What have we learned?
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It was much more than an exciting season in the West Region. We wrap up the 2003 campaign and point out a few things we learned throughout the season.
We learned legends can walk away
PLU legendary coach Dr. Forrest (Frosty) Westering is walking away after 32 years at PLU and 305 career coaching victories. "My career at PLU has been more than anyone could have hoped or imagined," Westering said. "The chance to make a difference in the lives of generations of PLU students has been a true blessing for me. We have all made the big time right here."
We learned 63 points doesn’t guarantee you victory
Cornell scored 63 points twice this season. Unfortunately, after one of those games they went to the locker room on the short end of the scoreboard because Coe had scored 66 points. (See No. 7 game of the year below)
We learned a team’s leading rusher and passer can be the same person
Colorado College senior quarterback Jay Macias led his team in rushing at 123 yards per game. Add that to his 243 yards per game passing and he accounted for 366 yards per game of total offense for Colorado College this year.
We learned the impact Mother Nature can have on football.
While blizzards disrupted the east during the playoffs, it was the Southern California wildfires that put a dent in one team’s playoff hopes in mid-October. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps was scheduled to play Occidental on Oct. 25, 2003 before the wild fires postponed the game. With no bye weeks remaining before the end of the season the game was rescheduled for Nov. 22, 2003 — the week the NCAA playoffs start. After a convincing 20-6 victory over defending SCIAC champ Redlands in what was supposed to be the last week of their season the Stags felt gypped. An October victory over Occidental would have made them SCIAC champs and advanced them to the playoffs. There was no way to play the game earlier than Nov. 22, and when they finally did play it C-M-S suffered an uninspired 33-10 defeat. Redlands represented the SCIAC in the playoffs and C-M-S fans marked their 2003 season with an asterisk.
We learned streaks are made to be broken
A year after sharing the IIAC title with Coe and Wartburg, Central ended a streak of 42 winning seasons by ending the year 5-5. “My family is the center of my life and I feel the need to spend more time with them, which takes away from the time necessary to lead a football program, even at the Div. III level,” head coach Rich Kacmarynski said in a release after stepping down at season’s end. “Coaching football is very demanding. After seven years I feel like I’ve lost some energy in leading this program.”
Carleton ended an almost opposite streak by winning its final three games after a 33 game skid that covered parts of the last four seasons (See No. 10 game of the year below).
We learned John Gagliardi isn’t going anywhere.
After breaking the career wins mark of 408 by Eddie Robinson, John Gagliardi extended his own record to 414 wins by claiming the Division III National Championship. At 77 many would think he is ready to follow Frosty Westering into retirement. For Gagliardi that just isn’t the case. "A guy asked me if I was going to ride off into the sunset,’’ Gagliardi said a day after winning the Stagg Bowl. "I said I don’t have a horse and I don’t know where the sunset is.’’ Seems as though 500 is within reach.
Top 10 Games of the Year
Everybody knows the Division III level isn’t about individuals but rather teams. When everybody on the team fulfills his role the team is put in a position to win. When the team is in a position to win it produces great games that are talked about in football circles for years to come. The following ten games are ones that fans throughout the west region, and the nation, will likely be talking about as next season roles around.
10. Carleton 31 Hamline 7: The score doesn’t exactly indicate an incredibly great game. But Carleton came into this game losing 33 straight games. To their credit, they had played tough against several of the top teams in the league but still needed to stop the streak. It happened on Hamline’s home away from home and it happened quickly. The Knights took a 14-0 lead into the second quarter and never looked back. Better yet, they won the final two games of the season to turn a dreadful 33-game losing streak into an inspiring three game string of Ws.
9. Buena Vista 37 Gustavus 34 (2 OT): This season opening game pitted middle-of-the-pack teams from their respective conferences against one another in a border battle between Iowa and Minnesota. Gustavus jumped out on top 14-0 and looked to run away with it. The teams battled almost evenly through the third but BVU dominated the fourth quarter forcing OT when quarterback Eric Wiebers punched one in from a yard out to time the score at 24. The Beavers and Gusties traded touchdowns in the first extra session and Gustavus followed in the second frame with a field goal to make it 34-31. However, quarterback Wiebers wasn’t finished and his touchdown strike to Jesse Schmidt was the difference. It was a sign that the season was going to be anything but slow, boring and uneventful.
