SALEM, VA. - The St. Thomas football team was stopped one step short of the NCAA mountaintop, blocked Friday night by the team that has set the standard for excellence at the Division III level.
Mount Union defeated the Tommies 28-10 in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, the D-III national championship game.
While it was the first visit to the final for the Tommies (14-1), they faced a team that practically calls Salem Stadium home, having played in the Stagg Bowl the past eight years and 16 times since 1993. This was the 11th title for the Purple Raiders (15-0), but their first since 2008.
The Tommies gave a decent show to the announced 6,027 chilled witnesses, staying in the game into the fourth quarter, trailing by 11 with the ball just outside the Mount Union red zone. But St. Thomas' Matt O'Connell was intercepted by Isaiah Scott, which was followed by a clock-eating Purple Raiders drive of 8 minutes, 48 seconds that ended with a Jake Simon touchdown to seal the Tommies' fate.
St. Thomas coach Glenn Caruso said that drive was the backbreaker. "That was pivotal," he said. "That's the mark of a championship team."
It was Mount Union's second long drive of the second half. The previous drive came with the Purple Raiders holding on to a 14-10 lead. They had trouble solving the blitzing St. Thomas defense, but started using short passes to the flats to neutralize the rush.
The Raiders mounted an 81-yard march that culminated when Kevin Burke found receiver Chris Denton in the back-left corner of the end zone for a touchdown to push their lead to 21-10. The 81-yard drive took 5:17 when the Tommies needed the clock as much as the ball.
"We had them on the ropes there in the middle of the game but two long drives were the killers," Tommies defensive coordinator Wallie Kuchinski said.
