Wittenbergs NCAA championship dreams stopped by nations top-ranked team

ALLIANCE, Ohio -- The Wittenberg University Tigers thought they had all the pieces in place in 2000 to make a run at a national championship. They might have, but three costly turnovers after a strong start proved too much to overcome in what turned out to be a season-ending 32-15 defeat at the hands of No. 1 ranked Mount Union College.

The Tigers got the better of things in the early going, forcing Mount Union, winners of four NCAA Division III national championships since 1993 and Ohio Athletic Conference titlists nine straight times, to punt on its first series. Then senior quarterback Anthony Crane (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis) hit junior wide receiver Michael Aljancic (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville) with an 80-yard scoring strike on the Tigers first play from scrimmage to take the 6-0 lead. The extra point was blocked.

The Wittenberg defense continued to hold the powerful Purple Raider offense, which averaged more than 50 points per game in the regular season, in check through most of the rest of the first quarter, but the Tigers still relinquished the lead for good as it turned out. Mount Union linebacker Jesse Pearson recovered a fumbled exchange between Crane and senior tailback Casey Donaldson (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) and went 34 yards to the house with 5:02 left in the first quarter.

With the score 7-6, the Tigers then proceeded to turn the ball over on their next possession as well. Cranes screen pass intended for Aljancic was picked off by Mount Unions Matt Campbell at the Wittenberg 29-yard line. Three plays from scrimmage netted a second easy score for the Raiders, a 29-yard scamper down the sideline by All-American running back Chuck Moore.

The second quarter was dominated by Mount Unions precise offense, and the result was an additional 12 points on three time-consuming drives. All-American wide receiver Adam Marino caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Gary Smeck, the OACs co-Offensive Player of the Year, and then kicker Rodney Chenos tacked on a pair of short field goals for a 26-6 halftime lead.

Wittenberg played a gutsy second half, holding the Raiders, who improved to 12-0 overall this year with the win, to a lone Chuck Moore touchdown run in the entire second half. But the Tigers could muster just nine points of their own in the final 30 minutes as senior placekicker Ryan Walker (Newark, Ohio/Newark) hit a third-quarter field goal and Donaldson scored his 31st and final touchdown of the season with 4:49 left in the fourth.

Wittenberg concludes the season with a 12-1 overall record and now must say good-bye to perhaps the greatest senior class in its storied history. Seventeen seniors played their final game and will have a school-best 43-4 record, three perfect 10-0 regular seasons and a trio of North Coast Athletic Conference championships to look back upon.

Statistically in the game, Donaldson finished with 93 hard-fought yards on 29 carries, while senior fullback Gary Henson (Columbus, Ohio/Marion-Franklin) wound up with 45 yards on seven carries. Senior quarterback Chris Damico (Delaware, Ohio/Hayes) completed 12 passes in 21 attempts for 153 yards in the second half, and senior wide receiver Labon Storts (Columbus, Ohio/Westland) rounded out his career with a stellar nine-catch, 128-yard performance.

Defensively, junior linebacker Dustin Goldsbury (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Ready) topped the team with 13 tackles. Junior defensive tackle Juan Howard (Wooster, Ohio/Wooster) played a tremendous game, finishing with eight tackles, including three for loss.