Lycoming players were stunned and dejected after their 2002 game at Widener came to a shocking end on a blocked-field-goal-turned-touchdown. Photo by Pat Coleman, D3sports.com

By Keith McMillan
D3sports.com

OK, so it's January, and the mere fact that you're still coming by the site means you deserve a reward. Sure, the Division III football season is over, but it should not be forgotten. So without further ado, we (this was co-written by Pat Coleman and Gordon Mann contributed) present our 2002 season awards:

Best regular-season game
Two North Coast Athletic Conference rivals that eventually made the playoffs combined for more than 1000 yards of offense and nearly 90 points, and it still took an overtime field goal for Wabash to knock off five-time NCAC champion Wittenberg, spoiling the Tigers' homecoming in the process. The Little Giants proved the win was no fluke, defeating Wittenberg again in the second round of the playoffs, 25-14. 

Best playoff game
Like a true playoff system should yield, there were several candidates for best NCAA playoff game, including King's at Bridgewater (where a last-minute field goal attempt by the Monarchs fell short in a 19-17 Eagles win), Trinity at Bridgewater (the Stagg Bowl-bound Tigers needed an interception on the 5-yard line in the final minute to preserve a 38-32 win), Hanover at Wittenberg (the Heartland champion fell a point short of the perennial playoff participant), John Carroll at Brockport (the Blue Streaks blocked a kick at the end of regulation and won 16-10 in overtime) and Brockport's 15-12 upset of Rowan. But of all the games, we liked St. John's 31-24 win over Redlands because of its significance. The Bulldogs were the first SCIAC team to get into the playoffs since 1994, and they nearly knocked off one of the nation's best programs, whose legendary coach won his 400th game this season. Blake Elliott scored with 46 seconds left to cap the Johnnies' 17-3 fourth quarter and give them a victory.

Best play
Hosting UW-La Crosse, with the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship and automatic berth to the NCAA playoffs on the line, UW-Stout attempted a two-point conversion after they pulled to 28-27 on a Luke Bundgaard touchdown run with 37 seconds to play. The Blue Devils had just heard other WIAC results announced over the PA system that cleared the path for them to win the title, but with their regular holder sidelined, they passed up on a point-after. Stout quarterback Nick Ohman rolled left and dove toward the end zone, but LaCrosse's Jeremy Nickolotti and Deke Stanek stopped him a foot short, and the Eagles advanced to the playoffs, WIAC title in hand.

Craziest play
Adding another chapter to their storied rivalry, Lycoming blocked an overtime field goal attempt at Widener, which appeared to send the game into a second overtime. But Pioneer holder Mike deMarteleire recovered the block in a crowd and pitched the ball to teammate Bo Fischer. As Warrior players and fans celebrated, Fischer made his way to the end zone and raised the ball above his head. Officials sorted out the mess, and after about three minutes, acknowledged Widener's 20-14 victory.

Most significant moment
With all due respect to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rival Macalester preserving its program, which faced elimination last offseason, St. John's head coach John Gagliardi notching his 400th win in a playoff victory over Linfield was tops. It's forseeable that, sometime next season, Gagliardi could pass former Grambling State head coach Eddie Robinson as the winningest college football coach of all time.

Worst moment
La Verne quarterback Rollie Dykstra was seriously injured on a head-to-head hit while running an option play in the second quarter of a game against SCIAC rival Redlands. After the Leopard senior walked off the field, he appeared to suffer consecutive seizures and was taken to a local hospital. The game was called and La Verne also did not play the following week against Azusa Pacific. The Leopards completed their season with wins in two of three November games. According to reports, Dykstra was on life support and had to be put into a medically-induced coma at one point, but is recovering from his injuries. La Verne head coach Don Morel, in his season-ending comments on the school's Web site, said that "Rollie Dykstra has continued to improve and we're absolutely thrilled about that."

Biggest upset
MAC also-ran FDU-Florham's Oct. 12 win at Lycoming came as a shock to us. And it apparently came as a shock to the same type of computer rating system used in Division I-A's Bowl Championship Series. The Massey Ratings ranked it the third-biggest upset in any division, behind Army's win over Tulane and Elizabeth City State's win over Winston-Salem State. After its 34-28 overtime win in Williamsport, FDU-Florham went on to lose its final five games and finish 2-8, their highest win total since 1999.

Least likely to take a knee
Wittenberg, which in four consecutive weeks, defeated conference opponents by scores of 77-0, 58-17, 49-3 and 79-0, a combined total of 263-20. The Tigers averaged a 66-5 win over the month-long span.

Most surprising blowouts
Linfield's 35-0 win over Whitworth, the Northwest Conference rival who edged the Wildcats for a 2001 playoff spot, ranked as the regular season's most surprising. Mount Union's 57-19 thrashing of John Carroll was the playoffs' most shocking result at the time, given that the Blue Streaks had won three playoff games prior to the Purple Raider game. In hindsight, given Mount Union's 41-point win over Trinity in the Stagg Bowl, it probably shouldn't have been such a surprise.

Least bang for the buck
A case could be made for two low-scoring Nov. 16 rivalry games, either high-powered Hampden-Sydney's 7-0 win over spread-offense Randolph-Macon, or Muhleberg's 8-0 win over Lehigh Valley rival Moravian. All four teams won at least six games. But for the absolute least bang, we voted for six points in 60-plus rain-soaked minutes of football: Cal Lutheran's 6-0 double-overtime victory over Occidental. Both teams missed field goal attempts in overtime, and after Tyler Ruiz's 24-yard run put the Kingsmen up (the PAT was blocked), Occidental completed a pass to its 15-yard line, where the Tigers promptly fumbled and ended the game. (Thankfully, some say).

