DUBUQUE, Iowa (September 12, 2015) - It was a wild contest, reminiscent of when UW-Stout and UW-Stevens Point would meet each other in the mid-to-late-1980s, or Matt Bunyan was flinging the ball in the late-1990s. The football was flying the through the air without a care in the world. Yardage would pile up, and pile up and pile up.
As UW-Stout defeated host Loras College, 52-42, at the Rock Bowl Saturday, the two teams combined for 1336 yards of total offense, with a combined passing yardage of 1025 yards. Stout executed 83 offensive plays, while Loras hiked the ball 118 times offensively.
Stout's Hank Kujak (Sr, Blair) threw the ball 44 times, completing 22 passes for 418 yards, the most by a Stout quarterback since Bunyan ran off a litany of 400-yard games during the 1998 season. Kujak threw for a then career-best 341 yards last week against Bethel University.
Brian Alvarez (Sr, Atwater, Calif) hauled in five passes for 120 yards and a score. Jordan Dabney (Jr, Monteca, Calif) had three receptions for 99 yards and a touchdown. Kevion McDonald (Fr, Hopkins, Minn) didn't score a TD, but did catch five passes for 98 yards. Tight end Ben Hall (Sr, North Palm Beach, Fla.) caught his first collegiate TD, a two-yard grab in traffic in the end zone.
On the ground, Adolfo Pacheco (Jr, South Elgin, Ill) carried the ball 17 times for 77 yards and two touchdowns. KeyShawn Carpenter (So, Evergreen Park, Ill) rushed for a TD.
Stout (1-1) finished with 534 yards of total offense, the program's most since a 62-0 win over Eureka College on Sept. 18, 2010. The Blue Devils had 418 yards in passing, all by Kujak, and 116 yards rushing. The 52 points scored was the most since the win over Eureka.
Not to be outdone, and they weren't, Loras (0-2) finished with 792 yards of total offense, 607 yards passing, 185 on the ground. Quarterback Nolan Baumhover was 30-of-45 for 387 yards, with three TDs and one interception before he was knocked out of the game in the third quarter. Backup quarterback Nik Schulte came on to complete 17-of- 31 passes for 220 yards and a TD and two interceptions.
Josh Schulte grabbed 15 passes for 219 yards and a pair of scores and Nate Even, who had 238 yards against the Blue Devils last year at Williams Stadium, had eight receptions for 125 yards and a TD. Danny Wills finished with no TDs but 119 yards on 14 grabs.
The tone for the remainder of the game was set when in the final 2-minutes, 55-seconds of the second quarter, the two teams combined for four TDs, two each and Stout held a 28-21 halftime lead.
The massive amount of scoring began after Stout's Enzo Rosani (So, Gagny, France) picked off his first of two passes in the game, returning the ball 28 yards before fumbling into the end zone and the ball was recovered by Loras. The Duhawks took possession on the 20 with 5:20 on the clock and drove the 80 yards, capping off the drive with 2:55 on the clock on a 30 pass from Baumhover to Josh Schulte. A two-point conversion tied the score at 14-14.
Stout answered in four plays. Kujak found Dabney for 49 yards to the Loras 22, and two plays later hit Dabney for a 21 yard score. Baumhover tied the score three plays later on a 56-yard pass to Mikey Castoro.
Kujak and Alvarez provided the spark in Stout's answer. On first down, Kujak connected with Alvarez for 17 yards to the Loras 46 and three plays later, on 3-and-10, Kujak hooked up with Alvarez for a 45-yard play to 1-yard line. Kujak plunged over and Stout led 28-21 going into the locker room.
The teams traded punches throughout the second half, and Stout survived for the 52-42 win.
Stout kicker Taylor Pahl (So, Hortonville) was perfect on the day, making all seven of his extra point attempts and drilling a 34-yard field goal in the third quarter.
Not surprisingly, the defensive stat sheet was stacked. Stout linebacker Kyle Hoefft (Sr, Morton, Ill) finished with 19 tackles, nine solo. Defensive back Tony Blair (So, Chippewa Falls) had 14 tackles, nine solo. Rosani had 12 tackles, seven solo, and Javauhn Staley (Jr, Sanford, Fla) had 12 tackles, five solo.
Loras' Calvin Harridge finished with15 tackles, five solo and JP Awe had 13 tackles, six solo.
The Stout school record for most total yards in a game is 645 against UW-Platteville in 2003. The most passing yardage in a game was 486 against UW-Whitewater in 1998. Bunyan recorded passing games of 486-, 457- and 444-yards during the 1998 season.
Stout returns home to face sixth ranked Wartburg College, Saturday, Sept. 19 at 7 p.m.
UW-Stout wins shootout with Loras College
/seasons/2015/boxscores/20150912_awwn.xml
2015
UW-Stout
52
Loras
42
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UW-Stout (1-1) | 14 | 14 | 17 | 7 | 52 |
| Loras (0-2) | 3 | 18 | 14 | 7 | 42 |
Sep 12, 2015