Whitewater, WI — Mary Hardin-Baylor could not come up with the offense to match a smothering defensive effort as the Cru fell to Wisconsin-Whitewater 16-7 in an NCAA Division III Football Championship semifinal on Saturday (Dec. 8) at Perkins Stadium.

The loss ends UMHB’s season with a 12-2 overall record after the Cru advanced to the national semis for the second time in the last four seasons. UWW advances to the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl next Saturday to face Mount Union in the Division III title game for the third straight season.

UWW opened the scoring with a nine-play, 73-yard drive capped by a one-yard Danny Jones plunge with 7:43 left in the first quarter. UMHB blocked the extra point to make it 6-0 Warhawks. Jones kept that drive alive with a 15-yard scramble on fourth down and 10 at the UMHB 29-yard line. The Cru forced a UWW punt on the next possession and took over at the Warhawk 42-yard line. The Cru used a 23-yard pass from Josh Welch to Peter Medlock to take it to the UWW one-yard line. Welch dove in from a yard out and the extra point gave the Cru a 7-6 lead with 2:05 remaining in the first half. It would stay that way until the Warhawks got a 25-yard TD pass from Jones to Neil Mrkvicka with 13:40 to play in the first half. UMHB had a chance to cut it to 13-10, but Joel Munoz was just short with a 41-yard field goal attempt on the Cru’s next-to-last possession of the half. UMHB had another golden opportunity to cut the margin when Quincy Daniels took a shovel pass from Welch and dashed 56 yards to the Whitewater 24-yard line. Welch hit Brett Parker with a 22-yard pass to the Warhawk two-yard line. The UWW defense stiffened from there to force anther field goal attempt. A bad snap killed the field goal attempt and the Cru came up empty on the drive. The two teams then continued to trade punts until Jones broke a 62-yard run to set up Jeff Schebler’s 39-yard field goal with 2:31 left in the game to ice the victory for the Warhawks.

            Quincy Daniels led the UMHB offense with 96 rushing yards and 56 receiving yards. Welch finished 7-17 passing for 164 yards and he also ran for a score. William Dewease (pictured left) led the UMHB defense with 11 total tackles, 10 of them solo. He also had four tackles for loss and three sacks and set a new UMHB single-season record with 9.5 sacks, breaking the mark of 7.0 held by Shawnn Williams and Keith Zunker. Jerrell Freeman added nine tackles and finished the year with 112 tackles, one short of tying the UMHB single-season record of 113 tackles set by Ryan McCabe in 2004. Jones finished with 126 yards passing on 9-22 and he added 87 yards on 16 carries. The Cru held UWW All-American running back Justin Beaver to just 60 yards on 28 carries. A.J. Raebel topped the Warhawk defense with 13 total tackles.

            UMHB finished the game with 269 total yards. The Cru ran for 105 yards and passed for 164 in the game. UWW totaled 273 yards with 147 of those coming on the ground.

            The loss closes out the UMHB careers of 23 players. Those players’ book ended their careers with semifinal appearances and advanced to the Stagg Bowl in 2004. The UMHB senior class also posted a record of 44-9 in their four years with the program.

-Courtesy University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Sports Information Department