Mount Union Gets Division III 3-Peat

His uniform dirty and eye black fading, Dan Pugh looked nothing like a running back who had carried the ball a record 49 times in leading Mount Union (Ohio) to a 48-7 victory over Trinity (Texas) in the Division III national championship game Saturday at Salem, Va.

“This definitely completes the picture,” Pugh said after gaining 253 yards and scoring four touchdowns to carry the Purple Raiders to victory in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.

“This is what we came to do.”

The title was the third in a row for Mount Union (14-0) and its seventh in 10 years. It also was the 96th victory in 97 games for the Purple Raiders.

After winning the last two titles by three points each, Mount Union made this game look easy. It took a 28-0 halftime lead as Pugh ran for two touchdowns and Rob Adamson threw for two.

Trinity (14-1) played without suspended quarterback Roy Hampton, who was arrested last week on a charge of public intoxication. The Tigers struggled to get their offense going, and they finished with 203 yards.

Pugh scored on runs of 19, two, one and one yards. The third touchdown was his 40th of the season, breaking Barry Sanders’ all-divisions record of 39 set at Oklahoma State in 1988.

Pugh finished with a record 15 postseason touchdowns.

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Robb Latrielle passed for 264 yards and three first-half touchdowns as Carroll College of Montana won its first NAIA title by defeating two-time defending champion Georgetown (Ky.), 28-7, at Savannah, Tenn.

The Saints (12-2) had lost in the semifinals the last two years to the Tigers (12-1), who had won 53 of their previous 55 games.

Georgetown gave up 417 total yards, while gaining only 198.

The Tigers’ only touchdown came in the first quarter, on a 35-yard pass from Neil Warren to Cody Brown.

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Florida State quarterback Chris Rix said he was worried about his father’s health when he overslept and missed a final exam, leading to his suspension for the Sugar Bowl.

“I am deeply sorry for what happened. I let a personal situation with my father distract me far beyond what I intended,” Rix said Friday in offering his first explanation of his actions.

His suspension means the 16th-ranked Seminoles will go into the Jan. 1 game against Georgia without their top two quarterbacks. Last month, Adrian McPherson was kicked off the team when he was accused of stealing a check.

When Rix was suspended, the sophomore immediately apologized to teammates, coaches and fans. He said at the time that he overslept because of a “personal family issue, which was weighing heavily on me.”

On Friday, Rix decided to elaborate. He said he returned home Wednesday to Santa Margarita and admitted his father to a hospital for an undisclosed ailment. Chris Rix Sr. was released after a day but is still receiving treatment, the younger Rix said.

Rix refused to specify his father’s illness, saying it is not terminal, “yet it is very serious.”

He said he did not intentionally miss his exam.