Whitewater leans on defense to win 2nd national title

Like the blizzard that slowed travel to a crawl on the east coast Saturday, Wisconsin-Whitewater's defense put the brakes on high-scoring Mount Union late to help the team win the Stagg Bowl, 38-28, for the second football title in school history.

No. 2 Whitewater, which won a school-record 15 games this season and went undefeated, held top-ranked Mount Union scoreless over the final 12 minutes Saturday to claim its second NCAA Division III title in the past three years.

Richmond-Burton grad Jon Baldwin, who started at defensive end for the Warhawks and had one tackle, was part of a defense that allowed the 10-time national champion Raiders (14-1) only 101 yards on their final 19 plays of the game.

Mount Union, which is second in the nation in scoring at 46.5 points a game, fumbled the ball away twice on its final three drives.

A massive winter storm that dumped nearly 20 inches of snow on the area and caused Virginia governor Tim Kaine to declare a state of emergency, forced the game to be pushed back from its original 10 a.m. kickoff to 3 p.m.

The delay meant little to Whitewater, which got off to a 14-0 lead in the second quarter. The Warhawks led, 28-14, at halftime.

Mount Union rallied to tie the game with 12:08 remaining.

But Whitewater running back Levell Coppage scampered for a 31-yard touchdown with 1:17 to go in the game to put the Warhawks ahead, 35-28. Whitewater added a 44-yard Jeff Schebler field goal with 26 seconds remaining.

The city of Whitewater is planning a parade at approximately 4:30 p.m. Sunday, followed by a celebration at the Williams Center on campus at 6 p.m. 

Barry Bottino writes a weekly column and a blog about local college athletes for the Northwest Herald. Write to him at BarryOnCampus@hotmail.com and check out his On Campus column every Saturday in the Northwest Herald sports section.