Fans get one last look at Leipold,
Whitewater seniors
Janesville, Wisc., Gazette
December 12, 2014
Lance Leipold will lead his UW-Whitewater football team onto
the field at Perkins Stadium for the final time this afternoon.
Leipold, who has accepted the head coaching job at the
University of Buffalo, and the Warhawks take on Linfield (Oregon) College at
2:30 p.m. today in a NCAA Division III semifinal game.
The winner faces either Mount Union (13-0) or Wesley (12-1)
on Friday night in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl in Salem, Virginia.
The Warhawks (13-0) are familiar playing this far into
December. Whitewater teams have played in nine NCAA Division III semifinals in
the past 10 years. They last hosted a semifinal game in 2011.
Leipold has been the coach for the Warhawks in their last
seven playoff appearances, with five NCAA Division III championship trophies
sitting in the UW-Whitewater football offices.
He is 32-1 in playoff games and 107-6 overall.
One of Whitewater’s most memorable playoff wins came in the
2005 playoffs against Linfield, a game that put the Warhawks in the national
spotlight to stay.
Under coach Bob Berezowitz, the second-ranked Warhawks
traveled to McMinnville, Oregon, to take on the
then-defending-national-champion Wildcats in a quarterfinal game.
Linfield was the unanimous No. 1-ranked team. The Warhawks
went to Oregon and pulled off a 44-41 upset with Justin Beaver scoring the
game-winning TD on a 1-yard run with less than a minute to play.
The Warhawks then romped past Wesley 58-6 in the semifinals
before losing to Mount Union 35-28 in the national championship game.
That marked the start of the Warhawks’ NCAA Division III
run.
Linfield is 11-1, averaging 47.7 points a game. The Wildcats
average 251 yards passing and 211 yards rushing.
The Warhawks are averaging 41.4 points a game, with 221
yards rushing and 268 passing.
Defensively, Linfield has allowed an average of 12.6 games,
compared to the Warhawks’ 10.4.
The Warhawks’ 30-game winning streak is the longest in
college football regardless of division.
