ALLIANCE, Ohio – The Mount Union football team will be playing for its NCAA-record 14
th National Championship as the Purple Raiders won, 45-37, over Johns Hopkins in the 2024 NCAA Semifinals at the frozen tundra of Kehres Stadium on Saturday.
The Purple Raiders (14-0) will play the winner between Saturday's other Semifinal matchup of Susquehanna and North Central in the 2024 Stagg Bowl National Championship on Sunday, Jan. 5 on ESPN in Houston, Texas. Mount Union will be making its NCAA-record 23
rd Stagg Bowl NCAA Championship appearance.
Mount Union (14-0) never trailed in the offensive shootout with both teams totaling over 500 of offense each.
Senior RB
Tyler Echeverry (Naples, FL/Barron Collier) ran for a career-high 183 yards (7.3 avg.), his ninth 100-yard rushing game of the season, including a 54-yard touchdown dagger late in the fourth quarter. Echeverry scored three rushing touchdowns, his sixth-straight game with multiple rushing touchdowns. Echeverry now has 29 rushing touchdowns on the season – leading NCAA Division III.
Graduate QB
TJ Deshields (Beloit, OH/West Branch) went 17 of 27 for 218 yards, with 148 of those yards going to senior WR
Tyrell Sanders (Indianapolis, IN/Pike) who led the team with seven catches for his fifth 100-yard receiving game this season (his 148 receiving yards were a career-high). Deshields added a touchdown run. Also scoring on the ground were senior
Darnell Williams (Cleveland, OH/John Adams) and
Shaun Thomas (Lima, OH/Lima Central Catholic).
Williams returned the opening kick off 37 yards and finished the drive with a 31-yard touchdown run. Mount Union converted on two fourth downs on the drive, courtesy of two runs by Echeverry. Following a Johns Hopkins touchdown run by Geoff Schroeder, Echeverry ran it in from 13 yards out on the Purple Raiders' next drive. The Raiders made it three-straight drives with a score as sophomore K
Ivan Maric (Falls Church, VA/Mclean) made a 36-yard field goal. James Rinello connected with Cole Crotty for a nine-yard touchdown catch with nine seconds left, however, the point-after-touchdown failed. Mount Union led, 17-13, at halftime.
In the second half, Johns Hopkins (12-2) started with a 48-yard field goal by JP Furman with 13:02 on the clock, cutting Mount's lead to 17-16, however that would be the closest it would get for the rest of the game despite seven combined touchdowns followed.
Following Echeverry's 54-yard touchdown, the Blue Jays answered with a touchdown of their own with under four minutes left in the game (45-37). Mount Union, however, sealed the deal after converting on 4th-and-1 with an eight-yard run by Echeverry.
Senior DL
Von Factor (Fair Haven, NJ/Rumson-Fair Haven) led the Mount defense with two sacks, including two forced fumbles. Senior LB
Marcus Jackson (Dallas, TX/Richardson) and senior LB
Jazz Jackson (Wadsworth, OH/Wadsworth) led the Mount Union defense with eight tackles each.
For more information on the 2024 Stagg Bowl, go to
https://www.ncaa.com/sports/football/d3.
