River Falls completes Cinderella re-invention, wins NCAA DIII title

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The rags-to-riches story for the University of Wisconsin-River Falls football program has its fairy-tale ending.

Once the doormat of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference but now a turbo-charged offensive powerhouse, River Falls laid claim to the NCAA Division III championship in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl on Jan. 4 with a 24-14 win over reigning champion North Central (Illinois) in Canton, Ohio.

North Central, located in Naperville, came into the battle undefeated and was appearing in its sixth consecutive Stagg Bowl, with wins in 2019, 2022 and 2024. River Falls had never been to the title game before, nor the semifinals the round before. It's the team's first appearance in the playoffs at all since 1996, and the Falcons recorded their first playoff win since 1995 along the way.

Quarterback Kaleb Blaha set a single-season record for total offense, just days after winning the Gagliardi Trophy acknowledging the top player in NCAA Division III. He's the third player from a Wisconsin school to win the award, joining Justin Beaver of Wisconsin-Whitewater (2007) and Brett Kasper of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (2017).

Blaha passed current Cincinnati Bengals star Joe Burrow's NCAA record for most total offensive yards in a single season, sliding past Burrow's mark of 6,039 yards with Louisiana State University in 2019.

Moments after setting the record, Blaha called his own number and rumbled into the end zone from 7 yards out, giving River Falls a 17-14 lead with 2:51 to go in the third quarter.

Blaha came into the game with 5,770 all-purpose yards. He passed for 277 yards, ran for 129 (with two touchdowns), and finished the game with 6,176.

In the fourth quarter, the offensive juggernaut River Falls made perhaps the biggest play of the game, on defense. Senior defensive end Jack Olson, a Prescott High School alumnus, jumped up to deflect and then corral a pass from North Central quarterback Garrett Wilson for an interception, setting up River Falls in the red zone at the North Central 11-yard line. One play later, Blaha again ran it in, spotting River Falls a 10-point lead at 24-14.

North Central had not trailed in a second half all season.

North Central scored on its opening possession and could have taken control of the game were it not for other River Falls takeaways. Up a touchdown and looking to score on its second drive of the game, North Central fumbled a first-down snap from the River Falls 7-yard line, a ball picked up by Gage Timm to thwart the scoring attempt. Timm, an Associated Press first-team All-American, hails from Shawano.

With North Central ahead late in the first half, 14-10, Wilson's pass to the end zone was intercepted by River Falls' Taylor Sussner as time expired.

River Falls, located across the Wisconsin's western border, just more than 35 miles from Minneapolis, had posted 19 consecutive losing seasons entering 2021. Head coach Matt Walker and offensive coordinator Joe Matheson told The Athletic's Chris Vannini about how they re-evaluated the team's approach during the year off compelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, eventually transforming the program into one that averages nearly 600 yards of offense per game. Their hyper-speed tempo allows River Falls to average 85 offensive naps per game, more than any other team in NCAA football at any level.

"It was desperation,” Matheson said. “If you have the personnel to run 12 personnel, that’s what you do. But we had to find ways to get our kids to success. People don’t understand how important it is to have a head coach that is willing to do crazy things.”

River Falls won its first outright WIAC title since 1985 before averaging 48.5 points per game over the first four playoff contests, including a thrilling 48-41 win over Johns Hopkins on Dec. 20 in a semifinal. That game featured a go-ahead 79-yard touchdown between Blaha and Blake Rohrer with 45 seconds left.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: River Falls completes Cinderella re-invention, wins NCAA DIII title

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