North Central is bringing another trophy home to Naperville. Photo by Doug Sasse, d3photography.com

North Central made it three national titles in the past five seasons as the Cardinals scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to come out victorious in Stagg Bowl LI, 41-25 against Mount Union.

The Cardinals (15-0) held a 14-10 lead going into the locker room at halftime as they held Mount Union to an Ivan Maric field goal with 3:57 to go in the second quarter and got a stop in the closing seconds when Mount Union couldn't get its field goal unit out on time and the half ended. The teams traded touchdowns in the third quarter to make it 21-17 going into the fourth, and again early in the fourth when Jack Rummell caught a touchdown pass and T.J. DeShields followed with a 54-yard TD pass to Jerry Cooper. A two-point conversion pass made it 28-25 less than 90 seconds into the fourth quarter.

• All-time Stagg Bowl history

But that was the last time it was that close. Charles Coleman burst through the line untouched and outraced everyone to the end zone on a third-and-1 play, taking it for 66 yards and a touchdown to make it 34-25, and when Mount Union's drive stalled at the North Central 43, they elected to punt with 9:26 left, down by two scores. North Central held onto the ball for nearly seven minutes, as the Cardinals went 77 yards in 14 plays to finish with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Paradee, the fourth TD pass of the day for Lehnen and the one which he needed to set the all-divisions record for touchdown passes in a career. That made it 41-25 with 2:32 to play, and Mount Union could not recover, getting no closer than the North Central 36 before penalties and a sack pushed them back to a fourth-and-29 play, ending on a Bobby Medina sack.

"I'm extremely humbled and proud to be in this position," said North Central coach Brad Spencer. "These seniors - there are 38 of them - have believed in our culture and what we were trying to become. That took a lot of trust and belief, and they went to work. As coaches, we just put good plans in place and put them in a position to succeed."

Lehnen, who was 18-for-25 passing for 298 yards and four touchdowns, and also ran for 55 yards and another TD, was voted the Most Outstanding Player of Stagg Bowl LI.

The second two-time winner of the Gagliardi Trophy, the premier individual award in Division III football, Lehnen concludes his career as the NCAA's all-divisions leader in career passing efficiency (211.9) and touchdowns responsible for (213). The previous record for touchdowns was 190.

Mount Union (14-1), which came into the evening seeking a 14th Division III title, recovered a fumble on the game's opening possession and drove 57 yards to take an early 7-0 lead following Tyler Echeverry's 24-yard touchdown run. It is the only deficit the Cardinals faced all season.

"When that happened, I just kind of smirked and said, 'Well, this is a first this year,'" Spencer said. "But we were prepared and the guys handled it well. We felt, going into halftime, that we had some opportunities we hadn't capitalized on, and we just needed to tighten the screws and be more disciplined."