By Don Stoner
Augsburg Sports Information Director
MINNEAPOLIS -- For all but 28 incredibly fortunate NCAA Division III teams, the last football season of the 20th century is now just a memory.
But there will still be some memories that will linger long for the teams that didn't make it to the playoffs -- and some records and accomplishments that give these teams hope for the future as the new century dawns.
Consider the performance of Wisconsin-Platteville. First-year coach Mike Emendorfer came to southwestern Wisconsin with some high goals for a program that had occupied the basement of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for most of the 1990s. And he very nearly accomplished his goals.
The Pioneers, using Emendorfer's high-powered -- and unfamiliar to UW-P fans in recent years -- passing offense, broke a 24-game WIAC losing streak with a dramatic 27-24 win against eventual playoff participant UW-La Crosse on Oct. 9, part of a four-win stretch in the final six games of the season to finish 5-5 overall, the team's first .500 record since 1995 and best WIAC finish (fourth) since 1992.
Platteville won behind the arm of Joel Beard, who donned the football pads for the first time in five years, after playing (and winning two national titles as part of) for the Pioneers' legendary men's basketball team. Beard set school records for completions (189), pass attempts (383) and pass yardage (2,227).
Consistency has been the hallmark of Steve Johnson's teams at Bethel. And this year was no exception. The Royals finished 8-2 in 1998, in a logjam tie for second in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, the sixth year in a row -- and ninth in the last 10 years -- that Johnson's teams have finished in the league's upper division during his 11-year tenure.
This year's Royal ballclub was steady and focused all year long, and have the unique distinction of being the only team to beat St. John's all year long. The 24-20 win on Oct. 9 was the school's first-ever win over the MIAC juggernaut Johnnies.
The heart and soul of the Royal club was linebacker Kirk Midthun, who did it all for Bethel -- he intercepted three passes (with a 50-yard TD return), returned kicks and punts (including an 88-yard punt return for a TD), and, on the side, had 71 tackles and 3.5 sacks. And another thing. Midthun also sings and plays piano as part of a Royal football choral group who performs in the school's chapel services.
If there has been something as dependable as the sun coming up every morning, it has been the rushing performances of UW-River Falls. The Falcons have led Division III in rushing in six seasons (1986, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1997 and 1998), and have been the WIAC's rushing champion each season since 1974. While this year won't bring a national rushing title to River Falls (the Falcons will finish third in the country behind Springfield's 375.3 yards per game), the Falcons can fairly claim that they have been the most dominant rushing team in the nation for the past two decades. This year, the Falcons put together another dominating year on the ground, gaining 3206 rushing yards (320.6 per game) on 610 carries -- a steady, bruising 5.3 yards-per-carry average. UW-RF also scored 25 rushing touchdowns in 1999. And it was a balanced attack, as no Falcon averaged more than 70 rushing yards a game and seven drivers had averages of 30 yards per contest or greater.
The Falcons' wishbone started with legendary coach Mike Farley, who earned eight WIAC titles from 1970 to 1989. And when John O'Grady took over coaching duties in 1989, the wishbone stayed. O'Grady's teams have only had one losing season (4-5-1 in 1991), and rallied from a slow start to finish 6-4 this season.
Carthage's Kevin Burns was been a scoring machine. The tailback finished the season with 234 career points and 38 career touchdowns, smashing the school's record set by Jim Jodat (1972-75), who scored 37 TDs and had 226 points before being signed by the Los Angeles Rams, where he captained the special teams in the 1980 Super Bowl.
Illinois College finished 2-8 this season. For some, that would be a disappointment. For the Blueboys, that's a 200% improvement over last year's 0-10 campaign. The Blueboys snapped a 19-game losing streak this year, mostly behind the throwing of Derek Leonard -- who snapped just about every passing record in school history -- and fullback Patrick Bowman, who became the first IC runner since 1983 to rush for 1,000 yards.
A couple of other outstanding individual performances: Concordia-Wisconsin's Aaron Paulin setting school records for receptions in a season (77), receiving yards in a season (1,032) and single-game receiving yards (211); Concordia-Moorhead's Mark Hankel's school-record 14 sacks this season; Carleton's J.J. Franz and Jeff Thurk, who each had 10 sacks this year; and Augsburg's Brian Warden, who set a school record with 232 carries this season.
Those are some of the many highlights of this year in Midwest college football. It's been a pleasure sharing these stories with you this season. A special thanks to all my fellow sports information directors from around the region, who have allowed me to basically steal their best work and provide it to readers of this Web site.
Now, it's time to enjoy the playoffs. Oh, yeah, did we mention that basketball season is starting on Friday?
This column is drawn from a variety of sources, including the outstanding work and research of sports information directors from Division III schools all over the Midwest.
