Football
Associated Press 18y

NW Missouri St. falls short as time expires in D-II final

FLORENCE, Ala. -- Brandon Langston caught a 35-yard
touchdown pass from Cullen Finnerty in the final minutes to lead
Grand Valley State to a 21-17 victory over Northwest Missouri State
in the Division II championship game on Saturday.
The Lakers then came up with a key defensive stop after
Northwest Missouri moved to the 3-yard line as the game ended.
Grand Valley won its third title in four seasons.
After a sack left the Bearcats with fourth-and-15 from the 21
with 1 second left, Josh Lamberson rolled right and hit Raphael
Robinson inside the 5 on the opposite side of the field. Robinson
spun, but Tommy Miller and Joe Ballard brought him down at the 3 to
end the 82-yard drive.
Grand Valley (13-0) also won titles in 2002 and 2003. Northwest
Missouri (11-4) was the first team to win four straight road
playoff games, but lost for the first time in three championship
game appearances.
Finnerty moved Grand Valley 82 yards after taking over midway
through the fourth quarter. He converted three third-down plays on
the drive. On third-and-4, he hit Langston on a slant pattern, and
the receiver raced 35 yards for a score with 4:25 to play.
Lamberson and the Bearcats nearly pulled out a second straight
game-winning drive at Braly Municipal Field. They made the
championship game with Robinson's only touchdown catch of the
season, a 3-yarder with 23 seconds left to beat North Alabama.
This time, he was stopped short.
Lamberson completed five consecutive passes to move the Bearcats
downfield. They made it to the 17 but he was chased out of bounds
by Rory Steinbach and Justin Ulberg for a loss on third down with a
second remaining.
Northwest Missouri used its last timeout to set up the final
play. Robinson was wide open briefly, but the defense swarmed after
the ball and kept him out of the end zone.
Lamberson set a championship game record for completions, going
33-of-49 for 326 yards and a touchdown. Tight end Mike Peterson had
career-highs of nine catches for 150 yards, including a 61-yarder
and a 30-yard touchdown. Peterson was a nonfactor on the final
drive with Northwest Missouri operating out of the spread offense.
Northwest Missouri had taken a 17-14 lead on Tommy Frevert's
35-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter, set up
by Peterson's 61-yarder.
Finnerty was 12-of-19 for 172 yards. He ran 14 times for 59
yards, including TD runs of 5 and 3 yards.

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