8. Linfield 23 Wartburg 20: Classic playoff games are the ones that come down to the last play of the game and the rematch between Linfield and Wartburg from the 2002 quarterfinals was a Division III instant classic. Down 20-6 in the fourth quarter, Wartburg rallied with two Cody Kelley touchdowns to tie the score 20-20 with 1:16 to play. Linfield kicked in its one-minute offense and moved the ball 59 yards in five plays to set up Garrett Wales’ game wining field goal. “Some people dream of hitting home runs in the World Series,” said an elated Wales. “Kickers want to kick field goals.” It’s said that chicks dig the long ball. On this day, they dug the field goal with zeroes on the clock.
7. Coe 66 Cornell 63: No team in Division III history had put 63 points on the scoreboard and lost — until Cornell did it in this game. Many games in the region this year never totaled 28 points between the two teams for the entire game. The Coe/Cornell game never had a quarter with fewer than 28 points scored. The game set an NCAA Division III record for most points scored between two teams. In a game that saw 18 touchdowns and 1,302 yards of total offense you were just about guaranteed to miss one of two things if you blinked — a touchdown or a defensive stop.
6. St. Norbert 26 Simpson 20 (2 OT): This game had a little of everything--rallies, blocked kicks, and a couple extra sessions. Taking over on its own 23-yard line with 4:20 left and out of timeouts, St. Norbert marched 77 yards in 10 plays to tie the score at 20-20 with 37 seconds left. Simpson blocked St. Norbert’s extra-point attempt, however, to force overtime. In the first overtime, St. Norbert was intercepted on the second play of the session. Simpson then had a fourth-and-1 at the St. Norbert 16, but was stopped just inches shy of a first down. Simpson then got the ball first in the second overtime, getting to the St. Norbert 11 before having a 27-yard field goal attempt blocked. On the Green Knights’ first play in the second overtime, utility man T.J. George dove into the end zone to finish a 25-yard scamper and secure the first Division III playoff win in the school’s history.
5. St. John’s 15 St. Thomas 12: This game wasn’t supposed to be close and it had the making of major embarrassment for St. Thomas with national media coverage. St. John’s coach John Gagliardi had a chance to tie Eddie Robinson’s record of 408 career wins. St. John’s was two weeks removed from a 63-9 trashing of Augsburg — a team St. Thomas had lost to the week before. Only problem was St. Thomas and St. John’s have a 100-plus-year rivalry and everyone knows that stats and records get thrown out in major rivalries. St. Thomas gave the Johnnies all they could handle for 59 minutes and 52 seconds until St. John’s kicker Brandon Keller split the uprights with eight seconds to play to give the Johnnies the three-point victory. It was another classic chapter in a storied rivalry and it was a record tying victory for Coach Gagliardi.
4. Pomona-Pitzer 35, Trinity (Texas) 31: Until the Stagg Bowl, this game was the upset of the year involving a West Region team. Trinity, (Texas) has made the NCAA playoffs every year since 1997 and finished runner-up to Mount Union in the Stagg Bowl last year. They have won their conference 10 consecutive years and boast a handful of All-Americans amongst their 99 players. They are the Goliath to Pomona-Pitzer’s David. However, Sagehens quarterback Justin Fenchel’s 1-yard run found the one open spot in Trinity’s defensive armor and it brought the powerhouse to its knees in a crushing 35-31 defeat.
