The country's longest winning streak was increased to 22
games Saturday as the Warhawks defeated UW-River Falls 63-14
at Ramer Field in River Falls. With the victory the Warhawks,
ranked number one in the country by D3football.com and the American
Football Coaches Association, remain in first place in the
Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a record of
4-0; 7-0 overall. River Falls remains winless with
a record of 0-7 overall and 0-4 in the WIAC.
UW-W won the toss but elected to defer to the second half so River
Falls started the game with the ball on their own 38 after a 23
yard return by Greg Klingelhutz. The Falcons went five
plays before punting to the Whitewater one yard line.
On the ensuing drive the Warhawks drove 99
yards that ended with a 19 yard scoring
strike from Matt
Blanchard to Aaron
Rusch. The touchdown was Rusch's 25th career
receiving touchdown which ties him for second in the record books
with Jim Lesczynski.
The Falcons next drive was stymied after they gained 37 yards on 11
plays before punting the ball away to the 'Hawks. UW-W's next
drive resulted in another touchdown, this time on a 19 yard rush by
Antwan
Anderson which was set up by a 44 yard gain on a pass
from Blanchard to Adam
Brandes.
River Falls answered with a touchdown on their next possession to
narrow the score to 14-7. Their drive covered 70 yards in
nine plays; the key plays included a 17 yard completion from
BJ Letourneau to Brady Hannigan and a 34 yard completion from
Letourneau to John Wahlstrom.
Another Rusch touchdown gave the Warhawks a 21-7 lead with 8:06
remaining in the second quarter. With this touchdown Rusch
moves into second place alone on the career receiving touchdown
list.
A series of turnovers by both teams were the story of the next
three possessions. First a River Falls pass was picked off by
Greg Arnold
at the UW-W 30, but on the very next play the 'Hawks coughed it up
on a fumble and possession returned to the Falcons. Three
plays later the Warhawks' Loussaint
Minett sacked Letourneau who fumbled with UW-W's Matt
McCulloch recovering the ball.
With 4:58 remaining in the first half, UW-W marched 57 yards in
nine plays chewing up four minutes and twelve seconds on the clock
to extend their lead to 28-7. The drive featured seven rushes
by Anderson including the scoring run of seven yards.
The 'Hawks wasted little time to start the second half as they
covered 55 yards in seven plays to extend their lead to 35-7.
This was also an Anderson series as he carried the ball on six of
the seven plays and finished with a 12 yard scoring run.
River Falls went three and out on their next possession and the
Warhawks took advantage by scoring another touchdown to go up
42-7. This time it was Blanchard to Rusch for his third
receiving touchdown of the game.
On the next possession, the Falcons were only able to cover six
yards in six plays while eating up 3:07 on the clock before punting
the ball back to the Warhawks. This time it was the Michael
Pirtle rushing show as he carried the ball on six of
seven plays on the drive with the seventh play a passing touchdown
from Lee Brekke
to Luke
Menzel.
After five plays the Falcons had to punt away the ball to the
'Hawks who turned it over on the next play on a fumble. The
Falcons took advantage by tossing a 20 yard strike to bring the
score to 49-14.
Another Pirtle touchdown on the next drive gave UW-W a 56-14 lead,
and after the Falcons fumbled on their next possession the Warhawks
had Pirtle punch another in from 24 yards out to give UW-W a 63-14
lead.
One more drive by each team yielded no points and the game came to
a close with the Warhawks walking away with their 22nd straight
victory. The win streak is the longest in NCAA football, all
divisions, with Division I Boise State the next closest with
twenty. Boise State was idle on Saturday and will play their
next game on Tuesday, October 26 against Louisiana Tech.
UW-W rushed for 413 yards on 57 carries in the game to River
Falls' 112 on 40 attempts. The rushing total is the
second highest by the Warhawks in a game this season. UW-W
rushed for 463 yards back on September 11 against Dakota
State University in Whitewater. Anderson led the way with
240 yards and three touchdowns, averaging 6.3 yards per
carry.
Blanchard went a perfect 10 for 10 in the game for 181 yards
and three touchdown tosses. Eric
Kindler was a perfect 9 for 9 on extra points for the
game, his second perfect game in a row.
Lane Olson
led the way with 6.5 tackles, four solo. UW-W
recorded two sacks in the game, one by Max
Ford, and the other was Minett when he forced the
fumble. The Warhawk defense limited the league's leading
rusher, Taylor Edwards, to just 41 yards, 79 yards below his
season average.
UW-W will return home next weekend for a game against
UW-Stevens Point beginning at 1:00 pm in Perkins
Stadium. It is Homecoming for Whitewater as well as
the Hall of Fame day.
Win Streak Extends to 22 with Win over River Falls
Oct 23, 2010