Warhawks to Division III title game

Pack93z

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This thread is for our buddy Warhawk, hopefully they can bring home the championship to WI.

Nice job boys!!

Calling the right shots
QB leads Warhawks to Division III title game
By JEFF POTRYKUS
[email protected]
Posted: Dec. 8, 2007
Whitewater - Quarterback Danny Jones transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater from California Lutheran for one reason, and it wasn't the allure of balmy Wisconsin winters.

The senior wanted to win an NCAA Division III national title.

After guiding the Warhawks to a hard-fought 16-7 victory over Mary Hardin-Baylor on Saturday afternoon at Perkins Stadium, Jones will get that opportunity.

Waiting for Whitewater (13-1) in the title game Saturday in Salem, Va., for the third consecutive season, will be indefatigable Mount Union (14-0), which has won the last two titles and seven of the last 11. The Raiders crushed Bethel, 62-14, in the semifinals.

"I'm just kind of hopping on these guys' backs," Jones said of his teammates, after accounting for 213 of Whitewater's 273 total yards. "They know what it takes to get back, and sure enough, here we are."

On a day in which Mary Hardin-Baylor (12-2) limited tailback Justin Beaver to 60 yards in 28 carries, 105.1 yards below his per-game average, Jones rushed 16 times for 87 yards and a touchdown and passed for 126 yards and a touchdown.

• Jones completed 3 of 5 passes for 55 yards on Whitewater's 73-yard touchdown drive in the opening quarter, but the critical play was his 14-yard scramble to the Crusaders' 15 on fourth and 10.

The Crusaders blitzed off both edges, but Jones was able to step up and sneak out to his left before being chased out of bounds.

Two plays later, he scored from a yard out.

• With his team trailing, 7-6, in the second quarter, Jones guided the Warhawks on a 10-play, 62-yard touchdown drive for a 13-7 lead.

The Warhawks converted all three of their third-down chances on that drive: Beaver gained 1 yard to convert a third-and-1 play; Jones hit wide receiver Matt Gifford for 12 yards on third and 7; and Jones ran 8 yards to the Mary Hardin-Baylor 25 on third and 6.

One play later, he threw a touchdown strike to Neil Mrkvicka, who beat cornerback Calvin Fleming on a corner route with 13 minutes 40 seconds left in the half.

• With the Warhawks clinging to that six-point lead and the teams having combined for 17 scoreless possessions, Jones broke free for 62 yards on a designed run around left end to the Mary Hardin-Baylor 25 with 4:42 remaining in the game.

That led to a 39-yard field goal by sophomore Jeff Schebler, who was playing for the first time since suffering a groin injury in Week 10 against UW-Platteville.

"I said back in August, the one thing Danny Jones would give our club that maybe wasn't here before was something to create with his feet when things broke down," Whitewater's first-year coach Lance Leipold said. "That is what Danny Jones did bring us this year."

Meanwhile, Whitewater's defenders shut down an offense that entered the day ranked No. 1 in the nation in rushing (375.2 yards per game) and scoring (53.8 points per game). The Crusaders finished with 105 rushing yards in 50 carries and 269 total yards.

Free safety Ben Farley ended one scoring threat with an interception at Whitewater's 7 in the final minute of the first half, and Mary Hardin-Baylor came away with no points after driving to a first and goal at the Warhawks' 2 midway through the third quarter, trailing, 13-7.

Crusaders tailback Jarvis Thrasher lost 2 yards on first down; quarterback Josh Welch lost 5 yards on an option on second down; and cornerback Matt Blaziewske broke up a pass in the end zone on third down. Joel Munoz came on to attempt a 26-yard field-goal attempt, but a high snap led to an 11-yard loss.

"I've got to give credit for Whitewater," Mary Hardin-Baylor coach Pete Fredenburg said. "They hung in there and made the big play when they needed to and we didn't.

"That is the difference between Stagg Bowl and not."

Summary
Mary Hardin-Baylor 7 0 0 0 - 7
UW-Whitewater 6 7 0 3 - 16
 
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Pack93z

Pack93z

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UW-W Warhawks Champs!!!

Hats off for winning the title... NICE!

Warhawks beat Mount Union in third try to take title
Posted: Saturday December 15, 2007 8:11PM; Updated: Sunday December 16, 2007 1:21AM

Wisconsin-Whitewater denied Nick Barren (8), Matt Kostelnik (6) and Mount Union their 10th title in 15 years.
AP


SALEM, Va. (AP) -- Justin Beaver turned the biggest week of his career into the biggest one in Wisconsin-Whitewater's football history with a grand performance.

