In a battle of the nation’s two best Division-III programs, Wisconsin-Whitewater dominated Mount Union on Friday night to win the national championship, 52-14.
2013 Stagg Bowl results: UW-Whitewater wins its fifth D3 championship
For the fifth time in seven years, Wisconsin-Whitewater is the Division-III champion. The Warhawks dealt rival Mount Union its worst loss in nearly 25 years.
The win marked the fifth national title for the Warhawks and their first since 2011. The Warhawks have now won 20 straight postseason games dating back to the 2008 season after missing out on the playoffs altogether last year.
The game was still in-hand for Mount Union at halftime as they trailed, 21-14. The second half completely belonged to UW-Whitewater, though, with the Warhawks scoring 31 unanswered points to turn it into a blowout.
Matt Behrendt played a near-perfect game, completing 20 of 28 passes for four touchdowns and 249 yards. Jordan Ratliffe led the ground game with 146 yards and two scores on 28 carries. As a team they cranked out 449 yards of total offense and recorded 27 first downs compared to Mount Union’s 15.
Mount Union hadn’t lost a game by 20-plus points since Nov. 4, 1989. After averaging nearly 49 points a game this season, the Purple Raiders just didn’t have any answers tonight.
Wisconsin-Whitewater opened up the Division-III Tournament with a convincing win over St. Norbert. They then knocked off Franklin and Linfield to reach the national seminfinals, where they beat Mary Hardin-Baylor, 16-15.
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