Mount Union Wins Division III Again

Gary Smeck passed for 307 yards and three touchdowns and Mount Union continued its domination of small college football, winning its fourth Division III title in six years with a 44-24 victory over Rowan Saturday in Salem, Va.

Mount Union (14-0) has won three consecutive championships and 42 straight games, the longest active winning streak and five games shy of the NCAA record set by Oklahoma in the 1950s.

While Mount Union tied Augustana’s record with its fourth Stagg Bowl victory, Rowan (10-3) has lost four title games--including to Mount Union in 1993 and 1996.

Mount Union, which had been behind much of the game, took a 31-24 lead at the end of the third quarter by scoring 15 points in less than a minute.

Smeck completed a three-yard touchdown pass to Dave Hassey and then threw a two-point conversion pass. Two plays later, Rowan quarterback Gus Ornstein fumbled when blindsided while dropping to pass. Mount Union took over at the nine and Chuck Moore ran it in on the next play.

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Chris Greisen threw two touchdown passes to lead Northwest Missouri State to a 24-6 win over Carson-Newman in the Division II championship at Florence, Ala.

It was the first national title in any sport for Northwest Missouri, which also became the first team to finish the year with a 15-0 record in Division II history.

The win also completed the Bearcats’ turnaround. Five years ago, Northwest Missouri went 0-11 in Coach Mel Tjeerdsma’s first season, playing in almost empty stadiums. But the Bearcats are 43-8 since and were greeted by almost 2,000 fans at midfield after the game.

Greisen, who was recruited by Wisconsin until suffering a knee injury during his senior year of high school, tied the Division II record for completions in a game by going 22 of 34 for 211 yards.

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The Division I-AA championship game next week will feature a familiar finalist and an unexpected one.

Georgia Southern got four touchdown passes and one rushing score from Greg Hill to defeat Western Illinois, 42-14, at Statesboro, Ga., giving the Eagles (14-0) a shot at their fifth national championship.

Their opponent in Chattanooga, Tenn., next Saturday will be Massachusetts, a 41-31 winner over Northwestern State at Natchitoches, La.

Massachusetts (11-3), the No. 11-seeded team, pulled away from the second-seeded Demons (11-3) late in the contest.

The Minutemen took the lead for good on a fourth-down gamble early in the fourth quarter when a wide-open fullback Matt Jordan caught a 49-yard touchdown pass from Todd Bankhead on a fake reverse.

Late in the game, Marcel Shipp broke off a tackle for a 24-yard touchdown and Bankhead added a one-yard dive moments later following a Northwestern State fumble.