Kicker Chenos Keeps a Promise

Rodney Chenos told Mount Union’s seniors he wouldn’t let them down if the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl came down to a field goal.

After failing on his first try, he made good on his promise with a 20-yarder with one second left Saturday at Salem, Va., giving the Purple Raiders a 10-7 victory over St. John’s and the NCAA Division III national championship.

“I knew I was going to make the first one,” Chenos, a junior, said of his 35-yard attempt with 9:39 left, which was blocked by Brad Beyer.

“I didn’t even think twice about it,” Chenos said. “We have such an explosive offense, I knew they were going to give me another shot.”

And on a day when the Purple Raiders’ offense was held under 17 points for the first time in 88 games--and was held 39 points below its average for the season--Chenos got that chance.

“I was ready. I was prepared,” he said. “Last night, I told the seniors I was going to be the man if it came down to it, and it did.”

The Purple Raiders (14-0), who hadn’t scored since their opening drive early in the first quarter, survived a final kickoff and claimed their fifth national championship and the fourth in the last five years.

The victory was Mount Union’s 68th in 69 games, the only loss coming in last year’s national semifinals. And it gave Larry Kehres a 28-6 record in the playoffs in his 15 years as coach.

St. John’s (13-2) failed in its bid for its first national title since 1976. The Johnnies hadn’t reached the championship since then.

Coach John Gagliardi, in his 52nd season as a head coach and 48th at St. John’s, has 377 victories, 31 short of former Grambling coach Eddie Robinson.

Georgia Southern 27, Montana 25--Another year, another Division I-AA championship for the Eagles, who gave Coach Paul Johnson his own piece of history.

Adrian Peterson rushed 23 times for 148 yards and two touchdowns as the Eagles won a record sixth title by upsetting the top-ranked Grizzlies, making Johnson the first Division I-AA coach in more than 100 years to win 50 games in his first four seasons.

Johnson is 50-8 since taking over in 1997. He joins Walter Camp (54-2 between 1888 and 1891 at Yale), and George Woodruff (53-4 at Penn between 1892 and 1895) as the only coaches to win 50 games in their first four years.

Georgia Southern (13-2), playing in the title game for a third consecutive year. Montana (13-2) had 487 yards total offense, Georgia Southern 390.

Georgia Southern led, 20-3, at halftime, but Montana scored 20 unanswered points despite losing All-American quarterback Drew Miller at the end of the first quarter when he sprained a ligament in his right knee.

Georgetown, Ky. 20, Northwestern Oklahoma State 0--Cody Brown caught scoring passes of 61, 82 and 75 yards from quarterback Eddie Eviston at Savannah, Tenn., as the Tigers (14-0) won the NAIA championship and ended the Rangers’ 31-game winning streak.

The victory avenged last year’s championship- game loss to Northwestern Oklahoma (13-1). The rematch was played in a steady downpour that saturated the turf and made footing difficult.

“We were even more determined after we got a two-touchdown lead [this year],” Georgetown Coach Bill Cronin said. “I knew if we got a lead again, we weren’t going to let it slip away.”

Tuskegee 12, Winston-Salem 9--Jason Lee kicked four field goals, the last a 38-yarder with 2:16 left in the Pioneer Bowl at Atlanta.

The Golden Tigers became the first team in the 87-year history of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference to finish with a 12-0 record.

Despite failing to score a touchdown, Tuskegee dominated in total yards, 403-253.

Winston-Salem (9-3) built a 9-3 lead on Tory Woodbury’s three-yard run with 6:56 left in the second quarter and Ashton Oakley’s 26-yard field goal three minutes into the second half.