St. Lawrence University's first NCAA Division III playoff appearance in 28 years did not follow a Cinderella script at second-ranked Mount Union on Saturday as the deep and talented Purple Raiders rolled to a 49-0 win over the Saints in Alliance, OH.

Mount Union coach Larry Kehres won his 300th career game with Saturday's victory and is making his 22nd NCAA playoff appearance. Mount Union now has a 66-11 record in the playoffs and has played in the national championship game 13 times.

Things started going the wrong way for the Saints on just the second play from scrimmage when senior starting quarterback J.P. Kearney was injured while completing a pass. Mount Union linebacker Sam Kershaw rolled into Kearney, who was rolling out on the play, and the two made knee to knee contact. Kearney finished the rest of the drive, but limped off and did not return.

Mount Union, 11-0, outgained the 5-6 Saints 471-100 overall and had 25 first downs to eight for the Saints in a dominating performance on both sides of the ball. The Purple Raiders passed for 302 yards and rushed for 169, running 70 plays to 48 for the Saints. Quarterback Neal Seaman was 16 of 22 for 215 yards and four touchdowns while wide receiver Cecil Shorts caught eight passes for 139 yards and three scores.

St. Lawrence came through with a stop on Mount Union's first offensive foray of the game as Ryan Fedo and Ben Cryts held Purple Raider halfback Jeremy Murray to no gain on a fourth and one at the Saint 16, but Mount Union strong safety Nick Driskill picked off Saint quarterback Mike Baraldi's first pass of the game at the Saint 25 and returned it ot the one and Murray scored on the second try from the one to start the scoring with 9:26 left in the first quarter

The Saint offense never got untracked against the Purple Raider defense in the first half, managing just 48 total yards including 16 rushing yards on 17 attempts.

"This was a good experience for our underclassmen in that they got an extra week of practice and know that they can get to this level," said Raymond. "It was a tough way for the seniors to go out score-wise, but they were part of something that only three other teams in program history have done."

Mount Union drove 51 yards on its third possession of the game to make it a 14-0 game as quarterback Neal Seaman, who was 13 for 17 for 164 yards in the first half, completed passes of 11, 15 and 15 yards before tossing a four-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Miller to cap the seven play drive and make it 14-0 with 2:43 to go in the first period.

The Purple Raiders made it 21-0 on their next possession, driving 78 yards in seven plays in less than three minutes and unveiled the Cecil Shorts show in the process. Shorts, who finished the first half with 92 yards receiving on six catches and two touchdowns, made a 35 yard reception to start the third scoring drive. Junior fullback Wes Rider broke away on a 23 yard run to take the ball to the Saint 23 and backup halfback Zac Lemmon completed the drive with a five yard touchdown run with 12:45 left in the half. Mount Union then went 68 yards in nine plays with Seaman hitting Shorts for a 13-yard scoring strike as Shorts made a diving catch on the left side of the end zone to make it 28-0 with 6:24 to go in the first half and following a short Saint punt, Seaman and Shorts hooked up on a similar play to the opposite side of the end zone to complete a 25-yard drive with 3:41 to go in the half.

Mount Union scored the lone touchdown of the third quarter 5:55 into the period with Shorts hauling in another touchdown pass from Seaman, this one covering 37 yards for a 42-0 lead and it went to 49-0 as the Purple Raider reserves drove 36 yards in five plays with score with 13;10 left in the game on a 19 yard pass from backup quarterback Matt Piloto to Ben Shenk.

Baraldi finished with nine completions in 17 attempts for 60 yards with two passes picked off with Ethan Sutton catching five passes for 32 yards. Marcus Washington rushed 17 times for a net of 43 yards.

Junior safety Trevor Sanders and senior captain Ben Cryts led the Saint defense with 11 tackles teach while Jarell Roberts had six stops and two pass breakups and Ryan Fedo had six tackles and a breakup.