For the second consecutive season, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football team will face the University of Mount Union with a national title on the line. The Cru and Purple Raiders will square off in Stagg Bowl XLVI Friday night in Shenandoah, Texas in a rematch of last season’s title game.
Mount Union won last year’s game 12-0 in Salem, Virginia as the Purple Raiders claimed the 13th national championship in program history. The all-time series between the two teams is tied at 2-2 with all of those meetings coming in the postseason. UMHB posted a 38-35 victory over UMU in the 2004 National Semifinals. The Purple Raiders topped UMHB 48-35 in a 2012 Semifinal match-up and the Cru edged Mount Union 14-12 in the 2016 Semifinals. Both teams go into the game with 14-0 records and are the top two teams in the country in both national polls. The Purple Raiders are ranked #1 nationally by both the American Football Coaches Association and D3football.com and will be making their 21st appearance in the Stagg Bowl. Mary Hardin-Baylor is second in the country in both of those polls and is in the national title game for the third straight year and fourth time in program history.
“It has been incredible to see this team’s chemistry develop and it is such a credit to our leadership,” Cru Head Coach Pete Fredenburg said. “Between last year’s loss and all that happened in the offseason, our players developed a tremendous dedication to get back to this game. Just getting back is not enough, though. We have to stand up and answer the challenge against a very good Mount Union team. Their program thrives on situations like this and have so much experience in these kind of games.”
Friday’s game will be televised on ESPNU with Mike Couzens, Kirk Morrison and Paul Carcaterra calling the action. UMHB’s radio broadcast will be available on KRock 101.7 with the pre-game starting at 5:30 PM. Live statistics will also be available at the following link: https://www.ncaa.com/game/football/d3/2018/12/14/mount-union-mary-hardin-baylor.
Tickets for the game are $20 and UMHB will be the home team in the contest. For more information on tickets, pre-game events and local hotels, please visit the UMHB Stagg Bowl website at https://go.umhb.edu/stagg-bowl.
