College of DuPage makes history with 4th straight national title

Saturday afternoon’s National Junior College Athletic Association Division III championship game at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn was a study in contrast between two teams seeking to make history.

In one corner was three-time defending titlist College of DuPage seeking a fourth straight championship.

In the other was Louisburg (North Carolina), which was playing in arguably its biggest game in the program’s 20-year history, its first title-game appearance.

Unfortunately for the visiting Hurricanes, it ran into a Chapparals head wind too strong to withstand. DuPage posted a 31-14 win in the Red Grange Bowl to earn that fourth straight crown on the Bob MacDougall Field at Bjarne Ullsvik Stadium.

The win makes COD (11-1) only the sixth program in any level of American college football to have achieved such a feat. The Chapparals join Yale (1880-84), Michigan (1901-04) in NCAA Division I, Augustana (1983-86) in NCAA Division III, Carroll, Montana, (2002-05) in NAIA, and North Dakota State (2011-15 and 2017-21) in the NCAA’s Division I Football Championship Series.

It also marked the 58th time in all NJCAA sports that a program had reached that milestone while giving the Glen Ellyn-based school its 41st overall NJCAA title among all of their 20 sports programs.

“I’m just proud of these kids,” DuPage coach Matt Rahn said shortly after accepting his fourth straight NJCAA Coach of the Year award.

“These kids deserve this. They worked harder than any junior college (team) in the country. I’m so happy that we were able to pull this out and be champions.”

After the home team jumped ahead 7-0 on 36-yard TD toss from freshman Justin Bland (Glenbard North) to Clayton Bone, the game began to turn in the opening period’s late stages. The Chapparals defense and special teams quelled a pair of Louisburg scoring threats as freshman Mason Montgomery (South Elgin) blocked a Jesse Viens 47-yard field-goal try, ending a 12-play drive.

After the Hurricanes (8-3) got a three-and-out, their next offensive possession reached the COD 25 before a sack by DuPage sophomore and game MVP Darion Johnson on a fourth-and-5.

From there the hosts marched 65 yards to paydirt on six plays. Sophomore Ernest Temple (7 carries, 51 yards) took it in from 24 yards out to open up a 14-0 advantage at the 13:39 mark of the second.

The Chapparals made the score 21-0, taking advantage of a shanked punt moving 52 yards on 8 plays with Bland finishing the drive on a 3-yard keeper.

After Prince’s 2-yard TD jaunt got the Hurricanes on the scoreboard with 1:50 left in the second, a Christian Casillas 44-yard field goal with 24 seconds left gave DuPage a 24-7 cushion at the half.

Prince (18 carries, 63 yards) got the Hurricanes within 24-14 on an 8-yard run with 9:31 left in the third. But they got no closer as Bland’s second scoring run from 7 yards out with six minutes left sealed the outcome and their date with history.

The Chaparrals outgained Louisburg 325-245 for the day.

Bland, who finished with 184 yards total offense, took some time after the contest to absorb the impact of the win.

“We had the mentality to take every play like it was our last and came out with the victory,“ Bland said. ”That was the plan. It’s the greatest feeling ever.”