The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater won its third NCAA Division III football championship in the past four years last weekend by besting ten-time titleist Mount Union, 31-21. Levell Coppage rushed for 299 yards to set a new Stagg Bowl record and was named the game’s outstanding player. It was the sixth straight time the two schools had met to decide the D3 championship.
“This game came down to turnovers,” said Warhawks head coach Larry Leipold, now 57-3 with three national titles in four years at Whitewater. Each team picked off three passes and Mount Union lost a fumble.
Coppage went over 2000 yards rushing for a second straight season. For good measure, he found a hole and burst through the line of scrimmage for a 75-yard touchdown run to put the game out of reach at 31-21 with 2:28 left. “I knew if I could get through the line I could break a long one,” said Coppage.
Whitewater safety Steve McCollom down-played any rivalry with Mount Union, claiming the “business approach” taken by UW-Whitewater coaches means the Purple Raiders are “not mentioned until we play them in the 15th week.”
Leipold, who praised the City of Salem for hosting the game again, said he will miss his first class of seniors, who won three titles with him: “this is a special group of guys.” Coppage, a junior, will be back – and he wants a return trip to Salem. “This is why we work so hard.”
Mount Union head coach Larry Kehres, who has won ten titles with his Purple Raiders, joked about the latest conquest by UW-Whitewater: “they’re kind of ticking me off. I might have to win three of the next four [Stagg Bowls].”
Notes: This was the 18th year that the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl was played in Salem, and the 38th Stagg Bowl overall. With a first round 49-0 playoff win over St. Lawrence, University of Mount Union head coach Larry Kehres became the 11th coach in all college divisions to reach 300 wins. Kehres (300-22 at that point in the post season) was the fastest ever to reach the 300 victory plateau.
Game time conditions were much better than they were last December, when City of Salem workers and others labored to clear about twenty inches of snow from the field, portions of the stands and parking lot. Although several inches of snow fell two days before this year’s UW-Whitewater-Mount Union rematch, the stands were free of the white stuff and the parking lot- full of tailgaters supporting both schools – was in much better shape.
Kickoff temperature for the nationally televised game was 34 and skies were overcast. Almost 4600 (paid) turned out to watch the title game. The great-granddaughter of legendary coach Amos Alonzo Stagg was there to handle the opening coin toss, which UW-Whitewater won. The Warhawks deferred to the second half and kicked to Mount Union.
Adding insult to injury, Coppage broke the Stagg Bowl rushing record of 273 yards – set by Mount Union’s Chuck Moore against Bridgewater in 2001.
