La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team, ranked seventh on this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll, improve to 8-1 overall and 5-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) with a 24-17 victory over 23rd-ranked UW-River Falls Saturday afternoon at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. UW-River Falls drops to 5-4 overall and 3-3 in the conference.
It is the Eagles' 26th win the last 29 meetings with the Falcons.
UW-River Falls forced a UWL punt on the first possession of the game and drove 50 yards in nine plays and 1:54 to take a 7-0 lead as Michael Krueger scored on a two-yard run with 10:59 left in the opening quarter. The Falcons converted a fourth-and-six at the Eagles' 36-yard line with Kaleb Blaha hitting Luke Kush for a 24-yard completion. Four plays later, Krueger scored to give UW-River Falls the lead.
The teams traded punts on the next four drives.
UWL tied the game with :13 remaining in the first quarter with Keyser Helterbrand connecting on a 32-yard touchdown pass to Jack Studer. On the previous play, Helterbrand rushed for four yards on a fourth-and-two play. The drive went 69 yards in six plays and 2:58 to tie the game at 7-7.
The Falcons drove to the Eagles' 27-yard line in the second quarter, but Blaha's pass was intercepted by Cade Osborn at UWL's four-yard line. It marked the second straight drive Osborn intercepted Blaha. The Eagles drove to the Falcons' four-yard line after Osborn's second interception. After UWL used its final timeout with :11 remaining, Helterbrand was stopped by Dylan Brown and Conrad Gingg at the UW-River Falls' one-yard line to end the half and keep the game tied, 7-7. UWL went 81 yards in 17 plays and used the final 8:27 of the first half.
On the first drive of the third quarter, UW-River Falls snapped the ball over the head of punter Crede Timm with UWL's Will Josten recovering in the end-zone for a touchdown to give UWL a 14-7 lead with 13:43 left in the quarter.
UWL took a 17-7 lead with 1:38 left in the third quarter on Ryan Beirne's 37-yard field goal. The drive went 33 yards in eight plays and 4:35. It was Beirne's 31st career field goal, tying the school record of Jedediah Jensen (2000-04). Helterbrand rushed for 15 yards and a first down on a fourth-and-one play at the UW-River Falls' 44-yard line.
UW-River Falls turned the ball over on downs with 13:34 left in the fourth quarter as Krueger was stopped by Jack Kelly on fourth-and-two at UWL's 46-yard line. The Eagles drove 55 yards in nine plays and 4:50 to take a 24-7 lead as Cade Garcia scored on a one-yard run with 8:48 left. Garcia hit Max Stubbendick (25-yards) and Cameron Sorenson (21-yards) in the drive. Sorenson's catch moved the ball to the two-yard line.
Blaha's five-yard touchdown run with 6:46 left cut the lead to 24-14. UW-River Falls went 75 yards in eight plays and 2:03. The Falcons later forced an Eagles' punt and took over at their own seven-yard line after Ryan Krueger's 54-yard punt. Blaha was intercepted by Ryan Daines at UWL's 33-yard line, but Daines fumbled the return with Austin Fox recovering for UW-River Falls. The Falcons went 39 yards in 12 plays and 1:54 to cut the lead to 24-17 on Justin Scheberl's 23-yard field goal with :12 left. UW-River Falls' Andy Groebner recovered the on-side kick with the Falcons taking over at their own 47-yard line. Tyler Schweigert completed a 14-yard pass to Kush to UWL's 14-yard line. Without a timeout, the Falcons downed the ball with :01 left. Schweigert's pass fell short on the final play of the game.
UWL finished with 314 yards of offense Saturday, including 165 rushing and 149 passing. The Eagles had 18 first downs, going three-of-13 on third-down, but converting all three of their fourth-down attempts. UWL controlled the time of possession, 35:03 to 24:57.
Helterbrand went eight-of-12 for 98 yards and one touchdown and Garcia finished four-of-10 for 51 yards. Joey Stutzman had 86 yards rushing on 22 carries and went over 1,000 yards for the season. Stubbendick had four catches for 49 yards while Studer finished with three receptions for 44 yards and a touchdown.
UW-River Falls totaled 350 yards with 73 rushing and 277 passing. The Falcons had 20 first downs, going eight-of-20 on third-down and three-of-seven on fourth-down. Blaha went 24-of-47 for 263 yards and three interceptions. He also rushed for 76 yards on 25 attempts and a touchdown. Luke Kush had 98 yards on seven catches.
Osborn, Daines and Adam Quam each had nine tackles to lead UWL. Osborn had two interceptions and a forced fumble. Kelly recorded 4.0 tackles for loss, including 3.0 quarterback sacks. Kelly also had six quarterback hurries.
Aaron Borgerding led UW-River Falls with 11 tackles.
UWL wraps up its regular season Saturday, November 12 hosting UW-Platteville at 1 p.m.