount Union made one last big play to recover the kick, and Whitewater was out of time.

“We shortened the fourth quarter enough to hang on for the victory by not giving up any big plays,” Mount Union coach Larry Kehres said. “That’s a very good offensive team, hard to contain.”

Last year, the Warhawks (13-2) never trailed and won the championship on the same field against the same team. That made up for losing to Mount Union the previous two years in the Stagg Bowl. Leipold and his team, with an abundance of talent returning, just hope to have a chance to make up for this one.

This time, Mount Union (15-0) never trailed and started fast with its seventh 21-point first quarter. The Warhawks outplayed the Purple Raiders thereafter and outgained them 455 yards to 401, but two missed field goals and a 78-yard interception return for a touchdown by Mount Union’s Drew McClain in the fourth quarter got in the way of the comeback.

“The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win the ballgame when two good teams play, and that’s what happened today,” Leipold said.

Mount Union has used that formula to win 10 of its 12 trips to the Stagg Bowl in the past 16 years. Not as impressive, but impressive nonetheless, were Mount Union’s first three possessions.

Greg Micheli, voted the game’s outstanding player with 262 passing yards and two touchdowns, threw with the accuracy expected of a 75 percent passer. He said it was in the game plan to look deep early, and he threw to Cecil Shorts III for 55 yards for the first score with 13:10 left in the first quarter when cornerback Troney Shumpert didn’t get any safety help.

Not even four minutes later, Shorts ran another post pattern, this time from the left side against Jeremy Deibert, and caught a 41-yard laser from Micheli for Mount Union’s second touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

Whitewater got a boost on a 56-yard kickoff return by Aaron Samplawski and made the score 14-7 on Antwan Anderson’s 1-yard run with 7:36 left in the first quarter.

But on Mount Union’s next drive, Micheli scrambled for gains of 17 and 22 yards and threw to Shorts for 27 yards to set up Nate Kmic’s 2-yard score. That gave the Raiders a 21-7 lead with 2:46 left in the first quarter.

“They did to us what we pride ourselves on doing,” Donovan said of Mount Union’s fast start.

Whitewater’s defensive unit caught its breath and gave its offense a chance the final three quarters. Donovan moved his team methodically with the power running game of Anderson and Levell Coppage and a short passing game. But breakdowns in the red zone resulted in two field goals, and breakdowns just outside the red zone resulted in two missed field goals.

“Sometimes the play we called they got into something that took it away,” Donovan said.

The first coming-up-short instance came early in the second quarter after a first down at the Mount Union 4. Jeff Schebler, the all-time Division III field goal-kicker who received AP second-team All-America honors on Saturday, hit from 21 yards to make it 21-10.

Schebler then missed from 42 yards late in the first half and from 40 yards early in the second half, leaving the Warhawks in a 24-10 hole. He did hit from 31 yards to cut pull his team within 24-13 heading into the fourth quarter.

“I only get called on like four times a game, and I should make every opportunity those four times,” Schebler said. “I didn’t accomplish two of those today. I just missed them.”

Whitewater still was in contention and driving in the fourth quarter when Donovan’s pass was a little high and behind receiver Aaron Rusch, who got a hand on the ball. But that hand sent the ball toward McClain, who returned it for a touchdown and a 31-13 lead with 11:59 remaining.

The Warhawks continued to move the ball without the benefit of a big play and scored on Anderson’s 2-yard run with 6:46 left and Donovan’s sneak before the onside kick didn’t work.

“At times we played well enough to do it, but we just didn’t make the plays when they presented themselves,” said senior All-America linebacker Jace Rindahl.

Still, it was a time to remember, especially for Rindahl.

“It’s been unbelievable to be in this program for four years and to be able to be here four consecutive years,” he said.

MOUNT UNION 31, WHITEWATER 26

TEAM STATISTICS

Whi MU

First downs 31 15

Rushes-yards 45-198 33-139

Yards passing 257 262

Passes 28-38-1 12-19-0

Punts-avg. 2-33.5 3-36.0

Fumbles-lost 3-0 2-1

Penalties-yards 4-40 4-30

Time of poss. 34:17 25:43

SCORING SUMMARY

UW-Whitewater 7 3 3 13—26

Mount Union 21 3 0 7—31

First Quarter

MU—Cecil Shorts, 55 pass from Greg Micheli (Ryan Wilk kick), 13:10. MU—Shorts, 41 pass from Micheli (Wilk kick), 9:15. UW-W—Antwan Anderson, 1 run (Jeff Schebler kick), 7:36. MU—Nate Kmic, 2 run (Wilk kick), 4:43. W—Antwan Anderson, 7 run (Schebler kick), 4:15.

Second Quarter

W—FG, Schebler, 21, 9:50. MU—FG, Wilk, 29, 2:33.

Third Quarter

W—FG, Schebler, 31, 1:01.

Fourth Quarter

MU—Drew McClain, 78 interception return (Wilk kick), 11:59. W—Anderson, 2 run (Schebler kick), 6:46. W—Jeff Donovan, 1 run (pass failed), 1:12.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Whitewater: Antwan Anderson 19-121, Levell Coppage 13-42, Aaron Rusch 1-19, Jeff Donovan 12-26. Mount Union: Nate Kmic 22-88, Greg Micheli 8-56.

PASSING—Whitewater: Jeff Donovan 28-38-1-257. Mount Union: Greg Micheli 12-19-0-262.

RECEIVING—Whitewater: Aaron Rusch 8-79, Adam Brandes 7-68, Jordan Wells 6-71, Matt Gifford 3-25, Nick Slupski 3-14, Antwan Anderson 1-0. Mount Union: Cecil Shorts 7-178, Chad Reynolds 2-40, Vince Petruziello 1-24, Judd Harrold 1-17, A.J. Claycomb 1-3.

Attendance—5,344.