Lehnen, North Central beat Mount Union, win third D-III title since 2019
HOUSTON (AP) — Luke Lehnen accounted for five touchdowns Sunday night and North Central beat Mount Union 41-25 to win its third Division III national championship.
The Cardinals (15-0) appeared in their fifth consecutive Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.
Lehnen threw two of his four touchdown passes to Jacob Paradee and has 162 in his career, tied with John Matocha (D-II Colorado School of Mines, 2019-23) for college football's all-divisions record.
Mount Union's Tyler Echeverry ran 29 yards untouched to open the scoring — the first time North Central has trailed all season.
Lehnen, who went 57-2 over his college career, threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Myles Walton to make it 7-7 with 4:35 left in the first quarter. It gave Lehnen 159 career TD passes, breaking Braxton Plunk's (Mount Union, 2019-23) D-III record.
After the Purple Raiders failed to convert on fourth down deep in North Central territory, Lehnen scored on a 16-yard run about 7 minutes into the second quarter to make it 14-7 and the Cardinals led the rest of the way.
Mount Union (14-1) made trips into the red zone on four consecutive possessions but scored just once, a 30-yard field goal by Ivan Maric with 3:57 remaining first half.
The Purple Raiders (75) and North Central (47) have won a combined 122 consecutive regular season games.
Mount Union has won 13 D-III championships in 23 title game appearances, both of which are records. North Central — which captured its first title in 2019, the first championship-game berth in program history — beat the Purple Raiders 28-21 in the 2022 title game.
Echeverry, who had 68 yards rushing and a touchdown on eight carries in the first quarter, finished with 20 carries for 83 yards.
