By Mark Simon
D3sports.com
SALEM — In this case redemption was sweet and its ultimate
payoff was a national championship.
Junior kicker Rodney Chenos nailed a 20-yard field goal with one
second remaining to give the Mount Union Purple Raiders a 10-7
victory over the St. John’s Johnnies in Stagg Bowl XXVIII in
front of 4,643 rain-soaked fans at Salem Stadium.
Chenos had missed a field goal earlier in the fourth quarter but
would come through when the team needed him most. Kicker is a
pressure position. The tension of the moment was nothing new.
"I was in a similar situation last season (in a triple-overtime win
against John Carroll that nearly snapped the Purple Raiders' record
win streak) and I missed the kick," Chenos said. "I was going
through that feeling again. I knew I was going to hit it."
The victory gave Mount Union (14-0) an NCAA-record fifth Stagg Bowl
and fourth in the past five years. Junior running back Chuck Moore
was named the game’s most outstanding player, as he finished
the game with 146 yards rushing on 32 carries. The game, much of
which was played in a steady rain, was a defensive struggle between
two teams whose offenses were heralded as the most potent in the
nation.
"I think in the past, the defense at Mount Union has often been
overshadowed by the offense," said victorious Purple Raiders head
coach Larry Kehres. "Today, the defense outshined the offense.
Defense won the game today. A lot of people thought that this was
going to be a high-scoring game. I didn’t. Both defenses are
outstanding. I knew they were going to be the key to the game."
The Purple Raiders jumped out to a 7-0 lead on their first
possession. Smeck (19-for-27, 144 yards) finished an eight-play,
62-yard drive with an 8-yard touchdown toss to tight end Adam
Irgang.
If the Johnnies were intimidated by the early score, it
didn’t show.
"We’ve played great teams every week," said St. John’s
quarterback Tom Linnemann (12-for-30 137 yards). "Getting psyched
out by a team just isn’t in our nature. (Head coach John
Gagliardi) has taught us that they can only put 11 guys on the
field at one time. They’re great players and we have a lot of
respect for their program, but there are a lot of great teams.
It’s not like we were afraid of Mount Union."
Following that drive, Mount Union didn’t come close to
scoring in the rest of the first half.
St. John’s (13-2) knotted the score when fullback Chris Moore
reached the end zone on a 1-yard left-side sweep with 3:01
remaining in the second quarter.
The defenses combined for a Stagg Bowl-record-tying six
interceptions. The Johnnies had their best chance to take the lead
late in the third quarter when, aided by a 30-yard completion from
Linnemann to Blake Elliott, they drove the ball to the Purple
Raiders’ 30. But Linnemann’s next pass was intercepted
and returned to the Johnnies 46 by Mount Union cornerback Alex
Grinch. The Johnnies got the ball back on the next play as Smeck
was picked off for the second time by Will Gibson.
"(Our defense) played superbly," said Gagliardi, who came up shy in
the quest for his fourth national title in his 52nd season of
coaching. "In a game like this, you look for a lot of little
consolations, but they played extremely well and kept us in the
ball game. With a little luck, we might have been able to do
something."
Though neither team could score in the early stages of the fourth
quarter, Mount Union did its best to wear the St. John’s
defense down. The Purple Raiders held the football for more than 12
minutes in the fourth quarter, and ran a flawless 65-yard drive
through the final four minutes to set up the game-winning kick.
Smeck found Adam Marino on a 20-yard connection on the first play
to push the Purple Raiders into Johnnies territory. Back-to-back
runs by fullback Dan Pugh and Smeck netted 11 more yards. Faced
with a third-and-7 after the next two plays netted 3 yards, Smeck
hit Marino again for a 13-yard completion, and a first down at the
St. John’s 21.
From there Moore took over. The next four plays were straight-ahead
runs, good for 18 yards as the clock continued to tick away. His
last rush was for 6 yards, allowing Chenos’ kick to be no
longer than an extra point. A 35-yard attempt was blocked by Brad
Beyer with 9:39 remaining in the final period. His thoughts were on
everything but that as he readied for a second chance to be the
hero.
St. John’s called two timeouts to try to unnerve the Purple
Raiders' kicker, but they both proved fruitless. The snap from John
Gliha was perfect. So was the hold by Steve Gehlert. All Chenos had
to do was guide the ball through the uprights.
"The timeouts didn’t bother me," Chenos said. "I was totally
focused and prepared to kick the ball. I told the seniors last
night that I could be the man if I had to be, and I was."