La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team, ranked ninth on this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll, fell 34-31 to third-ranked UW-Whitewater Saturday afternoon at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. The Eagles drop to 3-1 overall and 0-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Warhawks improve to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the conference.
UWL took the opening kickoff and drove 65 yards in 12 plays to take a 7-0 lead with Cade Garcia throwing a seven-yard touchdown pass to Max Stubbendick with 8:34 left in the first quarter. The drive went 6:36. Garcia was six-of-six on the drive. UW-Whitewater quickly responded with a seven-play, 80-yard drive in 3:50 with Evan Lewandowski connecting with Tommy Coates on a five-yard touchdown pass with 4:44 remaining to tie the game at 7-7.
On the first play of the second quarter, the Eagles' Ryan Beirne connected on a 40-yard field goal to give UWL a 10-7 lead with 14:56 left in the half. The Eagles went 40 yards in 10 plays and 4:46. The Warhawks took their first lead of the day on their next drive with Lewandowski hitting Coates for the second touchdown pass of the game, this time from 12-yards out. UW-Whitewater went 74 yards in 11 plays and 5:47 to take a 14-10 lead.
After UWL was forced to punt on its next possession, which turned out to be the only punt of the contest, UW-Whitewater drove to UWL's eight-yard line. Jeffery Isatalo-McGuire's 25-yard field goal was blocked by Josh Dorschner. Tate Pitcher picked up the ball and went 16-yards before lateraling the ball to Cade Osborn, who went the final 65-yards for a touchdown to give the Eagles a 17-14 lead with 1:20 left in the first half. Jaylon Edmonson returned the ensuing kickoff 68-yards to UWL's 15-yard line with 1:07 remaining. After an incompletion, Lewandowski was intercepted by the Eagles' Elijah Alt in UWL's end zone. The Eagles ran out the clock and took a 17-14 halftime lead.
Lewandowski threw his third touchdown of the game to Coates on the first drive of the third quarter. The touchdown went 12-yards to give UW-Whitewater a 21-17 lead after the Warhawks went 85 yards in 11 plays and 6:15. UWL quickly regained the lead on its first possession of the second half. The Eagles went 67 yards in 12 plays and 6:27 with Keyser Helterbrand throwing a 25-yard touchdown pass on a screen play on third-and-12 to Brant Bohman. UWL's touchdown gave it a 24-21 advantage.
The back-and-forth lead changed again on UW-Whitewater's next drive as Lewandowski threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to Steven Hein with 1:07 left in the third quarter to give UW-Whitewater a 28-24 lead. The drive went 75 yards in four plays and 1:05. Lewandowski opened the drive with a 61-yard pass to Hein.
Helterbrand's four-yard touchdown run with 11:45 left in the fourth quarter gave UWL a 31-28 advantage. Garcia hit Stubbendick with a 30-yard completion on third-and-eight on the drive and later connected with Cameron Sorenson on a 20-yard completion to keep the drive going. The Eagles used 10 plays to go 75 yards in 4:22.
UW-Whitewater went 63 yards in 12 plays and 6:24 to tie the game with Isatalo-McGuire hitting a 29-yard field goal with 5:25 left in the game. The Warhawks recovered an Eagles' fumble on UWL's next possession, taking over at the Eagles' 35-yard line, but Isotalo-McGuire's 26-yard field was wide left to keep the score tied, 31-31.
On the first play of the next drive, Garcia was intercepted by Egon Hein at UWL's 36-yard line. Lewandowski hit Tyler Holte for a 12-yard completion on third-and-eight, setting up the Warhawks at the Eagles' 22-yard line. Isotalo-McGuire later hit the game-winning field goal from 39-yards out with :03 left. UW-Whitewater went 14 yards in six plays and 1:44.
UWL finished with 293 yards on Saturday, including 118 rushing and 175 passing. Helterbrand had a team-high 58 yards rushing on 12 carries and one touchdown while Joey Stutzman finished with 53 yards on 14 attempts. Helterbrand finished seven-of-11 passing for 65 yards with one touchdown while Garcia went 10-of-14 for 110 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Stubbendick had a team-high eight receptions for 78 yards and one touchdown. Stutzman had four catches for 13 yards while Sorenson finished with two catches for 36 yards.
The Eagles had 16 first downs in the game while going 10-of-13 on third-down. UWL was four-of-four in red-zone opportunities.
UW-Whitewater totaled 479 yards, including 132 rushing and 347 passing. Lewandowski went 26-of-34 for 347 yards with four touchdowns and one interception. Edmonson led the team with 62 yards rushing on 11 carries. Coates finished with eight catches for 105 yards and three touchdowns. Holte had seven receptions for 36 yards while Hein finished with four catches for 117 yards and a touchdown.
The Warhawks finished with 26 first downs and finished nine-of-12 on third-down. UW-Whitewater was six-of-nine in the red-zone.
Ryan Daines led UWL with nine tackles while AJ Spychala and Jack Anderson each had eight. Shane McGrail and Ryan Liszka led UW-Whitewater with 11 tackles each.
UWL returns to action Saturday, October 8 at UW-Stout at 1 p.m.