UW-River Falls tops North Central for Stagg Bowl title

CANTON, Ohio — Behind three big-time turnovers, the University of Wisconsin-River Falls claimed its first Stagg Bowl title in program history with a 24-14 victory over North Central College in the Division III National Championship game on Sunday night at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.

Preventing the Cardinals (14-1) from winning their fourth Stagg Bowl title in six years, the Falcons (14-1) made the big plays on defense when it mattered most to hand North Central its first loss of the year.

Cardinals head coach Brad Spencer focused after the game on his senior class rather than the tough loss.

“Our seniors this year were super unique in terms of being able to welcome new players, new starters into the fold,” Spencer said. “I think their ability in the offseason to bring people together and have shared experiences together, they definitely pushed the needle in ways our program will continue to see.

“They’ve created new standards, not just on the field or with results, but how our program operates. One of our seniors, Calvin Lavery, said early in one of those meetings in January, and it just struck me, ‘if you’re a senior in this program, you have a responsibility to be a leader. It’s not an option’ and I thought that represents Cardinal football to a tee.”

The Falcons forced the Cardinals into two red-zone turnovers and snared a fourth-quarter interception to hinder hopes of a comeback.

Finding a way to make a game-defining play in the fourth quarter with the temperature dropping into the low 20s, the Falcons’ Jack Olson intercepted a screen pass after he batted the ball up in the air and made a circus grab for the pick.

A play later, quarterback Kaleb Blaha took a keeper 12 yards up the middle for a two-score lead the Cardinals could not come back from.

Unable to score after the 11-minute mark of the second quarter, the clock ran out on North Central, even with the offense putting up 345 yards of total offense.

Despite the final score, the game started exactly how North Central drew it up. The Cardinals received the game’s opening kickoff with its offense ready to go and the game plan to match.

On the fourth play of the game, the Cardinals’ Donovan McNeal found an opening off the left side of his line that parted the defense for a 48-yard score.

With a 7-0 lead, the Cardinals’ defense made quick work of the Falcons’ first drive by forcing a 3-and-out that took just over 30 seconds off the clock. With momentum, the Cardinals looked for an early haymaker to put the Falcons on their heels.

Making the most of great field position to start the drive, the Cardinals were in business with a couple of chunk plays on the ground and in the air. In just four plays, the Cardinals were down to the 7-yard line and knocking on the door of a two-score advantage.

In a rare moment of miscommunication for the Cardinals' offense, quarterback Garret Wilson fumbled the RPO to NcNeal, which the Falcons quickly recovered.

Able to put the first drive behind them, the Falcons got a couple big plays through the air to get on the scoreboard with a 25-yard field goal to cut the North Central lead to 7-3.

“It’s about next play mentality, even though it’s a big turnover, coach Spence said something last year in the national championship, we turned it over the first drive, and the game ended up going our way,” wide receiver Jack Rummell said. “Just being able to go to the next play and not think about it too much.”

The Cardinals maintained a balanced attack in the first half with McNeal setting the pace in the backfield.

Working the ball into the red zone with its next offensive possession, the Cardinals didn’t pull any punches with the next opportunity and turned to McNeal for his second score of the night from a couple yards out.

UW-River Falls used its high-tempo offense to good effect in the first half, but had a couple drives fizzle out thanks to good defense by the Cardinals. Finally cracking the Cardinals’ defense for a tough score in the back of the end zone on a pass from Blaha to Blake Rohrer with just under five minutes to play before half, pressure was on the Cardinals to score before half.

Able to hold onto the football for the final 4:45 of the second quarter, the Cardinals got the ball down to the 11-yard line. But on the last snap of the first half, Wilson forced a ball into coverage that was picked off by the Falcons.

The second half started just about as well as it could for North Central, with a bend, but don’t break defense stepping up for a fourth-down goal-line pass break up that gave life to the Cardinals’ fans that made the trip.

“We preach it every day, and even though it didn’t go that way tonight, there’s a lesson to be learned from this,” Cardinals defensive lineman Josh Sullivan said. “When it starts getting hard, we pull our teammates up to a standard. There’s no pointing fingers or anything, we just pull each other up.”

Despite the big stop, the Cardinals' offense struggled with a fiery Falcons defense stepping up for a couple big sacks to prevent a scoring drive from sustaining. After just the second punt of the game, the Falcons wasted little time returning to the red zone, but this time didn’t waste the opportunity.

Pounding the ball through Blaha keepers, the Falcons ripped up the middle of the field in the third to take the lead for the first time with a 7-yard keeper to give UW-River Falls a 17-14 advantage.

After taking the lead, it seemed as if the Falcons could do no wrong with the football. Moving the ball with quick passes and quarterback runs, what once was a 14-3 advantage turned into a 24-14 fourth quarter hole for North Central after surrendering the pick and Blaha score.