La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse opened its 2016 home schedule with a 65-14 victory over Ripon College (Wis.) Saturday afternoon at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. The Eagles improve to 2-0 on the season for the first time since 2009 while the Red Hawks drop to 0-2.
First-year UWL head coach Mike Schmidt became the fourth coach in school history to win his first two games, joining Carl Sputh (1915), Howard Johnson (1930) and Clark Van Galder (1948).
In the first meeting between the two teams since 1935, UWL needed four plays to score first Saturday. A.J. Day returned the opening kickoff 42-yards to the Ripon (Wis.) 47-yard line. Four plays later, Tarek Yaeggi scored on an 11-yard run with 13:42 left in the first quarter. Yaeggi connected with Samuel Zwieg on a 25-yard pass play on the drive. Joshua Fischer converted the extra-point attempt. The Eagles quickly made it 14-0 as Ryan Kruser returned Hunter Gruenwald's punt 76 yards for a touchdown. It marked UWL's first punt return for a touchdown since Eric Donoval's 84-yard return in a 37-6 win over UW-Platteville in 2008, a game played at Winona State University (Minn.) due to construction of Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex.
After forcing another Ripon (Wis.) punt and Kruser's 22-yard return, UWL went 62 yards in five plays and 1:37 with Tyler Jenkins scoring on a 51-yard run to make it 21-0. The Eagles took a 28-0 lead on a 12-play, 52-yard drive as Jenkins scored on a three-yard run. The drive went 4:38.
Yaeggi threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Joel Oxton with 14:16 left in the second quarter to give UWL a 35-0 lead. After forcing the fifth straight punt from the Red Hawks to start the game, the Eagles' Troy Bailey scored on a 46-yard run with 12:52 remaining to make it 42-0. Fischer ended the scoring on a 29-yard field goal with 2:26 left in the first half for a 45-0 halftime lead. UWL went 46 yards in 13 plays and 4:31.
With Saturday's 45 first half points, UWL has scored 73 points in the first two quarters through two games. The Eagles totaled 77 first half points in 10 contests a year ago.
UWL's Andrew Thompson connected on a seven-yard touchdown pass to Nick Holcomb with 7:34 left in the third quarter to make it 52-0. The Eagles went 50 yards in seven plays and 3:03. Fischer's 26-yard field goal with 2:16 left in the third gave UWL a 55-0 lead. The drive went 34 yards on nine plays and 3:11.
Ripon (Wis.) got on the board with 10:41 left in the game as Cameron Gruenwald threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Gruenwald. The touchdown came after a low snap from center on a Red Hawks' field goal attempt to make it 55-7. Ripon (Wis.) attempted an on-side kick on the ensuing kickoff, but UWL recovered at midfield. The Eagles went 37 yards on seven plays and 1:20 with Fischer hitting a 30-yard field goal with 9:27 left for a 58-7 lead.
The Red Hawks scored on their next drive with Samuel Shroyer's 23-yard touchdown run to make it 58-14. Ripon (Wis.) went 74 yards on three plays and 1:08. UWL finished the scoring with 1:52 left on Cal Mazur's five-yard run. The Eagles went 74 yards in 12 plays and 6:26.
UWL's 65 points Saturday are the most since a 72-0 win over UW-Superior in 1950. The 65 points ranks seventh-most in single-game school history. UWL scored a school record 101 points versus Winona State (Minn.) in 1917.
The Eagles finished with 24 first downs and 536 yards of offense Saturday, including 320 rushing and 216 passing. The 320 rushing yards are the most since finishing with 388 yards in a 49-19 win over UW-River Falls in 2008, a span of 73 games. UWL went six-of-13 on third-down Saturday, three-of-three on fourth-down and finished seven-of-seven in red-zone opportunities.
Jenkins led UWL with 105 yards rushing on 14 attempts (7.5 average) and two touchdowns while Bailey finished with 49 yards on four carries (12.2 average) and one touchdown. Fourteen different players had a rushing attempt in the game as the team averaged 6.7 yards on its 48 attempts.
Yaeggi went nine-of-15 passing for 137 yards and one touchdown while Thompson finished six-of-seven for 40 yards and a touchdown. Ben Schramski finished two-of-three for 39 yards. Holcomb (49 yards, touchdowns) and Tripp Soma (42 yards) each had four catches for the Eagles.
Ripon (Wis.) totaled 234 yards, including 161 rushing and 73 passing. The Red Hawks finished with 13 first downs while going four-of-16 on third-down and three-of-three on fourth-down. Ripon (Wis.) was one-of-two in the red-zone while winning the time of possession, 31:32 to 28:28.
Tyler VanDeVelde led the Red Hawks with 56 yards rushing on three attempts. Griffin McNeal went three-of-eight passing for 64 yards and Cameron Gruenwald one-of-two for nine yards and one touchdown. Four different players caught a pass for Ripon (Wis.).
Jacob Krueger led UWL's defense with seven tackles, including four unassisted. Noah Risch and Eric Bitney each had six tackles. Seventeen players recorded at least three tackles for the Eagles.
UWL finished with 8.0 quarterback sacks Saturday, the most since recording 8.0 in a 33-18 win over UW-Stout October 20, 2012.
Jared Zeman led Ripon's (Wis.) defense with 10 tackles, including 1.0 for loss. Cody Mitchell and Lane Barnes each had five unassisted tackles.
UWL returns to action Saturday, September 24 at Carroll University (Wis.) at 3 p.m.
UW-La Crosse Earn Win over Ripon in Home Opener
/seasons/2016/boxscores/20160910_24eg.xml
2016
Ripon
14
UW-La Crosse
65
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ripon (0-2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 14 |
| UW-La Crosse (2-0) | 28 | 17 | 10 | 10 | 65 |
Sep 10, 2016