Two days after receiving the Gagliardi Trophy as the best player in NCAA Division III, Beaver ran for 249 yards, including a touchdown and a backbreaking 66-yard burst in the final minutes, to lead the Warhawks to a 31-21 victory against Mount Union.

"It can't get any better than to win a national title in your last game," Beaver said after the Warhawks' first championship in the soggy, cold Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.

His biggest contributions -- a 13-yard touchdown run to make it 24-14 and the 66-yarder to set up a clinching touchdown -- came after his second fumble of the game.

"I've seen so many people make mistakes and put their heads down and I've kind of learned through many things in life that if you do make a mistake, bounce back as hard as you can and give it everything you've got," the 5-foot-9, 200-pound Beaver said.

"That's what I've been doing, I guess."

Beaver's first fumble went into the end zone and was recovered by left tackle Mike Sherman for a touchdown. Mount Union hoped the second would get him off his game.

"We definitely thought so and that the momentum would swing back our way," safety Matt Kostelnik said, "but we didn't execute when we needed to, and that happens."

Beaver, however, rebounded like a player of the year.

"He's a great running back," Kostelnik said. "We expected he was going to get his yards, but we didn't think he was going to get this many yards."

The victory came in the third try for the Warhawks, who lost 35-28 to Mount Union in the 2005 championship game and 35-16 in the rematch last year. This one came under first-year coach Lance Leipold, who said the first two experiences clearly helped.

Awe marked the first trip, he said, and the imminent retirement of beloved coach Bob Berezowitz added to the pressure to finally get that championship last year.

"We didn't have that type of distraction this time around," Leipold said.

Wisconsin-Whitewater (14-1) also ended Mount Union's 37-game winning streak, and deprived the Purple Raiders of their 10th national title in the last 15 years.

The Purple Raiders (14-1) turned the ball over three times on fumbles -- two by quarterback Greg Micheli and one by tailback Nate Kmic -- and never got their vaunted offense untracked. Mount Union came in averaging more than 54 points in the playoffs, but a goal-line stand in the first quarter signaled that the Warhawks were ready.

"That was our bread-and-butter play and we didn't get it in," Mount Union coach Larry Kehres said of the run by Kmic that was stuffed by end Ryan Ogrizovich.

When Mount Union seemed poised to rally in the end, Beaver didn't let them, turning a run into the line into a footrace down the right sideline to the 4.

"The O-line actually looked at me before the play and said, `We're going to open it up for you,"' Beaver said. "When they want to get something done, they do it."

Earlier, Beaver seemed in line for a much less desirable finish.

After Mount Union finally scored on an 11-yard run by Kmic in the third quarter, Beaver fumbled on the next play and the Purple Raiders recovered. They drove quickly for another touchdown, Kmic taking it in on fourth-and-inches to make it 17-14.

Kmic finished with 121 yards on the ground and three touchdowns.

In rainy conditions, both teams struggled on offense until a fumble by Micheli, Matt Blaziewske's recovery and a 15-yard penalty set the Warhawks up at midfield.

Six Beaver runs and one pass later, it was 24-14 with 6:11 to play.

The Purple Raiders trailed 10-0 at halftime, the first time they've been behind at intermission since 2005. Three times they went for it on fourth down, and each time they failed. They also turned the ball over one play after forcing a fumble.

The Warhawks struggled for most of the half, too, but started and ended well.

On their opening drive, Jones completed passes for 36 yards on the first two plays, Beaver had a 26-yard run that would have been a touchdown had he not slipped, and Jones scored on a quarterback sneak on second-and-goal to make it 7-0 after just 4:30.

Mount Union had given up six points in the first quarter in its first 14 games.

After Kmic's fumble, Beaver had runs of 5, 9 and 45 yards to get the ball in Purple Raiders' territory, Jones ended a string of eight straight incompletions with a 10-yard pass to Neil Mrkvicka, and Jeff Schebler kicked a 32-yard field goal.
 

longtimefan

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1st take on espn had the q/b from mount union school on and espn was hyping up THEIR school..

Wonder what they will do on Monday to say how wrong they were
 

spardo62

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As a UW-W grad, Saturday was a very fun day for me watching the Warhawks take down Mt. Union. I am sure the campus was and probably still is wild(especially with this game taking place right around finals week). When I was in school, the Warhawks were a DIII basketball power, along with UW Eau Claire, UW-Stevens Point and UW Platteville. We won the DIII championship my senior year. Those were really some great years for WIAC DIII basketball, with **** Bennett at SP, Ken Anderson at EC, Dave Vander Meulen at Whitewater and Bo Ryan just starting his run at Platteville. I think between those 4 schools Wisconsin was represented in many DII Final Four games and ended up brining home championships at least 4 or 5 times from 1980 through the mid 90's.
 

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