St. John’s provided a perfect ending for coach John Gagliardi’s record-breaking season, snapping Mt. Union’s NCAA-record 55-game winning streak with a 24-6 victory Saturday in the Division III championship football game in Salem, Va.
Mt. Union (13-1) had won three consecutive Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowls and 109 of its last 110 games before falling to Blake Elliott and the Johnnies (14-0). The Purple Raiders had won seven national titles in the previous 10 years.
Gagliardi, the 77-year-old coach who passed Eddie Robinson as college football’s career victories leader earlier this season, won his fourth national championship and first since the 1976 Division III title.
“It’s beyond words,” Gagliardi said. “It’s hard to think what this means. We beat a great team out there.”
Elliott, who won the Gagliardi Trophy as the top player in Division III, gave St. John’s a 17-6 lead with a 51-yard touchdown run with 13 minutes 34 seconds left. The Johnnies clinched the victory less than five minutes later on Mike Zauhar’s 100-yard interception return for a touchdown.
– Tyler Emmert threw three touchdown passes to Mark Gallik to help Carroll College defeat Northwestern Oklahoma State 41-28 in Savannah, Tenn., for its second straight NAIA championship.
