La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team opened the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships with a 62-7 victory over the University of Minnesota Morris Saturday afternoon at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. The Eagles, ranked fourth on D3football.com, advances to the second to face Aurora University (Ill.) on Saturday, November 25. Aurora (Ill.) earned a 20-7 win over Coe College (Iowa) in Saturday's first round.
UWL improves to 10-1 with Saturday's victory while Minnesota Morris concludes its season at 8-3. The 62 points are the most in a playoff game for UWL, surpassing the 58 points in a victory (58-23) at Albion College (Mich.) in 2021.
In the first-ever meeting between the team, UWL's Jack Janke returned the opening kickoff 90-yard for a touchdown. Michael Stack's extra-point made it 7-0. It was UWL's first kickoff return for a touchdown since Jake Simuncak against UW-Platteville on October 16, 2021.
Minnesota Morris was forced to punt on its first possession and UWL used three plays to take a 14-0 lead as Dayo Oye scored on a 45-yard touchdown run with 11:52 remaining in the first quarter. After another Cougars' punt, the Eagles went 69 yards in seven plays and 2:59 with Keyser Helterbrand throwing a 16-yard touchdown pass to Charley Thompson with 7:04 left to make it 21-0.
Morris punted on its third straight drive and Helterbrand extended UWL's lead to 28-0 with 4:26 remaining in the opening quarter on a 17-yard touchdown pass to Jack Studer. The Eagles went 58 yards in five plays and 1:34. The Cougars fumbled on the ensuing kickoff with the Eagles' Caden Boettcher recovering at the Minnesota Morris 26-yard line. Three plays later, Helterbrand connected with Ryan Bartol from 15-yards out to make it 35-0 with 3:03 remaining.
Helterbrand threw his fourth touchdown pass of the first half with 12:37 left in the second quarter, hitting Dryden Schaefer from 14-yards to make it 42-0. UWL used 3:38 to go 86 yards in eight plays. Stack's 14-yard field goal with 7:21 remaining extended UWL's lead to 45-0 after going 67 yards in seven plays and 2:33. Marcus Reeb was intercepted by Shane Lange on the Cougars' next drive with Lange returning it to the Minnesota Morris 18-yard line. Riley Warzynski hit Janke on a two-yard touchdown pass with 3:13 left in the first half to make it 52-0 at halftime. Reeb was intercepted by Bryson Mazur on the next possession before UWL took a knee for the final play of the first half.
After forcing a Minnesota Morris punt on the first possession of the third quarter, UWL went 68-yards in 11 plays and 5:52 with Warzynski throwing a one-yard touchdown pass to Cade Myszewski with 6:10 left in the period to extend the lead to 59-0. The Cougars got on the scoreboard with 14:53 left in the game on Reeb's 45-yard touchdown pass to Cole Mitchell. Alex Happ converted the extra-point to make it 59-7. Minnesota Morris went 78 yards in seven plays and 3:08. Stack added a 33-yard field goal with 9:41 left in the game for the final scoring as the drive went 60 yards in 10 plays and 5:10.
UWL finished with 528 yards of offense with 232 rushing and 296 passing. The Eagles totaled 28 first downs in the game, finished eight-of-eight in the red-zone and won the time of possession, 34:28 to 25:32.
Helterbrand went 13-of-14 for 175 yards and four touchdowns while Warzynski finished 13-of-17 for 121 yards and two touchdowns. Oye finished with 115 yards on carries (19.2 average) and one touchdown while Thompson had 58 yards on eight attempts. Janke also had a team-high 58 yards receiving and one touchdown on four catches. Tyler Stoltenburg finished with five receptions for 43 yards.
Minnesota Morris totaled 200 yards, including 70 rushing and 130 passing. The Cougars finished with 10 first downs while going two-of-12 on third-down.
Reeb finished 14-of-25 for 130 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions for Minnesota Morris. Blake Johnson had 37 yards on 13 carries and Reeb 33 yards on 10 attempts. Sam Jordan (32 yards) and Ethan Tang (19) each had four catches. Mitchell led the team with 45 yards receiving coming on his touchdown reception.
Nicholas Jorndt led UWL with seven tackles while Jack Kelly recorded five tackles and 1.0 quarterback sack.
Gregory Ohman led Minnesota Morris with 14 tackles, including 2.0 for loss. Garrett Elison had nine tackles.
UWL Earns Victory over Minnesota Morris in First Round
/seasons/2023/boxscores/20231118_3mtr.xml
2023
Minnesota-Morris
7
UW-La Crosse
62
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota-Morris (7-4) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| No. 4 UW-La Crosse (10-1) | 35 | 17 | 7 | 3 | 62 |
Nov 18, 2023