The UW – River Falls Falcons (2-2, 1-0 WIAC) won their second straight game on Saturday thanks to a blocked extra point in overtime to win their first homecoming game in over five years.
It was the third year in a row that the Falcons and UW – La Crosse went into overtime and the Falcons have won the last two.
The Falcons defense held strong allowing just 228 total yards. For second week in a row, the Falcons held their opponent to negative yards rushing with -26 on 11 attempts.
UWRF forced the Eagles to miss two field goals during the game, one field goal with one minute remaining in the fourth quarter, and the other in overtime to seal the victory.
The Falcons defense was led by linebacker Geno DeMike who finished with four tackles for losses and three sacks, his career high.
The scoring was started in the first quarter with La Crosse scoring on a 44 yard pass from Trent Cummings to Tommy Young, that play polished off a quick three play 75 yard drive in just over one minute.
The Falcons responded with a touchdown from quarterback Ryan Kusilek to Evan Verhota from six yards out to complete an eight play 46 yard drive in just under four minutes.
Just before the end of the half, UW – La Crosse took advantage of a botched snap by Falcon punter Owen Schommer and converted on a 14 yard touchdown pass from Cummings to Joel Oxton that put the Eagles up 14-7 at halftime.
It was a scoreless third quarter between the two teams that both turned the ball over. Kusilek threw one interception and Cummings threw one interception on a tipped pass at the line of scrimmage that landed in Nick Jacobsen's hands.
The Falcons defense stood tall and did not allow a second half score, which the offense of the Falcons took advantage of. UWRF tied the game up halfway through the fourth quarter after a botched snap by the La Crosse punter, which led to a Michael Diggins three yard touchdown run to tie the game 14-14.
The Eagles of La Crosse took a drive late in the game to the 11 yard line before stalling out and being forced to kick a field goal with just over one minute to go in the game. La Crosse missed the field goal wide left leaving the score tied 14-14.
The Falcons offense drove to the 28 yard line before setting up for a field goal with just six second to go. Kusilek came on and put up a kick that was far enough, but just wide and the game was sent to overtime.
In overtime, the Falcons had possession of the ball first and handed off to Diggins on nine straight plays and Diggins punched the ball into the end zone on a two yard run to give the Falcons a 21-14 lead.
UW – La Crosse took possession and scored on a 25 yard touchdown pass over the middle to A.J. Day from Cummings and was set to tie the game with an extra point.
The UWRF special teams defense took the field, and blocked the ensuing extra point by the Eagles and won the game by a score of 21-20, for the Falcon seniors, it was their first homecoming victory.
The Falcons physical offense was at hand against La Crosse putting up 178 yards rushing, 105 of those yards coming from Diggins on 34 attempts. The Falcons offense ran a total of 97 plays in the game, their most this season.
The Falcons passing game was led by Kusilek who finished with 23 completions on 37 attempts with one touchdown and two interceptions.
Freshman wide receiver Nicholas Studer led the recievers with five catches for 44 yards. Senior Matt Woller had three catches for 32 yards.
UW – River Falls next takes on UW – Eau Claire (0-4, 0-1 WIAC) at Carson Park in Eau Claire. The Blugolds are coming off a loss to Stevens Point 38-28 and are winless on the season. The Falcons defeated the Blugolds in their last matchup 20-10.