Beaver, the Gagliardi Trophy winner as the best player in Division III, overcame a costly fumble with his normal reliability on the ground today, leading the Warhawks to a 31-21 victory in the soggy, cold Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.

The Warhawks won their first national title after losing 35-28 to Mount Union in the 2005 championship game and 35-16 in the rematch last year.

Wisconsin-Whitewater (14-1) ended Mount Union's 37-game winning streak, and deprived the Purple Raiders of their 10th national title in the past 15 years.

Beaver ran for 249 yards and broke off a backbreaking 66-yard run in the final minutes after the Purple Raiders closed to 24-21 with 3:36 remaining. Four plays after the long jaunt, quarterback Danny Jones' sneak finished the upset.

The Purple Raiders (14-1) turned the ball over three times on fumbles — two by quarterback Greg Micheli and one by tailback Nate Kmic — and never got their vaunted offense untracked. Mount Union came in averaging more than 54 points in the playoffs, but the Warhawks quickly began demonstrating that they were not playing in awe.

And when Mount Union seemed poised to rally in the end, Beaver didn't let them, turning a run into the line that looked to be going nowhere into a footrace down the right sideline that didn't end until he stepped out of bounds at the 4 yard-line.

Earlier, he seemed in line for a much less desirable finish.

After Mount Union finally scored on an 11-yard run by Kmic in the third quarter, Beaver fumbled on the next play and the Purple Raiders recovered. They promptly drove for another touchdown, Kmic taking it in on fourth-and-inches to make it 17-14.

In rainy conditions, both teams continued to struggle until a fumble by Micheli, Matt Blaziewske's recovery and a 15-yard penalty set the Warhawks up at midfield.

Six Beaver runs and one pass later, it was 24-14 with 6:11 to play.

The Purple Raiders trailed 10-0 at halftime, the first time they've been behind at intermission since 2005. Three times they went for it on fourth down, and each time they failed. They also failed to cash in on a fumble lost by Jones.

Tony DeRiggi recovered for the Purple Raiders at the Whitewater 44, but on the next play, Micheli ran for 12 yards before he, too, coughed it up, and Anthony White recovered for the Warhawks. Kmic later killed a drive that had reached the Warhawks 29 when he was stripped by Gabe Schultz. Grant Murray recovered for Whitewater.

The Warhawks struggled for most of the half, too, but started and ended well.

On their opening drive, Jones completed passes for 36 yards on the first two plays, Beaver had a 26-yard run that would have been a touchdown had he not slipped, and Jones scored on a quarterback sneak on second-and-goal to make it 7-0 after just 4:30.

Mount Union had given up six points in the first quarter all year.