The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater fell to Mount Union College 35-16 Saturday in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III championship, at Salem Stadium in Salem, Virginia.

"I really feel for our team," UW-W coach Bob Berezowitz said.  "We had a slogan of "Unfinished Business" for this season and we would have liked to complete that, but our players have accomplished something the last two years that no other Whitewater football team in history has done."

With the conclusion of the Stagg Bowl the most successful chapter in UW-Whitewater football history draws to a close.  In the last two years the Warhawks have gone through the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference season undefeated, through the regular season undefeated, advanced to the national championship game, and won 28 of their last 30 games.  It also marked the end of twenty-two years on the sideline for UW-W head coach Bob Berezowitz, which culminated in 158 wins, the third highest victory total in the history of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. 

Saturday in Salem UW-Whitewater dodged a bullet in the first quarter when Mount Union drove to the Whitewater 26, but Warhawk defensive back Ben Farley (Brookfield/East) (jr, Brookfield/East) forced, and then recovered, a Nate Kmic fumble.  Later in the quarter, beginning at 5:45, UW-W started a drive at its own 37.  UW-W gained its first first down of the game, a good omen, as Jeff Schelber (fr, Davenport, IA) got Whitewater on the board first with a 25-yard field goal at 2:14.

That's where the quarter ended, but Mount Union had the ball at the end of the first quarter and, at 13:50 of the second, sophomore QB Greg Micheli, known as the running quarterback in the Mount Union tandem that includes senior Mike Jorris, hit senior Anthony Antonucci for the final two yards of an eight play 62-yard drive to give Mount Union the lead.  The Purple Raiders added to the margin at 6:52 when Micheli faked a handoff and kept the ball for a 12 yard score, making it 14-3 Mount Union. 

Just when it looked like Mount Union might be rolling Jordan Wells (Elgin, IL/Elgin) (fr, Elgin, IL) took the ensuing kickoff back to the MU nine, and the ball was advanced to the four by a facemask call on the tackle.  Justin Beaver (Palmyra/Palmyra-Eagle) (jr, Palmyra/Eagle) carried the ball to the one, and UW-W quarterback Justin Jacobs (Sun Prairie/Sun Prairie) (sr, Sun Prairie) went over the top to cut Mount Union's lead to 14-10 at 5:46.  On its next possession UW-W used 7 plays to go 54 yards, ending with Schebler's 24 yard field goal, to make it 14-13 Mount Union as the half ended. 

Mount Union rushed for 106 yards in the first, a feat only two teams (UW-River Falls and UW-La Crosse) accomplished in a entire game this season.  MU totaled 184 yards of offense, Whitewater 105.  The two All-American running backs, and their offensive lines, had productive halves with Whitewater's Beaver gaining 54 on 13 carries and MU's Nate Kmic totaling 68 on 12 attempts.

Farley came up with a big play again to start the third quarter, picking off a Jorris pass at Whitewater's 46.  Micheli found junior wide receiver Pierre Garcon on a short pass, which Garcon turned in to a 46-yard score, to up the Raiders' lead to 21-13 at 5:30.  Something happened late in the third quarter that hasn't happened all year --- the Warhawks had a punt blocked.  Matt Kostelnik blocked his third punt of the year, and it was picked up by junior Matt Rees and Rees ran it in from 34 yards out to build a sense of urgency on the Whitewater sidelines with Mount Union ahead 28-13.  The quarter ended 28-13.  (It was announced in the press box PA that Mount Union has not lost a game in which it has scored at least 28 points since 1998.)

The good news is that as the third quarter ended Whitewater was driving with the ball on the Raider 19.  Schebler added his third field goal of the game, hitting from 36 yards out to make it 28-16 at 14:46.  The three field goals is a Stagg  Bowl record, as were his ten points  by a kicker (10, including the second quarter extra point).  Micheli hit Garcon again, this time for 10 yards, to increase the margin to 35-16 at 10:59.

One misleading stat on the final sheet shows that Whitewater was 4-4 in the red zone, while Mount Union converted three of four times.  However all three of MU's were touchdowns, but three of the Warhawks' were Schebler field goals.

Last year it was Jorris that quarterbacked Mount Union to victory.  But Jorris was 0-5 with an interception before being pulled in favor of Micheli, supposedly a strong runner still working on his passing game.  All Micheli did was connect on his first seven passes, wind up 18-22 for 202 yards and 3 TD's with no interceptions--- earning the Stagg Bowl Most Valuable Player Award. 

Raider running back Nate Kmic rushed for 111 yards on 25 carries, while Garcon caught eight passes for 116 yards and two TD's.  Beaver rushed for 87 yards on 23 attempts, with Derek Stanley (Verona/Verona) (sr, Verona) leading the UW-W receivers with six catches for 82 yards.  Linebackers A.J. Raebel (jr, Cary Grove, IL) and Tristan Borzick (Kenosha/Tremper) (jr, Kenosha/Tremper) led UW-W with 13 and 11 tackles, respectively.  Raebel also contributed two tackles for a loss and a sack, and Borzick added 1.5 tackles for a loss.

The crowd of 6,051 is the fourth largest since the Stagg Bowl moved to Salem in 1993.  Game time temperature was 62 degrees.

The 2006 Stagg Bowl marked the first time that the game featured a rematch from the previous season, MU won 35-28 last year.  The teams were also ranked 1-2 in all four Division III polls since the second week of the season.

For additional information:
Bob Berezowitz, 262-472-1453
Stagg Bowl web site:  http://www.odaconline.com/staggbowl/
UW-W football championship site:  http://www.uww.edu/athletics/mfootball/2006ncaafootballchamp/