By Greg Chandler
D3sports.com

Five teams from the Great Lakes are headed to the NCAA Division III playoffs after the 28-team field was announced Sunday.

Mount Union, Wittenberg, Hope, Ohio Northern and Washington and Jefferson all made the field. All except Hope are making a return trip to the playoffs this year after qualifying last season.

Mount Union, champion of the Ohio Athletic Conference for the seventh consecutive year, gets a first-round bye as the top seed in the North bracket. The Purple Raiders (10-0) completed a perfect regular season on Saturday with a 60-7 blowout of Heidelberg.

Quarterback Gary Smeck completed 18 of 21 passes for 281 yards and five touchdowns -- all in the first half -- as Mount Union raced to a 50-7 halftime lead. Wideout Adam Marino set a school record for most catches in a season with 77, as he caught seven passes for 133 yards and two scores. Meanwhile, the defense picked off five Heidelberg passes, including two each for Matt LaVerde and Chris Kern. LaVerde returned one of the picks 31 yards for a touchdown.

Mount Union, which hasn't lost to an OAC opponent since 1994, has now won 58 consecutive conference games and 64 straight regular-season contests. It will meet the winner of the first-round contest between another OAC team, Ohio Northern, and Millikin, in Alliance on Nov. 25.

Wittenberg, which won its third consecutive outright North Coast Athletic Conference championship, will be the No. 2 seed in the North and meet Aurora this Saturday in Springfield. The Tigers (10-0) were idle over the weekend ahead of their playoff appearance.

Hope (8-1) will be the No. 3 seed in the North Region and host Heartland Conference co-champion Hanover (7-3) this Saturday in Holland. The Flying Dutchmen nailed down their first outright Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship since 1987 on Saturday with a thrilling 14-9 victory against Albion.

The visiting Britons jumped on Hope early, taking a 9-0 lead less than five minutes into the game on Bill Poirier's 20-yard touchdown run and a sack of Hope quarterback J.D. Graves in the end zone for a safety. Poirier rushed for 103 yards in the first half against a Flying Dutchmen defense that came into the game third in Division III in rushing defense, allowing just 49 yards a contest and less than two yards per carry.

However, Graves led Hope back in the second half, throwing touchdown passes of 11 and 45 yards to Mike Gle, the latter capping a 95-yard drive early in the fourth quarter and putting the Dutchmen ahead 14-9. Albion drove to the Hope 25 with two minutes remaining, but the Flying Dutchmen held and took over on downs to preserve the win.

Graves, earned his second straight MIAA offensive player of the year award this week, overcame seven Albion sacks to complete 23 of 36 passes for 290 yards, putting him over the 4,000-yard mark in total offense for his career. Gle caught eight passes for 117 yards, while Brian Adloff also caught eight balls for 92 yards. 

Ohio Northern (8-2) finished second in the OAC behind Mount Union, losing only to the Purple Raiders and Division I-AA nonscholarship Dayton. On Saturday, the Polar Bears assured themselves of a playoff spot with a 68-27 win against Marietta.

ONU tailback Jamal Robertson was huge for the Polar Bears, setting school records for most rushing yards (307), touchdowns (seven), rushing TDs (six) and all-purpose yards (401) in a single game. Robertson scored on runs of 60, three, 17, 15, 66 and 49 yards, and also ran back a kickoff 74 yards for another score. He became only the fifth running back in OAC history to top the 300-yard mark in rushing in a single game. His outburst allowed him to overtake Marietta's Kenneth Sasu for the OAC rushing title with a school record 1,664 yards. Sasu, meanwhile, "only" rushed for 229 yards on 34 carries to finish at 1,615 yards.

Ohio Northern quarterback Shane Franzer also had a big day, completing 15 of 23 through the air for 283 yards and three touchdowns, and adding 102 yards rushing. Franzer now holds the school record for most passing yards (2,362) and touchdown passes (27) in one season, and is the first ONU quarterback ever to rush for 1,000 yards in a season (1,089).

Despite falling short in his bid for his third consecutive OAC rushing title, Sasu did break former teammate Dante Brown's conference career rushing record with 4,727 yards. Brown rushed for 4,512 yards from 1994-97. 

Washington and Jefferson (9-1) won the Presidents' Athletic Conference championship and will be the No. 2 seed in the South bracket, hosting Bridgewater (Va.) on Saturday. The Presidents finished up their regular season with a 42-21 over Buffalo State, a team that entertained slim hopes of making the playoffs going into the game. Joey Nichols ran for three touchdowns and Brian Dawson threw for two more for W&J.

Say goodbye, R.J.
Grove City's R.J. Bowers closed out his record-setting career over the weekend with another memorable performance, rushing for 226 yards on 36 carriers in the Wolverines' 39-17 win over Alfred. Bowers scored on touchdown runs of 75 and 10 yards.

Here now is the short list of the NCAA records Bowers ends his career with:

-> Career rushing yards, all divisions, 7,353 yards
-> Career touchdowns, all divisions, 92 TDs
-> Career points, all divisions, 562 points
-> Career 100-yard rushing games, all divisions, 35
-> Career 200-yard rushing games, all divisions, 16

I could go on with the list of Division III, conference and school records Bowers holds, but that could involve a separate column.

Bowers is not the only terrific D-III back in the state of Pennsylvania. Allegheny's Shane Ream capped off a record-setting season of his own with a pair of touchdowns in the Gators' 22-14 victory over Ohio Wesleyan. Ream scored on runs of 12 and 11 yards to give him 27 for the season, tying the North Coast Athletic Conference record for most touchdowns in a season and breaking the season record for most points with 180.

For whom the (Monon) Bell tolls
Wabash looked to be in pretty good shape with 10 minutes remaining in its Monon Bell showdown with DePauw, leading 17-9. Jake Knott (he of the 17 touchdown passes the previous three weeks) had thrown for one touchdown and run for another to lead the homestanding Little Giants in the 107th meeting between the two Indiana rivals.

But it all came unglued for Wabash down the stretch. Jason Lee threw two touchdown passes to John Stephens during an 18-point rally that led to a 27-17 Tigers' victory. Six Wabash turnovers turned out to be the Little Giants' undoing.

DePauw now leads the all-time series 50-48-9.

In another, not-quite-so-old rivalry, John Carroll rallied to edge Baldwin-Wallace 20-17 in the 12th annual Cuyahoga Gold Bowl. JCU quarterback Tom Arth tossed a 4-yard touchdown pass to Larry Holmes with just over three minutes remaining for the win. Holmes, who will now turn his attention to basketball season (he averaged a double-double last season), set a John Carroll single-season mark with 950 receiving yards.

Seniors, now citizens
Some top-notch defenders saw their careers come to an end over the weekend. Wooster linebacker Seth Duerr finished his season with 130 tackles, including 26 for losses and five sacks. His career numbers: a staggering 426 stops, 59 for losses. He should receive serious consideration for Team of the Year honors.

Alma's Justin Harris had seven tackles for lost yardage, including three quarterback sacks against Olivet, finishing the year with 10 sacks and 13 tackles for loss. Harris, who is also used as a short-yardage back on offense, also scored on a 2-yard run in the Scots' 28-13 win over the Comets.

Allegheny's Joe Rossi set a Gators' school record for most sacks in a season as he recorded his 12th takedown in the win over Ohio Wesleyan.