La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team fell, 55-42, to North Central College (Ill.) in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Quarterfinals Saturday afternoon at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. The Eagles, ranked fourth on D3football.com, finish 11-2 on the season while the Cardinals, ranked first on D3football.com, improve to 13-0. North Central (Ill.) will face Wartburg College (Iowa) in the national semifinals on Saturday, December 9.
UWL's 11 wins are the most since finishing 11-2 in 1996. Making its 14th appearance (1983, 1991-93, 1995-96, 1999, 2002-04, 2006, 2021-23) in school history in the NCAA III Championships, including third straight under head coach Matt Janus, UWL is now 19-12 all-time in NCAA playoff history. The Eagles were making their sixth (1991-93, 1995-96, 2023) appearance in the national quarterfinals.
North Central (Ill.), the defending national champion, took the opening kickoff and a 7-0 lead on Luke Lehnen's 17-yard touchdown pass to DeAngelo Hardy with 13:17 left the first quarter. Dom Scalera's extra-point made it 7-0. Joe Sacco had 43 yards rushing on the first two plays from scrimmage while Lehnen and Hardy combined for 37 yards on two catches.
UWL responded on its opening possession, going 72 yards in six plays and 2:32 with Keyser Helterbrand's 27-yard touchdown run with 10:38 remaining. Michael Stack's extra-point tied the game. Helterbrand hit Jack Studer with two catches for 33 yards on the drive.
The Cardinals were forced to punt on their next drive with Lehnen having a 56-yard punt down to the Eagles' 13-yard line. UWL drove to the North Central (Ill.) 17-yard line when Gabe Lynch ran to the goal line, but Julian Bell forced a fumble with the ball going out of the end-zone for a touch back. On the next play from scrimmage, Sacco scored on a 80-yard touchdown run to give the Cardinals a 14-7 lead with 3:27 left in the first quarter.
UWL punted and North Central (Ill.) took a 21-7 lead on its next drive, going 50 yards in six plays and 2:19 as Charles Coleman scored on a five-yard touchdown run with 12:46 remaining in the second quarter. After another Eagles' punt, the Cardinals extended their lead to 28-7 on Coleman's one-yard touchdown run with 4:11 left. North Central (Ill.) went 83 yards in nine plays and 4:23. The Eagles quickly cut the deficit to 28-14 on the next play from scrimmage as Helterbrand threw a 80-yard touchdown pass to Studer with 3:57 remaining. Hardy's 21-yard touchdown pass to Joey Lombardi with :49 left gave the Cardinals a 35-14 lead. North Central (Ill.) used seven plays to go 53 yards in 3:07.
UWL drove to North Central's (Ill.) 47-yard line, but Helterbrand was intercepted by Hardy at the goal line on the final play of the first half as the Cardinals maintained their 35-14 halftime lead.
The Eagles took the second half kickoff and drove 69 yards in 10 plays and 5:17 to cut the lead to 35-21 on Lynch's 11-yard touchdown run with 9:43 remaining. The Cardinals responded on their first drive of the third quarter with Lehnen throwing a 32-yard touchdown pass to Lombardi with 4:44 left to extend the lead to 41-21. The extra-point was missed. Helterbrand's one-yard touchdown with 1:03 remaining in the third quarter cut the lead to 41-28.
North Central (Ill.) punted on the second play of the fourth quarter with UWL taking over at the Cardinals' 48-yard line with 14:11 left. Seven plays later, Helterbrand scored on a two-yard run to cut the lead to 41-35 with 11:19 remaining. UWL went 48 yards in seven plays and 2:52.
The Cardinals regained a 13-point lead on their next drive with Lehnen scoring on a four-yard run with 5:02 left to make it 48-35. The drive went 63 yards in 11 plays and 6:08. Tyler Stubbendick returned the ensuing kickoff 35-yards to the North Central (Ill.) 44-yard line and a face mask foul moved the ball to the Cardinals' 29-yard line. The Eagles drove to the Cardinals' 16-yard line when Heltebrand was intercepted by Rahmareon Roby at the seven-yard line. North Central (Ill.) punted and UWL went six plays for 42 yards in 1:15 with Helterbrand throwing a two-yard touchdown pass to Studer with :32 remaining. UWL's onside kick was returned 45-yards for a touchdown by Hardy to provide the final scoring.
UWL finished with 535 yards, including 234 rushing and 301 passing. The Eagles totaled 30 first downs in the game while going four-of-nine on third-down and one-of-three on fourth-down. UWL was four-of-six in the red-zone and won the time of possession, 31:47 to 28:13.
Helterbrand accounted for five touchdowns in the game, finishing 21-of-32 passing for 301 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He also rushed for 135 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries. Helterbrand set a single-season school record with 2,981 passing yards, breaking the mark of 2,804 yards by Evan Lewandowski in 2019.
Lynch totaled 97 yards rushing and one touchdown on 15 attempts. Studer finished with 204 receiving yards on 10 catches with two touchdowns. Studer became UWL's single-season leader in receiving yards with 1,567, breaking Nick Holcomb's record of 1,401 yards set in 2017.
North Central (Ill.) totaled 509 yards with 323 rushing and 186 passing. The Cardinals finished with 23 first downs and went six-of-nine on third-down. The team was four-of-four in the red-zone.
Lehnen was 12-of-15 for 165 yards with two touchdowns. He rushed for 86 yards and one touchdown on 11 attempts. Sacco totaled 187 yards rushing and one touchdown on 17 carries. Lombardi finished with 89 yards and two touchdowns on three receptions. Hardy had 87 yards and one touchdown on nine catches.
Jack Kelly, Tanner Newlin, Aaron Schmitz and Austin Knade led UWL with seven tackles each. Newlin and Knade each had 2.0 tackles for loss.
BJ Adamchik led North Central (Ill.) with 10 tackles. Julian Bell totaled eight tackles and Zack Orr seven.
UWL Falls to Top-Ranked North Central in NCAA III Quarterfinals
/seasons/2023/boxscores/20231202_nc98.xml
2023
North Central (Ill.)
55
UW-La Crosse
42
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 1 North Central (Ill.) (13-0) | 14 | 21 | 6 | 14 | 55 |
| No. 4 UW-La Crosse (11-2) | 7 | 7 | 14 | 14 | 42 |
Dec 02, 2023