There were positives and frustrations for St. Thomas football in Friday night's 49-35 loss to Mount Union in the 2015 Stagg Bowl championship in Salem, Va.
A stadium crowd of just over 5,000 and a national live TV audience on ESPN U watched Mount Union make plays, minimize mistakes and pull away to victory in the final 25:00 on the clock.
St. Thomas (14-1) was attempting to win its first national title in football but instead took its second NCAA runner-up finish. Both this squad and the UST 2012 Stagg runner-up won 14 games to tie for the most by any conference team.
The St. Thomas senior class finished 44-7 in its era with a rare two Stagg Bowl trips.
St. Thomas now has 28 national top-two team finishes in 11 different sports.
St. Thomas is one of 14 current Division III fotball programs to make multiple trips to the Stagg Bowl, and one of just three to do it in the last 15 seasons.
Props to the Raiders
Mount Union won its 12th national football championship, an NCAA all-division record.
Vince Kehres caimed his first national title in his three years since becoming head coach in 2013.
The Raiders were playing their 14th game in 14 weeks after having a week-two bye.
After being held scoreless in the first quarter -- including thee punts and a failed fake punt try -- the Raiders scored seven TDs in their next nine possessions.
UMU had no turnovers and forced two by UST, and its offense had just two penalties for 10 yards.
The Raiders collected 23 first downs, 531 yards of offense, and got TDs from five different players.
Most Oustanding Player recipient senior QB Taurice Scott, a former wide receiver, completed 12 of 19 for 201 yards passing, and rushed 13 times for 54 yards. He guided a fast-tempo offense that exploded for 35 second-half points.
RB Logan Nemeth rushed 30 times for 220 yards and two TDs.
The Raiders engineered three quick-on-the-clock, long-on-the-field touchdown drives into a stiff wind in the third quarter in a span of just 5:03 to turn a 21-14 deficit into a 35-21 lead.
Mount Union had 344 yards and 28 points in its 2012 victory over St. Thomas. In this victory, it became the first team to score more than 37 points against the Tommies in 101 games in the eight-season Glenn Caruso era.
UST Bright Spots
St. Thomas held leads of 14-0 and 21-14. The Toms climbed back fom 14 points down in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 35-28. UST had a first down at the Mount 30-yard-line near the end of the third quarter with a chance to score and tie the game, but was stopped on three plays, then was denied on fourth down on a fake try off a field-goal formation.
The Tommies ran their streak of 30-plus point games to 19 and gained 328 total yards.
Senior Paul Graupner executed a slick on-sides kick and recover at the 45-yard line on the fourth quarter and was 5-of-5 on PATs. A four-year starter, he finished his career with 272 points.
Junior RB Jordan Roberts rushed 30 times for 135 yards, the 11th time in 15 games he surpassed 100 yards. He closed the season with 2,092 yards and 34 rushing TDs, the latter an NCAA all-division high thus far in 2015. He scored 218 points with one conversion run and 36 overall TDs.
Senior QB John Gould closed his career by running for a TD as he scooped a fumble and raced 56 yards. He also threw a 58-yard TD pass to Nick Waldvogel early in the third quarter. Gould, who was sacked four times and pressured on several other dropbacks, passed for 123 total yards.
Charlie Dowdle caught a 24-yard TD pass in the first quarter which initially was called incomplete out of the end zone. After review, the call was changed to a TD as Dowdle got one foot down and made a slick catch with no bobble. Dowdle had three receptions on the game and finished his career with 115 catches for 1,996 yards and 25 total TDs.
The Tommies were playing their 13th game in 13 weeks after having a week-three bye. Nose guard Ryan Winter played his last four games with a cast on a broken hand. UST was mostly injury-free with its starters this year, but had two offensive line starters out of practice since Sunday. Senior Zach Brennan had his foot in a boot all week but played the entire game. Senior Richie Donovan played the first half through his injury but was subbed out in the third quarter, replacd by junior Sean Scharlau.
Senior LB Tim McClanahan had two sacks among his 11 tackles. Junior safety Bennett Celichowski had eight solos, one tackle for loss and one pass break up. UST had four sacks among seven tackles for loss.
Senior Jack Gilliland had a 58-yard kickoff return and caught one pass for 14 yards in his final game.
Waldvogel closed with 142 all-purpose yards and now has 3,533 yards and 28 TDs in 36 career games.
St. Thomas' 106 touchdowns broke the previous high by a conference school of 102 recorded by the 1993 St. John's team.
Honor team
The Tommies had four players named to the 78-player D3football.com All-America team that was announced Friday evening: senior TE Charlie Dowdle, senior OT David Simmet and junior RB Jordan Roberts on first team, and junior NG Ryan Winter made third team. Junior OT Will Hilbert and junior LB Jesse Addo each made the 26-player honorable mention.