University of St. Thomas athletic director Steve Fritz doesn’t expect the Tommies to be intimidated by Mount Union’s reputation when the two teams meet Friday night to decide the Division III football national championship in the Amos Alonzo Stag Bowl in Salem, Virginia.
Mount Union has been in the title game 14 times since 1993, including the last seven years, according to d3football.com. The Alliance, Ohio school lost the last three Stag Bowls to UW-Whitewater but was Division III champions in 2005, 2006 and 2008. The Purple Raiders are a 10-time national champion.
This will be the Tommies’ first national title game ever but Fritz doesn’t expect St. Thomas players to be scared. “I don’t think so,” Fritz told Sports Headliners. “We come out of an awfully good region. Whitewater is from the same region. Really, the thing is, if you’re in the (title) game you’re good enough to win it.”
The Tommies are undefeated in regular season play the last three years under coach Glenn Caruso. The 2012 team is 14-0, the same record as Mount Union. This may not be Caruso’s most talented team but it’s the only one to advance this far in the playoffs, and there’s also another aspect to the 2012 group that pleases Fritz. “The thing I like is this team has gotten better week by week more than any team I’ve seen,” he said.
This is Caruso’s fifth season as head coach. “He’s done a spectacular job,” Fritz said. “We were looking to upgrade the program (when Caruoso was hired). We wanted to be at the top in the MIAC. To grow to one of the top programs nationally so fast is impressive.”
The Tommies departed by charter airplane for Virginia last night. They will practice during the week in Salem and have a community service school visit on Thursday.
Fritz said there will be at least one charter flight with Tommies fans going to the game and “maybe a second.” Travel information is available at the St. Thomas sports website.
He expects 300 to 500 St. Thomas fans at the game in the 7,000-plus seat stadium. He projected attendance of about 4,500 at the game which begins at 6 p.m. Minnesota time and will be televised on ESPNU.