Wisconsin Whitewater got their revenge against Mount Union in the D3 championship game.
AP Photo edited by Kevin McGuire
They had waited a year for this opportunity. When the time came, Wisconsin Whitewater was ready.
Yesterday, after the start of the game was delayed five hours due to the monster winter storm blanketing the northeast region of the country, the Wisconsin Whitewater Warhawks defeated their powerhouse rivals in D3 football, Mount Union, to claim their second national championship in three seasons. The Warhawks defeated the Purple Raiders in what was the fifth consecutive championship meeting between the two programs.
Mount Union entered the game riding a 29 game winning streak but Wisconsin-Whitewater scored ten points in the final 1:17 of the game to put an end to the magical streak and pick up revenge for a championship loss to the same team last season. Mount Union, who owns the most division three championships in history with ten, earned a 31-26 victory in last year's Stagg Bowl in Salem, Virginia. This time around it was the Warhawks who would be celebrating, picking up their second national championship in program history. Each has come against Mount Union in the past three years.
Wisconsin-Whitewater was lead defensively by senior linebacker Kyle Supianoski who finished the game with 13 tackles - the most by any player in the game. Running back Levell Coppage scored three touchdowns and quarterback Jeff Donovan passed for two more to lead the Wisconsin Whitewater Warhawks to the national championship.
Watching D3 football is refreshing for the college football fan. In this day and age in which the college football stars at the FBS level are hailed as stars and admired and profiled on a national level, everybody should be reminded what collegiate athletics is really about. You get a humble feeling watching a D3 game in which the athletes will likely never have a chance at the NFL. These kids will be more likely to go on and have a solid career that does not include making bruising tackles or stretching out for a pass in the end-zone. But at the same time the game still comes across as important to those playing.
Wisconsin Whitewater and Mount Union should both be commended for building their programs the way they have without the star athletes that would make a run for the Heisman Trophy. Both will still bring in good players but without the aide of the scholarship allotments the bigger programs have it is impressive to turn out high quality teams year in and year out.
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