But UMHB - strengthened by a disheartening regular-season loss to its biggest rival - continued its playoff roll by flattening W&J on the way to the national title game.
It is four years later and the story has come full circle heading into the teams’ quarterfinal matchup at noon Saturday at Tiger Field in Belton. It is the fourth-ranked Crusaders (11-1) who are the cream of the crop in the South Region and the No. 18-ranked Presidents (11-1) who have bucked up since a disappointing mid-season loss.
“I don’t think we would be here now if we hadn’t lost that game,” W&J coach Mike Sirianni said.
The setback Sirianni spoke of was a 35-29 loss to Thomas More (Ky.) on Nov. 1. It was the Presidents’ first Presidents Athletic Conference loss in three years, second in five years and just their third in six seasons under the 36-year-old Sirianni.
More than anything else, it was an eye-opener.
“That game changed our philosophy on offense - we started running the ball a little more - and we have played very well since that loss,” said Sirianni, whose .871 career winning percentage (61-9) is second among active D-III coaches. “The kids just relaxed and started playing.
“Like I said before, I don’t think there’s any way we’re preparing for a quarterfinal game if we had won that game.”
But it wasn’t motivation alone that carried the Presidents past Christopher Newport (Va.) in the first round and No. 3 Millsaps (Miss.) last week. W&J - whose 117-year football history includes 657 victories, second-most of any D-III school - also has its share of athletes.
Senior quarterback Bobby Swallow is 275-of-413 for 3,551 yards and 36 touchdowns. He has tossed just five interceptions and is on pace to break the D-III records for fewest interceptions thrown in a career. Of his 992 career attempts, only 14 (1.4 percent) have been picked off.
“He has the whole offense at his disposal,” Sirianni said of Swallow, a three-year starter. “We can go to any play we’ve run in the last three years and he’ll know it, and he makes a lot of decisions at the line of scrimmage.
“But he would trade all of those touchdown passes for one more postseason win, and that’s what we’re focusing on right now.”
Swallow is bolstered by a trio of play-making receivers in junior Craig Besong (71 catches, 1,135 yards, 16 TDs) and seniors David Ravida (82-920-8) and Luke Espe (64-768-7).
And to keep defenses honest, senior running back Curt Jones is averaging 117 yards per game and has scored 24 TDs as part of a W&J unit that ranks third in the nation in total offense (491.3 yards) and fourth in scoring (43.7 points).
Following UMHB’s 52-16 quarterfinal win in 2004 and 30-27 second-round win over the Presidents in ’06, Sirianni talked about how his team didn’t match up well with the athletic Crusaders.
He still believes that’s the case, to an extent.
“We’ve always thought we could win the East Region,” Sirianni said. “We think we could be the most talented team in the East. We’re not the most talented in the South.”
UMHB coach Pete Fredenburg isn’t buying it.
“I think there’s more to it than just being an athlete, things like a competitive desire and other intangibles,” Fredenburg said. “Washington & Jefferson has those things and has always had them.
“(Sirianni) can complain all he wants but he’s got some guys who can really play well. He’s won a lot of ballgames, so don’t start feeling sorry for him.”
Since the start of 2004, UMHB ranks third in D-III with 55 victories. W&J is fifth with 52 and fourth with 53 is Wesley (Del.), which was crushed by the Crusaders in last week’s second round.
Despite his team’s success, Sirianni doesn’t believe his Presidents should be mentioned alongside the others.
“We’re not an elite team until we beat a Mary Hardin-Baylor or a Wesley,” he said. “We haven’t had success with southern teams, so that win last week was a big hump to get over. But the hump is even bigger this week.”
W&J’s pristine campus on the outskirts of Pittsburgh sits on fertile recruiting ground and the school’s high academic status - NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is an alumnus - can be a help and a hindrance.
“We have a very good recruiting area to work with and a lot of tradition in football,” Sirianni said. “And we’re so prestigious academically that we can sometimes get a player who could play at a Division II school to come here for a better degree. It also works the other way sometimes when we can’t get a player in.
“So guys come here knowing they’re going to get a good education and be successful on the field. We knew we were going to be good coming into the season, so this is no surprise to us. We knew that to be national champions we would have to beat Mary Hardin-Baylor.”
