Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team fell 30-7 to UW-Whitewater Saturday night at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) opener for both teams. UWL drops to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the WIAC while UW-Whitewater improves to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the conference.
The teams traded punts on the first five possessions of the game to force a scoreless first quarter. UW-Whitewater, ranked 10th on D3football.com, took a 3-0 lead with 13:09 left in the second quarter on a Wojciech Gasienica 35-yard field goal. The Warhawks went 45 yards in eight plays and 2:53.
UWL took its first lead of the game with 1:01 left in the first half on Ben Schramski's six-yard touchdown run. The Eagles went 65 yards in 15 plays and 7:30. The drive continued after punter Sean Parker's eight-yard pass to Kyle Koelbl produced a first down on a fourth-and-five at the Warhawks' 39-yard line.
UWL, ranked 23rd on D3football.com, led 10-7 at halftime.
The Warhawks, winners of 16 straight over the Eagles after Saturday's victory, took the second half kickoff and went 75 yards in 14 plays and 7:27 for a 10-7 lead. Facing a second-and-goal at UWL's 28-yard line, Cole Wilber threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Nathaniel Osterloo. UW-Whitewater led 10-7 at the end of the quarter.
UW-Whitewater took a 17-7 lead with 11:26 left in the game on Wilber's 81-yard touchdown pass to JT Parish. After Garrett Purdy intercepted Schramski on UWL's next possession, the Warhawks went 55 yards in 11 plays and 6:05 as Wilber connected with Jerimie Richards on a five-yard touchdown pass with 5:14 left. Alex Peete finished the scoring on a three-yard touchdown run with 1:34 remaining after going 39 yards in eight plays and 2:03.
UWL totaled 158 yards of offense, including 46 rushing and 112 passing. The Eagles were held to 46 yards of offense in the second half. Austin Mancosky led UWL with 31 yards rushing on 10 carries. Schramski finished 12-of-30 for 104 yards with one interception. He also rushed for a touchdown. Devonte Amos led UWl with four catches (25 yards) while Cole Spieker had three receptions (team-high 37 yards).
UWL finished with 11 first downs and were two-of-14 on third-down.
UW-Whitewater recorded 418 yards of offense, including 174 rushing and 244 passing. The Warhawks had 339 yards in the second half. Peete had 100 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 27 carries. Wilber finished 14-of-24 for 244 yards and three touchdowns. Mitchell Dees had three catches while Parish had a team-high 95 yards receiving.
UW-Whitewater had 19 first downs while finishing nine-of-16 on third-down. The Warhawks, penalized 10 times for 103 yards, won the time of possession, 34:48 to 25:12, including 22:32 to 7:28, in the second half.
Jacob Gerzsik led UWL with 13 tackles while Elijah McGeehan, Zachary Zillmer and Rusty Murphy each had 10 tackles. Jacob Erbs led UW-Whitewater with eight tackles.
UWL returns to action Saturday, October 6 at UW-Stout 2 p.m.