SHENANDOAH, Texas — UMHB football won Stagg Bowl XLVI at Woodforest Bank Stadium in Shenandoah, Texas, for the school's second Division III Football National Championship.
UMHB defeated Mount Union 24-16 to earn the title.
Each team came up empty on its opening drive after Mount Union was forced to punt and UMHB kicker Anthony Avila missed a 37-yard field goal.
The Purple Raiders scored on each of their next two drives, starting with a 41-yard field goal against the wind from Cory Barnett. On Mount's next drive, D'Angelo Fulford ran a one-yard TD after keeping the ball on an option play.
The Cru then answered nearing the end of the first quarter when Jase Hammack connected with T.J. Josey in the corner of the end zone for a 36-yard TD to end the first quarter down 10-7.
In the second, Mount Union added a chip-shot 22-yard FG from Barnett with 10:01 until half to push it to 13-7 Purple Raiders.
At that point, each team traded punts for most of the quarter with defenses forcing penalties to stall drives.
Then, with 38 seconds left until halftime, Markeith Miller powered home a 2-yard rush to give UMHB its first lead at 14-13, the first Crusader lead against Mount Union since winning the 2016 semifinal 14-12 in Belton.
That would be the score at halftime.
On the first possession of the second half, Avila kicked a 30-yard FG to push the UMHB lead to four.
The next score came with less than 10 minutes in the fourth quarter when Hammack hit a wide open KJ Miller to extend UMHB's lead to 11 points.
Mount Union cut into that lead with a field goal around the 7-minute mark in the final quarter, making the score 24-16.
That ended up being the final score, as the Cru's defense made crucial stops down the stretch to seal the deal for another national title.
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