Courtesy: AFCA http://www.afca.com/ Mount Union Head Coach Larry Kehres

WACO, TEXAS — No. 1 Mount Union outscored No. 2 Wisconsin-Whitewater 21-3 in the second half of the Stagg Bowl, en route to a 35-16 victory, to win their record ninth national championship and claim the No. 1 spot in the final American Football Coaches Association Division III Coaches’ Top 25 Poll for a fifth time in the eight-year history of the poll.

Whitewater finished with a 14-1 mark in 2006, which tied their school record for victories in a season set last year. No. 3 Capital earned a new school record with 11 wins this season, finishing 11-2 with a trip to the quarterfinals. No. 4 St. John Fisher made the biggest move in the poll, moving up 12 spots after the Cardinals made the semifinals for the first time in school history. St. John’s turned in a 11-2 record after losing to Whitewater, 17-14, in the quarterfinals and jumped up to the No. 5 spot.

No. 6 Wesley fell three spots after its loss to Whitewater, 44-7, in the semifinals. Wisconsin-La Crosse moved up two positions to No. 7 after the Eagles went 9-2 and made it to the second round. Mary Hardin-Baylor also moved up in the poll, from No. 11 to No. 8, after its quarterfinal appearance. No. 9 Whitworth lost to St. John’s, 21-3, in the second round, ending its record at 11-1. Rowan lost to St. John Fisher, 31-0, in the quarterfinals, but moved up four spots to No. 10.

Central lost to St. John’s (Minn.), 21-13, in the first round and tumbled to the 11th position. No. 12 Wilkes fell six spots in the poll after its second round loss to Rowan, 21-14, while Wheaton moved up four positions to No. 13 despite losing to Mount Union, 35-3, also in the second round. No. 14 Springfield ended its season at 10-2 with an appearance in the second round. Occidental fell 10 places to 15th after its first round loss to Whitworth, 27-23.

No. 16 Washington & Jefferson finished its season at 10-2 after a 30-27 loss to Mary Hardin-Baylor in the second round, as did Hardin-Simmons who lost to Mary Hardin-Baylor, 33-21, in the first round and fell to the 17th position. No. 18 Bethel (Minn.) moved up one spot despite losing to La Crosse, 28-21, in the first round. Carnegie-Mellon also moved up in the poll, from No. 22 to No. 19, after the Tartans went 11-1 on the season, including a trip to the second round. North Central lost to Capital, 41-13, in the second round and moves into the poll at No. 20

Concordia (Wis.) fell to the 21st position after North Central handed the Falcons its first loss of the season, 35-6, in the first round. No. 22 Hobart finished its season at 8-2 with a loss to Rowan in the first round. No. 23 St. Norbert tumbled five spots after its 59-17 first round loss to Whitewater. No. 24 Mount St. Joseph fell to Wheaton, 42-28, in the first round and ended its season at 9-2, as did No. 25 Cortland State, who lost to Rensselaer, 26-7, in an ECAC playoff.

Conference Breakdown: American Southwest (Mary Hardin-Baylor, Hardin-Simmons), Empire 8 (St. John Fisher, Springfield), Minnesota (St. John’s, Bethel), New Jersey (Rowan, Cortland St.), Ohio (Mount Union, Capital), Wisconsin (Wisconsin-Whitewater, Wisconsin-La Crosse), Atlantic Central (Wesley), Heartland (Mount St. Joseph), Illini-Badger (Concordia {Wis.}), Illinois-Wisconsin (Wheaton, North Central), Iowa (Central {Iowa}), Liberty (Hobart), Middle Atlantic (Wilkes), Midwest (St. Norbert), Northwest (Whitworth), Presidents (Washington & Jefferson), Southern California (Occidental), University (Carnegie Mellon).

Poll Points: Mount Union extended its record of national championships for teams who participate in a playoff format to nine ... Fourteen teams ranked in the poll had a representative on the 2006 AFCA Division III Coaches’ All-America team ... Josh Brehm, senior quarterback at Alma, was named the recipient of the 2006 Gagliardi Trophy. Brehm led NCAA Division III in three categories: total offense (4,084), passing yards (3,448) and passing yards per game (344.8). He set an NCAA record with 288 consecutive pass attempts without an interception, and set the NCAA Division III record with 10 consecutive games of 300 yards of total offense or more ... Wilkes won a school record 11 games in 2006, including the program’s first playoff win, finishing with an 11-1 mark ... 2006 AFCA Regional Coach of the Year winners Mike DeLong of Springfield, Frank Sheptock of Wilkes, Larry Kehres of Mount Union and Bob Berezowitz of Wisconsin-Whitewater all have their teams ranked in the final Division III Coaches’ Poll ... DeLong earned his fourth Regional COTY award after leading Springfield to a 10-2 record, the Empire 8 co-championship and an appearance in the second round of the playoffs. Sheptock recorded his first Regional COTY award by leading Wilkes to an 11-1 record and the program’s first Middle Atlantic Conference title. Kehres tied Penn State’s Joe Paterno with his 11th Regional COTY Award in 2006. Berezowitz claimed his second straight Regional COTY honor after leading Whitewater to a second straight national title game ... Twenty-four of the 32 teams in the 2006 Division III playoff field are ranked in the final AFCA Division III Coaches’ Poll.

