Related Links:UW-Whitewater Playoff Central The No. 5 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater football team made its 10th appearance in the NCAA Division III Playoffs semifinals in 11 years Saturday, falling 36-6 at No. 1 Mount Union in a showdown of two of the nation's top football programs at Mount Union Stadium.
The Warhawks (12-2 overall) scored on their first two drives of the contest and totaled 205 yards in the first half, but were stymied from the second quarter on as the Purple Raiders tallied 36 unanswered points the rest of the way.
Mount Union (14-0) advances to Friday's Stagg Bowl national championship game in Salem, Va., against the winner of the other semifinal, Linfield (Ore.) at St. Thomas (Minn.).
Junior kicker/punter
Lake Bachar (Wheaton, IL/Wheaton North) accounted for UW-Whitewater's scoring with a pair of field goals.
Senior running back
Jordan Ratliffe (Milwaukee/Milwaukee Vincent) rushed for 99 yards on 24 carries to lead the UW-Whitewater offense. Junior quarterback
Chris Nelson (Twin Lakes/Wilmot Union) finished 13-of-23 passing for 147 yards, and senior wide receiver
Joe Worth (Hartford/Hartford Union) collected six receptions for 56 yards, both team highs.
Senior defensive back
Shawn Shillcox (Two Rivers/Two Rivers) paced the defense with 11 tackles. Sophomore linebacker
Matt Seitz (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) posted 10 tackles, including one sack, and senior linebacker
Justin Dischler (Milwaukee/Pius XI) contributed 10 stops.
The Purple Raiders finished with 441 yards of total offense, including 306 on the ground, the most surrendered in one game by a Warhawk defense since 2003.
Nelson completed a 41-yard pass to junior tight end
Brent Campbell (Rockford, IL/Winnebago) on third down to put UW-Whitewater in Purple Raiders territory.
Bachar matched his longest field goal of the season, kicking a 46-yarder with 12:11 left in the first quarter to give the Warhawks a 3-0 advantage.
After being pinned at its own 1-yard line on a punt by the Purple Raiders, UW-Whitewater drove 77 yards in 14 plays to set up Bachar for a 40-yard field goal and take a 6-0 lead at the 3:24 mark of the quarter.
Mount Union took the lead with a touchdown on the ensuing drive and added another score with a two-point conversion to make it 15-6 with 27 seconds left in the period.
Neither team scored over the next 24-plus minutes before the Purple Raiders found the end zone with 5:36 remaining in the third quarter. Mount Union tacked on one more touchdown in the frame and another midway through the fourth to account for the final margin.
Over the last four years, UW-Whitewater's 17-player senior class accounted for three appearances in the NCAA Playoffs, including a pair of national championships, and two Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles. The Warhawks posted a record of 49-5 over that span (2012-15).
