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Mount Union Wins Stagg Bowl

December 16, 2000 / 5:20 PM EST / AP

Rodney Chenos' 20-yard field goal with one second left Saturday gave Mount Union a 10-7 victory against St. John's of Minnesota in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl for the NCAA Division III national championship.

The Purple Raiders (14-0), held below 17 points for the first time in 88 games, hadn't scored since early in the first quarter when they took over on their own 32 with 4:03 remaining and the score tied at 7-all.

In 12 plays, Gary Smeck completed all three of his passes for 37 yards and Chuck Moore ran five times for 17 yards, including 18 in the four plays immediately before Chenos booted his 11th field goal of the season.

The kick gave the Purple Raiders their fifth national championship and fourth in the last five seasons. It was Mount Union's 68th victory in its last 69 games, their only loss coming in last year's national semifinals.

St. John's (13-2) failed in its bid for its first national title since the 1976 game. The Johnnies hadn't reached the final game since then.

The Purple Raiders twice drove into St. John's territory earlier in the fourth quarter, but Chenos' 35-yard field goal try was blocked with 9:39 left, and Moore was stopped short on a fourth-and-2 run from the 22 with 6:05 to play. The second drive was set up by Mike Miller's interception of Tom Linnemann and 15-yard return to the Johnnies' 41.

But St. John's managed only one first down and had to punt, and Adam Marino returned it to the Raiders' 32 to set up the final drive.

St. John's had driven to the Mount Union 30 late in the third quarter, but Linnemann was picked off by Alex Grinch, who returned it 33 yards to the Johnnies' 46. Smeck immediately went for it all on the first play, but Will Gibson intercepted his pass for Marino at the Johnnies' 15.

It was Gibson's second interception, and both came deep in Johnnies' territory. Smeck had thrown only five interceptions all season before throwing three in the title game. Linnemann also threw three picks.

The Purple Raiders, who scored 70 points in their semifinal victory against Widener last weekend, drove 63 yards in eight plays after the opening kickoff, Smeck hitting Adam Irgang for 8 yards and the touchdown.

Smeck was 5-for-5 for 46 yards in the drive.

St. John's managed just 12 yards of offense for three first-quarter possessions and was about to fall further behind, but Gibson stepped in front of Smeck's pass for Marino at the Johnnies' 4 early in the second quarter and returned it 30 yards to keep Mount Union close.

It was the Johnnies' 30th interception of the season.

Later in the half, Linnemann completed passes of 11 yards to Jeremy Forsell and Nate Kirschner and then a 23-yarder to Aaron Krych, the last to set up Chris Moore's game-tying 1-yard TD run 3:01 before halftime.