Story courtesy of Mount Union Athletics
Photo courtesy of Wisconsin-Whitewater Athletics
No. 2 ranked University of Mount Union and No. 1 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater play in the NCAA Division III Football National Championship game -- The Stagg Bowl -- Friday, Dec. 16 at 7 pm at Salem Stadium in Salem, Virginia.
The teams have played in each of the last six Stagg Bowls with Mount Union winning in 2005, 2006 and 2008 and Whitewater taking the title in 2007, 2009 and 2010.
Mount Union (14-0) 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 then won its opening round game 47-7 over Benedictine (Ill.), a 30-10 second round victory over #25 Centre (Ky.), a 20-8 win against #9 Wabash (Ind.) in the quarterfinals before a 28-21 victory over #7 Wesley (Del.) in the semifinals.
The Purple Raiders are making their 23rd NCAA Tournament appearance with a 73-12 record in NCAA Playoff games. Mount Union has advanced to the Stagg Bowl (National Championship game) 15 times and have won a record 10 National Championships.
Wisconsin-Whitewater (14-0) earned an automatic bid by winning the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) title. The Warhawks are making their 10th playoff appearance with a 32-6 record in NCAA post-season play. Whitewater defeated Albion (Mich.) 59-0 in the first round, No. 17 Franklin (Ind.) 41-14 in the second round, a 34-14 win over No. 10 Salisbury (Md.) in the quarterfinals and beat No. 3 St Thomas (Minn.) 20-0 in the semifinals.
Aside from the six Stagg Bowls, the teams played a home-and-home regular season series in 2002 and 2003 in which Mount Union won both games to give the Raiders a 5-3 edge in the overall series.