La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team earned a 21-7 victory over UW-Stout Saturday afternoon at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. The Eagles, receiving votes on this week's D3football.com and American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Top-25 Poll, improve to 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). The Blue Devils fall to 5-3 overall and 4-2 in the conference, and were also receiving votes in the AFCA Top-25 Poll.
The win is UWL's sixth straight victory against UW-Stout, winning last season 42-6. The Blue Devils last win over the Eagles came in a 10-0 shutout in 2011 in Menomonie. UWL now leads the all-time series 71-15-6, with the teams first playing in 1913.
After trading punts on the first possession for each team, UWL started its second drive at the UW-Stout 49-yard line. Drew David connected with Nick Holcomb for 24 yards on third down to move to the Blue Devil 25-yard line. After an 8-yard David run to put UWL inside the 20, he connected with Dominic Labellarte to give the Eagles first-and-goal from the 9-yard line. After missing Cole Spieker in the left corner of the endzone, David came back to Spieker on a back shoulder route in the right corner for a 9-yard touchdown pass. The drive took 1:34, and after Bryce Wesling's extra-point, the Eagles led 7-0.
The next two UW-Stout possessions moved deep into UWL territory, but produced no points.
The Blue Devils moved the ball and had third and five from the Eagles 30-yard line. Quarterback Jay Alston was sacked for a two-yard loss on third down, and Ryan Weber tackled UW-Stout receiver Josh Malone after a three-yard gain on fourth and seven.
After another Eagles punt, the Blue Devils drove 80 yards in 4 plays before Colton Nieman picked off Alston in the endzone on a third-and-nine from the Eagles ten yard line.
The Blue Devils got momentum late in the second quarter, set up by an interception from Levi Wolf of David inside the UW-Stout five-yard line. Wolf returned the ball to the 42-yard line, and the Blue Devils mounted a eight play, 58-yard drive capped by 20-yard touchdown pass to Kevion McDonald with :09 seconds remaining. The extra point made it 7-7 at halftime.
Neither team scored in the third quarter, but early in the fourth, UW-Stout faced a third-and-five from its own nine-yard line. J. Dan Sturgeon's pass was intercepted by UWL's Like Winnen, who returned it 13 yards for the touchdown, giving UWL a 14-7 lead.
A fumble by Sturgeon on UW-Stout's next possession gave UWL the ball at the Blue Devil 37-yard line. UWL drove to the five yard line, but a 23-yard field goal try from Wesling was blocked, and the score remained 14-7 Eagles.
On UWL's next drive, David hit Holcomb on a third and six from the UWL 49-yard line for 51 yards and a touchdown to put the Eagles ahead 21-7. UWL's drive covered 55 yards on three plays in 1:22.
Holcomb's 15th touchdown of the year broke a single-season school record previously held by Paul Kling (1994) and Scott Burnoski (2004). Holcomb also set the single-season record for receiving yards in a season on the play, passing Burnoski (1100 yards in 2003) with five catches for 98 on the day, giving him 69 catches for 1148 yards for the season.
UWL finished with 313 yards of offense Saturday, including 132 rushing and 181 passing. The Eagles had 16 first downs. David went 13-of-32 for 181 yards and two touchdowns and three interceptions, while also rushing for a team-high 50 yards on 18 attempts.
UW-Stout totaled 323 yards of offense, including 40 rushing and 283 passing. The Blue Devils finished with 10 first downs, and had five turnovers (one fumbles, four interceptions). Eddy went 7-of-20 for 176 yards with three interceptions while Sturgeon finished 4-of-13 for 107 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Lucian Coutier had 69 yards rushing on 12 attempts. Brian Sandifer caught three passes for 101 yards while McDonald had three catches for 93 yards and a touchdown.
Michael Garvey had nine tackles and a forced fumble and Noah Risch added nine tackles, including 3.0 for loss, to lead UWL. Winnen, Nieman, Peter Kissling, and Weber had an interception each for the Eagles, and Nicholas Peters added a fumble recovery.
Sean Parker averaged 36.2 yards on eight punts while finishing with five inside the 20-yard line. He had a long of 49-yards.
Luke Wilz led UW-Stout with 13 tackles. Levi Wolf had a pair of interceptions for the Blue Devils.
UWL returns to action Saturday, November 11 at UW-River Falls at 1 p.m. to close out the regular season.