No. 2 ranked Mount Union and No. 1 ranked Wisconsin-Whitewater will meet for a sixth consecutive season in the NCAA Division III National Championship game — the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl — on Saturday, Dec. 18 at 3:30 p.m. in Salem, Virginia. The game will be broadcast LIVE on television on ESPNU, ESPNU HD.

It will be the 14th Stagg Bowl visit for the Purple Raiders who have won the game 10 times including the 2005 (35-28), 2006 (35-16) and 2008 (31-26) games against Whitewater. Whitewater is making its sixth Stagg Bowl appearance and the Warhawks won two championships both over Mount Union in 2007 (31-21) and 2009 (38-28).

The Purple Raiders (14-0), won the Ohio Athletic Conference and its automatic bid into the playoffs. After completing its fifth straight undefeated regular season, the No. 2 ranked Purple Raiders are 12-0 overall after beating St. Lawrence, 49-0 in the first round and No. 18 ranked Delaware Valley 31-3 in the second round, Alfred (N.Y.) 37-7 in the quarterfinals and a 34-14 win over No. 14 ranked Bethel (Minn.) in the semifinals.

Wisconsin-Whitewater (14-0) earned an automatic bid by winning the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) title. The Warhawks are making their ninth playoff appearance with a 27-6 record in NCAA post-season play. Whitewater defeated No. 24 Frankin (Ind.) 52-21 in the first round, No. 12 Trine (Ind.) 45-31 in the second round, then went on the road to beat No. 5 North Central (Ill.) 20-10 in the quarterfinals and No. 3 ranked Wesley (Del.) 27-7 in the semifinals.

This will be the seventh meeting between the schools with Mount Union holding a 5-2 edge in the series. The teams have met in each of the last five Stagg Bowls and also played a pair of regular season openers in 2002 and 2003 with Mount Union winning 44-21 in 2002 in Wisconsin and 40-17 in 2003 in Ohio. The Raiders are a combined 8-4 against WIAC teams (5-2 vs. UW-Whitewater, 2-2 vs. UW-LaCrosse and 1-0 vs. UW-Oshkosh).

swalker@MorningJournal.com