UWF advances to NCAA Division II championship game

INDIANA, Pa. — Kings of the North, indeed.

The University of West Florida went on the road and took down undefeated, No. 3 Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 27-17, on Saturday at Frank Cignetti Field in Indiana, Pennsylvania, in the NCAA Division II semifinals, continuing an unprecedented postseason run by clinching a spot in next Saturday’s national championship game.

UWF, in just its second season of collegiate football, is the quickest team to make the playoffs in Division II history and has now defeated five consecutive Top 25 opponents dating back to a win over West Georgia in the regular-season finale on Nov. 11.

UWF (11-3) will play Texas A&M-Commerce next Saturday at 5 p.m. at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kan. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

“I still don’t know that we’ve grasped that (we’re going to the national championship),” Shinnick said. “Mike (Beaudry) I think used 'incredible, unbelievable, amazing' last week ... we’re out of words.

“Fun, that’s how it feels. This group is a fun group and we get to spend another week together. That’s fun.”

One week after dethroning the Gulf South Conference champions in West Alabama, the Argos punished one of the nation’s top rushing defenses on the ground from the game’s first drive.

UWF sophomore running back Chris Schwarz – who’d never rushed for 100 yards in a single game before Saturday – sliced through the Crimson Hawks’ defense to the tune of 141 yards and a touchdown in just the first half.

IUP would slow Schwarz in the second half but not before Schwarz reeled off a career high 179 rushing yards and a touchdown while averaging six yards per carry.

“It’s a great experience to play against such a great team, the No. 1 seed,” Schwarz said. “We just had a great day for us. The O-line was clicking. Everything was clicking on offense.”

It was the beginning of a dominating afternoon for UWF in terms of time of possession. The Argos ultimately possessed the ball for 37:01 compared to IUP’s 22:59, leaving UWF’s defense on the bench to remain fresh.

“It’s cool. I’ll watch Schwarz run the ball 10 times down the field,” UWF linebacker Reggie Barnes said. “I like that. I think we ran like four plays in the first quarter. It was kind of boring, but when the offense is dominating like that, we’re happy.”

UWF got on the board first with a 7-yard touchdown run by Schwarz for a 7-0 lead with 1:49 left in the first quarter.

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The Argos added another score right away after UWF linebacker Andre Duncombe intercepted IUP quarterback and three-time Harlon Hill nominee Lenny Williams Jr. on the next possession and UWF turned that mistake into a 30-yard field goal by Austin Williams and a 10-0 lead less than one minute into the second quarter.

UWF built on its lead thanks to another turnover, this time on a fumble by Williams Jr. late in the first half and deep in UWF territory turned into a 6-yard touchdown pass from Mike Beaudry to Tate Lehtio for a 17-0 halftime lead.

The Argos went up 24-0 with 9:24 left in the third quarter when Beaudry connected with Kevin Grant for a 15-yard touchdown.

Then, IUP (13-1) started a furious rally with 17 unanswered points on a 1-yard touchdown run by Samir Bullock and a 20-yard touchdown pass from Williams Jr. to Chris Wuestner in the third quarter before a 19-yard field goal by Dillon Sarka cut UWF’s lead to 24-17.

With all the momentum rolling in IUP’s favor, UWF put together a championship-caliber drive by going 73 yards over 13 plays, chewing up 7:35 of the fourth quarter and capping it with a 25-yard Austin Williams field goal.

“I think (the maturity) is off the charts, especially when we hit a 40-yarder that came back because of an interference call against Ka’Ron Ashley,” Shinnick said. “To overcome first-and-20 is a great testimony to the perserverance of this group here.

“I don’t think anybody panicked or anybody fell out or anything … our guys are very resilient. I don’t think you come back from three losses and keep winning this way without a little resiliency.”

IUP made two late scrambles for the end zone but twice turned the ball over on downs, first on a Marvin Conley pass breakup and second on a John Williamson sack with a little over 30 seconds remaining.

Beaudry, Williamson, Barnes and Schwarz joined Shinnick in the postgame interviews, the first three being members of the Argos’ original 2015 redshirt class that didn’t play a game that season.

And here they are two years later with a ticket to the Division II national championship with their name on it. It’s a moment even they have a difficult time believing.

“These guys right here, they’ve been with us from the beginning and they’ve been through a lot of long practices,” Shinnick said. “They went through a lot of time where we weren’t going to play. The fall of 2015 may have been the longest, boringest experience of their life.

“To be here is a great credit to them and their leadership and what we’ve been able to do.”

Eric Wallace can be reached at ejwallace@pnj.com or 850-525-5087

NCAA DIVISION II CHAMPIONSHIP

Who: UWF vs. Texas A&M-Commerce

When: 5 p.m., Saturday

Where: Children's Mercy Park, Kansas City, Kansas

Records: UWF 11-3, Texas A&M-Commerce 13-1

TV: ESPN2