Stevens Point, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team finished its regular season with a 41-7 victory at UW-Stevens Point Saturday afternoon at Community Stadium at Goerke Field. The Eagles, ranked fourth on this week's D3football.com Poll, improve to 9-1 overall and 7-0 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Pointers finish 1-9 overall and 0-7 in the conference.
With the victory, UWL clinches the WIAC outright title with its 7-0 record. It marks the Eagles' 35th league championship in school history, including second straight under head coach Matt Janu. It is UWL's 11th undefeated conference season in school history and first since 1996. The Eagles finished 7-0 in 1993, 1995 and 1996. UWL also recorded undefeated conference seasons in 1917 (3-0), 1940 (4-0), 1942 (4-0), 1950 (6-0), 1951 (6-0), 1952 (5-0) and 1953 (5-0). UWL also has nine undefeated years with a tie.
UWL earned the league's automatic bid the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships with it 31-28 victory at UW-River Falls on November 4. The NCAA Division III Championship field will be announced Sunday, November 12 at 4 p.m. on NCAA.com.
Making its 14th appearance in the NCAA Division III Championships in school history, including third straight, UWL is 17-11 all-time in NCAA playoff history with two (1992, 1995) national titles.
It marks UWL's second straight year with nine regular-season victories after going 9-1 in 2022.
The Eagles earned their sixth straight win over the Pointers with Saturday's victory. UWL took the opening kickoff and scored on Keyser Helterbrand's four-yard touchdown pass to Marko Rajkovic with 12:20 left in the first quarter. Helterbrand opened the game with a 39-yard pass to Jack Studer and Dayo Oye later added a 26-yard run. UWL went 69 yards in five plays and 2:34 on its first drive of the game. UW-Stevens Point drove to UWL's 41-yard line, but were forced to punt on its first possession. The Eagles extended their lead to 14-0 on Helterbrand's two-yard touchdown pass to Wyatt LeMoine with 2:12 remaining in the opening quarter. The drive went 80 yards in 14 plays and 6:45.
On the second play of the Pointers' next drive, the Eagles' Tyr Severson sacked quarterback Jake Leair forcing a fumble recovered by Nate Hietpas at the UW-Stevens Point nine-yard line. Two plays later, Helterbrand scored on a five-yard run to make it 21-0 with 1:10 left in the quarter.
UW-Stevens Point cut the lead to 21-7 on Leair's 35-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Lemke with 13:24 remaining in the second quarter. The Pointers went 70 yards in seven plays and 2:39.
UWL responded with a nine-play, 71-yard drive in 3:07 resulting in Michael Stack's 17-yard field goal with 10:05 left in the first half to give the Eagles a 24-7 lead. UW-Stevens Point was forced to punt and UWL went 62 yards in five plays and 2:20 to extend its lead to 31-7 on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Helterbrand to LeMoine with 5:36 remaining. Stack connected on a 35-yard field goal on the final play of the first half to give the Eagles a 34-7 lead.
The game's only scoring in the second half came with 4:33 left in the fourth quarter on Gage Boegli's one-yard touchdown run.
UWL finished with 479 yards on Saturday, including 157 rushing and 322 passing. The Eagles totaled 27 first downs in the game while going three-of-11 on third-down and two-of-two on fourth-down. UWL was six-of-seven in red-zone chances and won the time of possession, 37:15 to 22:45. Helterbrand went 19-of-19 for 222 yards with three touchdowns. Oye had a team-high 49 yards on nine carries while Studer caught three passes for 80 yards.
UW-Stevens Point had 182 yards of offense with 13 rushing and 182 passing. The Pointers finished with 14 first downs while going three-of-14 on third-down and two-of-six on fourth-down. Leair finished 15-of-29 for 165 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Brycen Cashin had 26 yards rushing on eight attempts. Devin Baldridge had five receptions for 28 yards.
Caden Boettcher led UWL with eight tackles while Christian Powell, playing his first game as a defensive lineman this season, recorded seven tackles with 3.0 quarterback sacks and one forced fumble. Severson, Jacob Gronwick and Noah Glazebrook had 1.0 sack while Jared Pelishek recorded an interception.
Marshal Bukowski led UW-Stevens Point with 10 tackles.
UWL Wins Outright WIAC Title with Victory at UW-Stevens Point
/seasons/2023/boxscores/20231111_af4q.xml
2023
UW-La Crosse
41
UW-Stevens Point
7
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 4 UW-La Crosse (9-1) | 21 | 13 | 0 | 7 | 41 |
| UW-Stevens Point (1-9) | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
Nov 11, 2023