3. Linfield 47 Southern Oregon 42: Few games this year had the emotion of this matchup between Linfield and Southern Oregon. A week after losing All-American Ray Lions for the season to a fractured cervical vertebrae in his neck, the Wildcats had to travel to NAIA No. 5 Southern Oregon without their defensive and spiritual leader. The teams went back and forth through the air and on the ground. Linfield quarterback threw five touchdowns and Southern Oregon running back Dusty McGrorty rushed for 228 yards. Ironically, the game ended on an interception by Ty Smith who was playing in place of Lions. After three hours, 45 minutes, 89 points and 934 yards of total offense the Wildcats had prevailed. Tears of joy ran down the faces of the Linfield players as the victory sunk in and their thoughts turned to their injured teammate. Lions had called a friend at the game and Linfield linebacker Ryan Boatsman got hold of the phone as the players gathered together after the game. Silence fell over the team as Boatsman and Lions conversed shortly. As Boatsman choked up he could hardly deliver Ray’s message to the team. “I love you guys so much and I was there with you the whole time,” Lions had told them.
2. St. John’s 29 Bethel 26: This game had been marked on the calendar of MIAC fans since teams reported to preseason camp. If both teams could win all of their games up to Nov. 8 this game would not only decide the conference championship but also possibly get St. John’s coach John Gagliardi the career wins record by passing Eddie Robinson and his 408 victories. Well, both teams won all their games and 13,107 fans showed up to watch history unfold before their eyes. It would be no cakewalk for the Johnnies.
After feeling each other out in a scoreless first quarter the teams posted a combined 33 points in the second quarter with St. John’s holding a 19-14 advantage. Bethel’s third-quarter touchdown and a botched two-point conversion pushed the Royals in front 20-19 going into the fourth.
Brandon Keller’s field goal, early in the fourth, gave the Johnnies the lead back by two. With just under five minutes remaining, Bethel quarterback punched in the go-ahead touchdown from 4 yards out. After getting hit by three Johnnie defenders as he crossed the plain, he laid motionless on the field. The Royals were up 26-22 but their All-American quarterback Scott Kirchoff was being taken off the field and put into an amublance. Backup A.J. Parnell came in and threw an interception on their two point conversion attempt.
Bethel surprisingly kicked off to Blake Elliott who returned it 50 yards to the Royals 40-yard line. The Johnnies went 40 yards in just under three minutes capping the drive with a 5-yard pass to Josh Nelson to go up 29-26.
The Royals only needed a field goal to force overtime and they had two minutes to go 72 yards. Unfortunately, their leader was in an ambulance and their backup had been standing on the sideline in 18-degree temperatures. He was sacked and fumbled on their first play and the game was all but sealed. Johnnies would win and 13,107 would witness history.
1. St. John’s 24 Mount Union 6: It was the Stagg Bowl matchup that everyone had anticipated — No. 1 Mount Union versus No. 2 St. John’s. Although they had arrived at the championship by taking different paths there was no doubt both teams should be there.
St. John’s battled through close games, winning several by only three points, in clawing their way through the regular season and playoffs to Salem. Mount Union hadn’t won by less than 18 points and usually won by more than 40 points per game. They beat Bridgewater 66-0 in the semifinals to advance to the Stagg Bowl and brought a 55-game winning streak with them. They had been to the Stagg Bowl so many times it seemed as though there should be a hotel in the area with their name on it — The Mount Union Inn.
Johnnies seemed doomed and many sportswriters seemed to think that St. John’s should just stay in Collegeville. Gagliardi even said, “Just give us one first down and we’ll take the ball and go home.”
Mount Union gave St. John’s a lot more than a first down. In fact, they gave them 19 first downs and 24 points including a 51-yard scamper by Gagliardi trophy winner Blake Elliott and a 100-yard interception return by defensive back Mike Zauhar that sealed the victory. The Johnnies dominated in all facets of the game and pulled off an upset for the ages. The Mount Union seniors, who had never lost in their careers, now ended their careers in defeat.
The Johnnies had survived the scrutiny of season long national media coverage, the onslaught of injuries, the emotional roller coaster of Blake Elliott’s little brother Adam’s tragic accident and had secured win 414 for John Gagliardi. As the seniors hoisted the Stagg Bowl Trophy, it was the icing on a season that had been anything but a piece of cake.