SALEM, Va. — Taurice Scott threw three touchdown passes and ran for another score and Mount Union won its NCAA-best 12th football title, beating St. Thomas of Minnesota 49-35 on Friday night in the Division III championship game.

Logan Nemeth ran 220 yards and two touchdowns for the Purple Raiders (15-0), who were appearing in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl for the 11th consecutive season. Vince Kehres won his first national championship in three tries as head coach after father Larry led the Purple Raiders to the first 11 titles.

Jordan Roberts ran for 135 yards and two touchdowns for St. Thomas (14-1). The Tommies also played for the title in 2012, losing 28-10 to Mount Union.

The burst took just 5:08 and turned a 21-14 deficit into a 35-21 lead.

St. Thomas got back within a touchdown on a fluky touchdown, but the Tommies had no answer for the big-play capabilities of the Purple Raiders.

In the 21-0 third-quarter burst, Scott hit Roman Namdar for 63 yards to highlight the first drive, a fumble recovery set up the second, and Nemeth had a 42-yard run on the third drive before Scott’s 18-yard scoring run.

St. Thomas fluky touchdown came when Nick Waldvogel fumbled on run up the middle, and the ball bounced sideways and into the hands of quarterback John Gould, who outran the defense 55 yards.

Mount Union, which was driving into a gusting wind in the third quarter, let Nemeth do most of the heavy lifting in the final quarter as it chewed time off the clock.

Unable to generate any offense moving into the stiff wind in the first quarter, Mount Union scored on its first two possessions of the second quarter with the wind at its back.