La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team earned a 28-21 victory over UW-Stout Saturday afternoon at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. The Eagles improve to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Blue Devils fall to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in the WIAC. UWL, playing its WIAC home opener, earned its fourth straight win over UW-Stout.
Both teams turned the ball on downs on its first possession Saturday. UWL drove to the UW-Stout 17-yard line, but Drew David's fourth-down pass fell incomplete. The Blue Devils followed with a drive to the Eagles' 36-yard line, but Hank Kujak's pass was incomplete. The teams traded punts on the next two possessions of the game.
UWL took a 7-0 lead with 12:17 remaining in the second quarter as Tyler Jenkins scored on a two-yard run. Matt Van Druten converted the extra-point attempt. Jenkins rushed for 36 yards on the drive while John Tackett, who came in for an injured David in the first quarter, went two-for-three on the drive for 23 yards.
Starting at its own 44-yard line with :54 left in the first half, UWL took a 14-0 advantage as Tackett connected on a two-yard touchdown pass to Nolan Bargender. Van Druten's extra-point made it 14-0 with :09 left in the second quarter. Tackett threw for 41 yards on the drive, which was aided by a pass interference penalty on UW-Stout putting the ball at the two-yard line and setting up the Tackett to Bargender touchdown pass. The Eagles led 14-0 at halftime.
UW-Stout took the second half kickoff and cut the lead to 14-7 with 10:00 left in the third quarter as Kujak threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Dabney. The Blue Devils went 75 yards in 11 plays and 5:00. Drew Pearson converted the extra-point.
UWL regained its 14-point lead with 3:10 remaining in the third quarter. UW-Stout's Adolfo Pacheco fumbled at the Blue Devils' 21-yard line with UWL's Jon Becker recovering. On the next play from scrimmage, Tackett threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Joel Oxton. Van Druten made his third straight extra-point. The Eagles led 21-7 after three quarters.
UWL drove to the UW-Stout 12-yard line early in the fourth quarter when Van Druten's 29-yard field goal was blocked by the Blue Devils' Travis Shackleton. UW-Stout's Enzo Rosani picked up the blocked field goal and returned it 86-yards for a touchdown. Pearson's extra-point cut UWL's lead to 21-14 with 9:03 left in the game.
The Eagles responded on their next drive, going 71 yards in 10 plays and 4:33. Tackett threw his third touchdown pass of the game, hitting Samuel Zwieg from eight-yards out. Van Druten's extra-point made it 28-14 with 4:28 left. UW-Stout quickly went down the field to cut the margin back to seven with Pacheco scoring on a two-yard run with 2:40 remaining. The Blue Devils went 75 yards in 10 plays and 1:44. Pearson's extra-point cut the lead to 28-21.
UWL recovered UW-Stout's onside kick and was able to run out the remaining 2:39, converting a pair of third-down attempts.
UWL finished with 27 first downs Saturday while totaling 413 yards, including 152 rushing and 261 passing. The Eagles were nine-of-15 on third-down and won the time of possession, 36:04 to 23:56. UWL held a 13:12 to 1:48 time of possession advantage in the fourth quarter.
Jenkins finished with 105 yards rushing and one touchdown in 21 carries while Austin Mancosky totaled 32 yards on one attempt. Tackett went 24-of-34 passing for 247 yards and three touchdowns while David finished two-of-three for 14 yards. Oxton caught 11 passes for 143 yards and Zwieg had nine catches for 79 yards. Both players had a touchdown catch.
UW-Stout had 18 first downs and 295 yards of offense, including 116 rushing and 179 passing. The Blue Devils were six-of-13 on third-down.
KeyShawn Carpenter finished with 47 yards rushing on 11 attempts while Pacheco had 36 yards on nine carries and one touchdown. Kujak went 19-of-37 for 179 yards with one touchdown while Chris Pica-Anderson totaled 60 yards on eight catches. Kevion McDonald finished with 67 yards on five receptions.
Matthew Salerno averaged 38.0 yards on four punts for UWL while Clark Riedel averaged 37.5 on four punts.
Ryan Weber led the UWL defense with eight tackles while Jake Perner finished with seven. Austin Feuerhelm and Nicholas Peters each had six tackles. Josh Neary recorded 2.0 tackles for loss for the Eagles. Weber, Neary and Michael Garvey each had two pass break-ups.
Tony Blair led UW-Stout with 12 tackles while Kyle Hoefft finished with 10. Kevin Houts had 2.0 quarterback sacks.
UWL returns to action Friday, October 16 at top-ranked UW-Whitewater at 7 p.m.
UWL Earns Win over UW-Stout in WIAC Home Opener
/seasons/2015/boxscores/20151010_n2ac.xml
2015
UW-Stout
21
UW-La Crosse
28
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UW-Stout (1-4) | 0 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 21 |
| UW-La Crosse (2-3) | 0 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 28 |
Oct 10, 2015