Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 11, 1994 TAG: 9412120069
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANDREA KUHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
But Theodora Robinson, a stern opponent of contact sports, said `'
Finally, when he was a junior in high school, she gave in.
On Saturday at soggy Salem Stadium, Jeff Robinson proved to his mom that her decison was a wise one, scoring three touchdowns to lead Albion (Mich.) to a 38-15 victory over Washington & Jefferson (Pa.) in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, the NCAA Division III championship game.
``I'm probably the happiest man in the world right now,'' said Robinson, a senior who was named an All-American on Thursday.
And Mom?
``She's bloodthirsty now,'' he said.
It was the first national championship of any kind for Albion, the only school from Michigan to play in the Stagg Bowl. The Britons finished the season 13-0, the seventh undefeated season in school history.
It was the second Stagg Bowl loss in the past three years for the favored Presidents (11-2), who also finished runners-up in 1992 to Wisconsin-LaCrosse.
W&J opened the scoring on a 1-yard touchdown run by Vince Botti that capped a 12-play, 45-yard drive 10 1/2 minutes into the opening quarter. It marked the first time all season Albion allowed an opponent to score the first points of a game.
But it didn't take long for the Brits to respond.
With 35 seconds left in the first quarter, Albion forced W&J to punt. Without hesitating, Brits sophomore quarterback Kyle Klein stepped to the line of scrimmage - the Albion 30 - and handed off to Robinson. The 5-foot-11, 195-pound back sprinted to the strong side of the field, weaving between W&J defenders before breaking away at midfield and running 70 yards to the end zone. It was the longest play from scrimmage against the Presidents this season.
``I can't really remember what happened. All I saw was green. The blocks were there and I just kept running,'' said Robinson, a sprinter who has competed nationally for the Albion track team.
On W&J's next possession, Britons linebacker Jared Wood picked off a pass by sophomore quarterback Jason Baer and rumbled 29 yards for Albion's second touchdown in 74 seconds, making it 14-7.
The Britons got the ball back when Taj Lewis fumbled the ensuing kickoff and it was recovered by David Lefere. Albion turned it into a 28-yard field goal by Michael Zacha that made it 17-7 with 10:22 to play in the first half.
That sequence of plays, said W&J coach John Luckhardt, did in the Presidents.
``Robinson's run really got the momentum swinging their way,'' said Luckhardt, whose defense gave up 254 yards rushing Saturday after averaging a Division III-best 89.7 yards against in its previous 12 games.
``But on many of their big plays, we were trying to make things happen. Give Albion credit, but we made some changes defensively because we felt like we had to create things with our defense and our kicking game.''
Robinson, who finished with 166 yards on 24 carries despite a pulled left hamstring, notched his second touchdown of the day 1:20 before the half. He barreled up the middle on a 3-yard score that made it 24-7 at halftime. The Brits scored 17 points in the second quarter while shutting out the Presidents.
Albion took its largest lead of the game with 50 seconds to play in the third quarter when Klein completed a 2-yard touchdown pass to Chris Barnett in the right corner of the end zone. Klein finished 6-of-14 for 118 yards passing.
W&J's Jake Williams, who had trouble keeping his footing because of the muddy field, ran for a team-high 73 yards on 24 carries, including a 12-yard touchdown jaunt in the third quarter. A two-point conversion pass from Baer to Botti pulled the Presidents to 31-15, as close as they would get the rest of the way.
Robinson tacked on a 30-yard touchdown with two minutes to play in the game that sealed the national title for the Britons. Adding fuel to the fire beneath his feet, Robinson said, was the trash talk by W&J players that included racial slurs.
``Personally, I have no respect for them,'' Robinson said. ``They were calling us names from the start. We're not used to that - that kind of football. ... That kind of pumped me up and I knew it was time to go from that point.
``I reacted a couple of times, but I never said anything back.''
NOTES: A poncho-clad 7,168 watched the game in a steady rain, including 32 who purchased standing-room-only tickets Saturday morning. ... Albion scored four rushing touchdowns against the Presidents, who had allowed only seven in their previous 12 games. ... Wood's interception was the 38th of the season for Albion, but only the first run back for a touchdown. ... The Brits have a record of 46-4-2 in the '90s. ... Before this year, Albion had a record of 1-4 in the NCAA playoffs, including four consecutive first-round losses. ... The Brits' road to the national title was no cakewalk. They beat No.1 seed in the North Region, Allegheny (Pa.), defending champion Mount Union (Ohio) and traditional power St. John's (Minn.) before W&J.
see microfilm for box score
by CNB