Wildest shootouts
Loras rolled up 549 yards and 48 points, and still lost by three touchdowns to Jesse Von Behren and Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rival Simpson. The Storm, which gained 609 yards, put up 69 points, making the 117 points the third-most scored in a college football game this season, in all divisions. Our honorable mentions go to: Howard Payne 51, Hardin-Simmons 48; Kalamazoo 47, Case Western 44 and Wittenberg-Wabash I.

Biggest breakout season
Players across the country had their breakout years in 2002, but none was more impressive than Mount Union receiver Randell Knapp, who began the year as a second-string tight end, and double his reception total with a six-catch, 85-yard, two-touchdown game against Ohio Athletic Conference rival John Carroll. The senior, who has junior eligibility, emerged as quarterback Rob Adamson's favorite target and had a tremendous Stagg Bowl, diving all over the field for catches.

Best one-man show
Brockport State running back Adam Webster took care of the offense for the defensive-minded Golden Eagles, who advanced to the final eight. The Brockport defense allowed 9.4 points per game in the regular season and just six points per playoff game. Webster rushed for 1,473 yards on 344 attempts, which works out to more than 26 carries per game. Ouch.

Best single-game defensive performance
Mount Union cornerback Chris Kern was impressive, allowing just one pass for 7 yards to be completed against him in two games versus John Carroll. The Blue Streaks racked up 3300 passing yards when they weren't going against Kern. Our honorable mention goes to the King's front seven, who made a habit of disrupting very good offenses, in the Bridgewater playoff game. The Eagles averaged more than 40 points and 465 offensive yards per game in their other 11 outings, but managed just 19 points and 210 against King's.

Brightest future
We hear good things about Tyrone Rhone, a UW-Stout defensive back whose teammate, Tony Beckham, was a fourth-round pick of the Tennessee Titans last season. There may be also an NFL future for King's lineman Steven Wilson, UW-LaCrosse wideout Matt Rizzo, Mount Union cornerback Chris Kern, running back Dan Pugh and defensive end Matt Campbell, Rowan quarterback Tony Racioppi, John Carroll quarterback Tom Arth and you never know who else.

Biggest surprise
Several teams made progress over the past season. We felt we could not really consider as a surprise anyone who made our preseason That means we can't name King's top this spot (preseason No. 13), or Wabash (preseason No. 21). Even Howard Payne made our honorable mention.

To truly be surprised, we have to look at Wheaton. Coming off a 6-4 season in 2001 in which they struggled for offensive consistency, the Thunder had shown signs of breaking out in the CCIW, but not of putting together a 10-game winning streak and giving Mount Union its toughest playoff game.

Biggest disappointment
For this, we again return to our preseason Top 25, our expectations for the 2002 season. Several highly ranked teams underperformed. Injuries kept Ohio Northern and Pacific Lutheran, for example, from living up to their billing, but Augustana, our preseason No. 3, lost a pair of regular season games, and was only leading UW-Platteville by seven points when the game was cancelled by lightning with 20 minutes remaining.

Took a step forward
Concordia-Moorhead hasn't won seven games since 1997, and despite a 19-21 record over the last four seasons, head coach Terry Moran was entering his second season with increased expectations from Cobber and MIAC fans alike. Although they lost on consecutive weekends in October and ended up 7-3, Concordia-Moorhead has positioned itself to make a statement in 2003.

Took a step backward
Western Connecticut doesn't appear to have a bright future ahead of it, not after falling to 7-3, including a loss to traditional NJAC bottom-feeder Kean. With the Colonials joining the NJAC in 2004, how does it look for them to lose to the conference's fifth-place team?

Best performance by a rookie coach
Baldwin-Wallace, much derided for its streak of non-losing seasons being a streak of mediocrity, put a scare into Mount Union and finished 8-2 under first-year head coach and alumnus John Snell. Sure, so their great game against the Purple Raiders was Mount's first without quarterback Rob Adamson, injured in the previous game, and perhaps their close loss at John Carroll doesn't look as impressive in December as it did in October, but it's always a feat to be in the top three of the OAC. 

Best rivalry game
It had everything from a new stadium to a controversial ticket limit, to a shot at the postseason on each sideline. The 8,700 people who actually got to see the Cortaca Jug game got to see Cortland State beat Ithaca 16-12, thanks to two goal-line stands in the final seven minutes. 

Season's turning point
Mount Union's Zac Bruney takes his second snap of the game in relief of starter Rob Adamson and sprints up the middle 55 yards for a touchdown and a 28-9 lead against John Carroll on Oct. 19. From that point on, Mount Union was in control.

Best postseason conference showing
The SCIAC. Sure, the OAC had a tremendous postseason, but that was expected. John Carroll squeaks past the best teams in the East Region and gets rolled by Mount Union. But while the SCIAC was expected to take its lumps at St. John's and turn right around and go home, Redlands nearly upset the Johnnies in the first round and played much better than anyone expected. It's too bad the conference handcuffs its members with additional practice time restrictions above and beyond what the NCAA mandates, making it hard for them to compete early in the season. Any program would suffer if it had 11 fewer practices than its opponent.

Worst postseason conference showing
This has to be the NEFC, which not only lost its only NCAA playoff game 56-6, but dropped three ECAC "bowl" games 154-50. Their three previous years in the NCAA playoffs had resulted in close games, but even that was misleading as the team the NEFC rep lost to each year went on to get blown out in the second round.

Most painful playoff score comparison
Mount Union beat Trinity 48-7, Trinity beat Washington & Jefferson 45-10, Washington & Jefferson beat Christopher Newport 24-10.

Next year, this should be changed
Flying two teams in the first round of the playoffs costs the same as flying one team in the first round and one team in the second round. We shouldn't have to put up with penny-pinching when the national title is on the line.