Wis.-Whitewater keeps D-III title

SALEM, Va. – Levell Coppage scored on a 1-yard run and Wisconsin-Whitewater shut down Mount Union until the closing minutes to win its third consecutive Division III national championship, 13-10 on Friday night in the seventh consecutive title game meeting between the schools.

The victory was the 45th in a row for the Warhawks (15-0), who haven’t lost since Mount Union beat them in the 2008 Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl. The Purple Raiders finished 14-1.

Coppage cashed in after the Warhawks forced a fumble and recovered it at the Mount Union 1. Coppage took it in on the next play, making it 10-0 with 4:02 left in the third quarter. It was his seventh TD in the last three title games.

The Purple Raiders answered with a 71-yard drive, but had to settle for a 19-yard field goal when they couldn’t punch it in.

Whitewater answered that with Eric Kindler’s 30-yard field goal with 5:34 to play, making it a two-score game again, but the 10-time national champions from Alliance, Ohio, replied again.

This time, an eight-play, 72-yard drive ended with Matt Piloto’s 8-yard scoring pass to A.J. Claycomb with 3:20 to play, giving the Purple Raiders a chance to hold on defense and score.

They held on defense, but then so did the Warhawks, stopping Chris Denton well short of a first down on fourth down, and then finishing off its fourth title in five years.