Blaha, UW-River Falls beats defending champion North Central 24-14 for D-III title
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Kaleb Blaha threw a touchdown pass and added two second-half rushing TDs to help UW-River Falls beat defending national champion North Central 24-14 on Sunday night at Hall of Fame Stadium to win the first Division III title in program history.
“It definitely is a dream come true. I feel like I’m dreaming right now,” Blaha said after the win.
North Central, which has appeared in six consecutive Stagg Bowls and has won three titles in that span, had its 29-game win streak snapped. The Cardinals, who have held the top spot in 44 consecutive Division III coaches polls, lost for the first time since a 38-37 loss to Cortland in the 2023 title game.
Blaha was 27-of-41 passing for 291 yards and added 126 yards rushing on 18 carries. Blaha has 6,189 total yards this season, breaking Joe Burrow’s NCAA all-divisions single-season record of 6,039 yards in 2019 for LSU.
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UWRF, which advanced to the postseason for the first time since 1996, has won 11 games in a row. The team is due back in River Falls on Monday afternoon.
Sunday night’s win completed a stunning turnaround for the Falcons — and for coach Matt Walker, who started at River Falls in 2011. In his first three seasons, the Falcons won three games — total. But he and the program persevered.
“It felt like we were playing for a lot more than just our players today,” Walker said after the win. “These guys — they know guys that were on my 0-and-10 teams and 1-and-9 teams and 2-and-8 teams. They know guys in the community that love Falcon football. It felt like we were playing for so many more people today.”
UW-River Falls isn’t far from the Wisconsin-Minnesota state line — and the national title has a lot of friends, family and alumni cheering on both sides of the border. The Falcons’ roster includes more than 60 players from Minnesota.
That includes Blaha, who threw a 13-yard TD pass to Blake Rohrer late in the first half, ran for touchdowns of 7 yards in the third quarter and 12 yards in the fourth to give the Falcons a 24-14 lead.
Donovan McNeal raced 48 yards for a touchdown that opened the scoring just more than two minutes into the game. Justin Scheberl kicked a 25-yard field goal for UWRF (13-1) with 5:48 left in the first quarter. McNeal answered with a 2-yard TD run that capped a 15-play, 73-yard drive that took more than 9 1/2 minutes off the clock made it 14-3 — the Falcons’ largest deficit this season — with 11:07 left in the first half.
Falcons freshman Taylor Sussner picked off a pass in the end zone, his seventh interception this year, on the last play of the first half.
McNeal finished with 133 yards rushing on 23 carries. Wilson was 18-of-28 passing for 194 yards passing but threw two interceptions and lost a fumble deep in Falcons territory.
The Cardinals went into the game leading D-III in scoring offense (49.4 per game) and scoring defense (10.1).
MPR News contributed to this report.
