Last weekend, 9,000 people headed to Cambridge, Ohio to watch Mount Union beat John Carroll. Now, the two teams head to the Division III playoffs. Mount Union is ranked #6, while John Carroll is ranked #6. It's familiar territory for Mount Union -- Its football team has won 11 NCAA Division III championships, which is a record for any football program in any division in a playoff format. The NCAA Division III national championship game is the Amos Alonozo Stagg Bowl. Mount Union has played in 16 Stagg Bowls which since 1993 has been played at Salem Stadium in Salem, Virginia. They won in 2012, 2008, 2006 and 2005. John Carroll, meanwhile, has never been to the title game.

"We've never had this before where we've had two, Division III schools in the Northeast Ohio area ranked so high, because it's always been Mount Union and everyone else," Pluto says. 

Mount Union is coached by Vince Kehres, who's in his second year as coach. He's the son of legendary Mount Union coach Larry Kehres, who was the head coach for 27 seasons and retired in May 2013. Prior to becoming head coach, Vince Kehres spent 13 seasons as an assistant football coach and eight as Mount Union's defensive coordinator. He has been a part of 10 of Mount Union's 11 national championships as either a player (2) or coach (8).

Meanwhile, John Carroll is working to build its program. Second-year Coach Tom Arth is a JCU grad and played in the NFL. The defense is coached by Chris Shula, the grandson of NFL Hall of Fame coach Don Shula (also a JCU grad). 

Both football teams have solid quarterbacks. JCU's Mark Myers graduated from Cleveland's St. Ignatius High School. "Myers began his career at the University of Pittsburgh, so he was a Division I recruit. And in his first couple years there, they had two coaching changes and he became very disgruntled. He came back home to Cleveland and was thinking about just quitting football entirely and just going to work and working his way through school. Well, he went to St. Ignatius and (JCU coach) Arth went to St. Ignatius. Arth said, 'Mark, why don't you just come out here? Try it.' So suddenly, this guy walks on to campus and he was good enough to  play on scholarship at a Division I school."

Mt. Union's quarterback is Kevin Burke, who is a graduate of St. Edward's High School in Cleveland. "He's 5'11" won all these games but he was considered too short. He has very high grades; he's got a bunch of academic aid."

Both teams will host first-round games at noon Saturday. John Carroll plays No. 18 Centre College (10-0) of Danville, Kentucky. No. 3 Mount Union faces unranked Adrian (Michigan) College (8-2).