There was a moment Saturday afternoon when it appeared three decades of Division III dominance might come to an end with another school poised to hoist the national title trophy for the first time. 

Wisconsin-La Crosse won all four of its semifinal matches and rocketed past perennial powers Augsburg and Wartburg and into the lead at the NCAA Division III Championships. 

But in the end — just as it’s been every year since 1995 — it came down to The Burgs. 

Augsburg won its final six matches of the tournament and picked up two pins and a technical fall along the way to secure its second straight national title and 15th in program history. 

The Auggies locked up the team race when Bentley Schwanebeck-Ostermann notched a technical fall in the 184-pound title bout and heavyweight Tyler Kim a title of his own to help Augsburg finish the tournament with 95 points — 7.5 more than second-place Wartburg. UW-La Crosse finished third with 82.5 points. 

Wartburg and La Crosse each entered the finals with a path to a team title, but the Knights’ chances dwindled when Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s Jared Stricker scored a 10-3 win in the 174-pound against returning national champ Zane Mulder of Wartburg in a rematch of last year’s title bout.

UW-La Crosse’s bid dissolved when the Eagles lost three of their four title bouts. Baldwin Wallace’s Michael Petrella claimed his second title by pinning UW-La Crosse’s Tyler Goebel at 149. 

Nolan Hertel kept UW-La Crosse in the race, winning his second national title and capping a 28-0 senior season with a 4-2 win against Williams College’s Peter Kane at 157.  

In the next match, however, The College of New Jersey’s Nicholas Sacco used a second-period rideout to score a 2-1 win against UW-La Crosse’s Noah Leisgang at 165.

Johnson & Wales finished fourth with 76 points, 24.5 of which were scored by Joziah Fry, who racked up three technical falls and a major decision on his way to his second title at 125 pounds. 

United States Coast Guard's Chase Randall stopped Robbie Precin's 92-match winning streak in Saturday's semifinals at 133 and then completed his title run with a fall in the finals against Jaden Hinton of Baldwin Wallace.