River Falls quarterback Kaleb Blaha passed for five touchdowns, three to junior Blake Rohrer, including the winning score with 45 seconds left.
UW-River Falls long ago crossed into uncharted territory for the history of its football program. On Dec. 20, it guaranteed two more weeks of magic.
River Falls defeated Johns Hopkins in an NCAA Division III national semifinal, 48-41, clinching the program's first trip to the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl for the national championship; that game will take place Jan. 4 in Canton, Ohio. River Falls will meet either John Carroll (Ohio) or North Central (Illinois) for the crown.
North Central won the title last season and has been to the past five Stagg Bowls, with wins after the 2024, 2022 and 2019 seasons.
The high-flying River Falls offense was at it again, moving to 12-1 with the win at Ramer Field. The Falcons have scored 58, 42, 46 and now 48 points in their playoff games.
River Falls senior quarterback Kaleb Blaha passed for five touchdowns, including the winning score to junior Blake Rohrer with 45 seconds left.
Before that 21-yard connection, the pair of Minnesota natives had combined for TDs of 20 and 25 yards in the third quarter.
Blaha, who led Division III in passing yards, racked up 520 in extending his season, completing 30 of 48 passes with at least one to each of eight receivers. Rohrer finished with nine catches for 236 yards.
River Falls will become the first Wisconsin team to appear in the championship game since UW-Whitewater lost to North Central in 2019. UW-Oshkosh lost in the final in 2016, and before that, Whitewater made itself a Stagg Bowl fixture, with championships in 2014, 2013, 2011, 2010, 2009 and 2007, plus runner-up finishes in 2008, 2006 and 2005. UW-La Crosse won the crown in 1995 and 1992.
Even getting to the quarterfinals marked the first time River Falls had gotten that far since 1995, and the game against Johns Hopkins marked the first semifinals appearance. The Falcons, winners of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title outright for the first time since 1985, also got to host the first playoff games in program history this season.
Neither team led the semifinal by more than one score throughout the course of the game, though Johns Hopkins had a chance to go up 9 points with a 39-yard field goal just before halftime, but the kick was no good.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: UW-River Falls tops Johns Hopkins, advances to Division III title game
Category: General Sports
