COLLEGE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME RESULTS: DECEMBER 18TH

YOU DON’T MESS WITH DESTINY – Well, those people who were calling the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs this year’s Team Of Destiny in NCAA Division 2 football turned out to be right, as UMD defeated the self-destructing Delta State Statesmen 20-17. The game was knotted up at 17 late in the 4th quarter and looked sure to be headed for overtime but an interception thrown by Statesmen QB Micah Davis allowed the Bulldogs to set up shop in good field position and to kick the winning field goal as time expired. That turnover was typical of this strange game, in which both teams seemed oddly out of sorts on offense, almost as if they had had as much time off as they do in Division 1A football before playing for the title. The Statesmen kept turning the ball over and the Bulldogs were repeatedly suffering ill-timed bad snaps. Delta State led at halftime 14-10 and a 2nd half touchdown put UMD up 17-14. Typical of this unusual game an illegal procedure penalty against the Statesmen on a missed field goal attempt gave them a second chance at the game tying kick and this one succeeded, making the score 17-17 at the time. The Bulldogs have now won 2 of the last 3 D2 football championships.

THE LAW OF SIXES – Familiarity traditionally breeds contempt but in the case of the Whitewater Warhawks and the Mount Union Purple Raiders it has been breeding some very exciting championship games in NCAA Division 3 football. In their sixth CONSECUTIVE title game played against each other they are now 3-3, as the Warhawks won today by a score of 31-21. The Purple Raider defense was ranked number one in the nation but it was the Whitewater D that made the difference in the game, delivering a shutout in the 2nd half. Heroics from Cecil “The Seahawk” Shorts and Matt “The Mattmeister General” Piloto had Mount Union threatening to score several times but the Whitewater defense lived up to the old cliche of “bend but don’t break” and came up with crucial stops and turnovers when they needed them. The Warhawks only scored 7 points in the 2nd half themselves, with a touchdown run by Levell “Copper Man” Coppage making the difference, just like in last year’s title game.

OH WHEN THOSE SAINTS GO FIGHTIN’ IN – The CC Fighting Saints defeated the Sioux Falls Cougars by a score of 10-7 to win their sixth NAIA football championship in the last nine years. The Cougars were not only going for a Threepeat, having won the last two NAIA titles in a row, but were also going for a record 43rd consecutive victory. In a struggle highlighted by a pair of two-fisted defenses that kept the game tied at 7-7 going into the 4th quarter the Fighting Saints defensive line was the difference in this  match, harassing USF quarterback Jon “Jonny East” Eastman  throughout the contest, including a crucial sack during a Cougar drive late in the 4th quarter. That sack killed a potential chance for the Cougars to either tie the game at 10 or go ahead 14-10. The Fighting Saints made only one of three field goal attempts but that one was enough. USF’s “Brassy” Braden Wieking attempted a desperation field goal to tie the game but went wide left, allowing the boys from Helena, MT to run out the final three seconds of the game.