Rank	School (1st votes)	Rec.	Pts.	Prv.	Postseason Result	Head Coach
1.	Mount Union (Ohio) (40)	15-0	1,000	1	D. Wis.-Whitewater, 35-16 in Stagg Bowl	Larry Kehres
2.	Wis.-Whitewater	14-1	960	2	Lost to Mount Union (Ohio), 35-16 in Stagg Bowl	Bob Berezowitz
3.	Capital (Ohio)	11-2	861	7	Lost to Mount Union (Ohio), 17-14, in quarterfinals	Jim Collins
4.	St. John Fisher (N.Y.)	12-2	836	16	Lost to Mount Union (Ohio), 26-14, in semifinals	Paul Vosburgh
5.	St. John’s (Minn.)	11-2	825	12	Lost to Wis.-Whitewater, 17-14, in quarterfinals	John Gagliardi
6.	Wesley (Del.)	13-1	805	3	Lost to Wis.-Whitewater, 44-7, in semifinals	Mike Drass
7.	Wis.-La Crosse	9-2	712	9	Lost to Wis.-Whitewater, 24-21, in second round	Larry Terry
8.	Mary Hardin-Baylor (Texas)	10-3	662	11	Lost to Wesley (Del.), 30-24, in quarterfinals	Pete Fredenburg
9.	Whitworth (Wash.)	11-1	606	8	Lost to St. John’s (Minn.), 21-3, in second round	John Tully
10.	Rowan (N.J.)	9-3	587	14	Lost to St. John Fisher (N.Y.), 31-0, in quarterfinals	Jay Accorsi
11.	Central (Iowa)	10-1	558	4	Lost to St. John’s (Minn.), 21-13, in first round	Jeff McMartin
12.	Wilkes (Pa.)	11-1	527	6	Lost to Rowan (N.J.), 21-14, in second round	Frank Sheptock
13.	Wheaton (Ill.)	10-2	503	17	Lost to Mount Union (Ohio), 35-3 in second round	Mike Swider
14.	Springfield (Mass.)	10-2	471	20	Lost to St. John Fisher (N.Y.), 27-21, in second round	Mike DeLong
15.	Occidental (Calif.)	9-1	439	5	Lost to Whitworth (Wash.), 27-23, in first round	Dale Widolff
16.	Washington & Jefferson (Pa.)	10-2	421	21	Lost to Mary Hardin-Baylor, 30-27, in second round	Mike Sirianni
17.	Hardin-Simmons (Texas)	8-2	397	10	Lost to Mary Hardin-Baylor, 33-21, in first round	Jimmie Keeling
18.	Bethel (Minn.)	9-2	369	19	Lost to Wis.-La Crosse, 28-21, in first round	Steve Johnson
19.	Carnegie-Mellon (Pa.)	11-1	246	22	Lost to Wesley (Del.), 37-0, in second round	Rich Lackner
20.	North Central (Ill.)	9-3	209	NR	Lost to Capital (Ohio), 41-13, in second round	John Thorne
21.	Concordia (Wis.)	10-1	194	13	Lost to North Central (Ill.), 35-6, in first round	Jeff Gabrielsen
22.	Hobart (N.Y.)	8-2	188	24	Lost to Rowan (N.J.), 20-18, in first round	Mike Cragg
23.	St. Norbert (Wis.)	10-1	167	18	Lost to Wis.-Whitewater, 59-17, in first round	Jim Purtill
24.	Mount St. Joseph (Ohio)	9-2	130	23	Lost to Wheaton (Ill.), 42-28, in first round	Rod Huber
25.	Cortland St. (N.Y.)	9-2	119	15	Lost to Rensselaer (N.Y.), 26-7, in ECAC playoff	Dan MacNeill

Dropped Out (Last week’s rank): Curry (Mass.) (25).

Others Receiving Votes: Curry (Mass.), 53; Christopher Newport (Va.), 45; Williams (Mass.), 18; Linfield (Ore.), 18; Union (N.Y.), 14; Rensselaer (N.Y.), 12; Trinity (Conn.), 9; Franklin (Ind.), 8; Dickinson (Pa.), 7; Baldwin-Wallace (Ohio), 6; Trinity (Texas), 5; Millsaps (Miss.), 5; Wittenberg (Ohio), 3; Wartburg (Iowa), 2; Coe (Iowa), 1; Bridgewater (Va.), 1; Washington & Lee (Va.), 1.