La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team improved to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) with a 28-24 victory over UW-River Falls Saturday afternoon at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. UW-River Falls drops to 5-2 overall and 2-2 in the conference. The Eagles entered the game ranked 22nd on this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll while the Falcons were ranked 10th.
UWL has now won 28 of the last 31 meetings with UW-River Falls, including eight straight. The Falcons' last win over the Eagles came in River Falls in 2015 (21-20 in overtime). UW-River Falls has not earned a win in La Crosse since 2011 (28-21 in overtime).
UW-River Falls drove to UWL's 30-yard line on the game's first possession on Saturday, but turned the ball over on downs after Riley Warzynski's incomplete pass. After a pair of punts, UWL drove to UW-River Falls' one-yard line, but Gabe Lynch was stopped for a four-yard loss by Michael Brown and Connor McKenzie. On the next play from scrimmage, the Falcons' Cade Fitzgerald fumbled with the Eagles' Landon Oine recovering at the UW-River Falls eight-yard line. Three plays later, Kyle Haas connected with Wyatt LeMoine on an eight-yard touchdown pass with 3:52 remaining in the first quarter. Michael Stack's extra-point made it 7-0.
The Falcons tied the game on their next possession, going 80 yards in seven plays and 2:38 as Warzynski hit Austin Rush for a 34-yard touchdown pass with 1:08 left. Justin Scheberl made the extra-point to the game, 7-7. UWL regained the lead on its next drive as Haas scored on a three-yard run with 12:33 remaining in the second quarter. The Eagles went 74 yards in seven plays and 3:31.
Warzynski responded on the next drive for UW-River Falls, scoring on an eight-yard run with 9:17 left the first half. The Falcons used nine plays and 3:09 to go 78 yards. Later in the quarter, Stack missed a 29-yard field goal with 1:26 left for UWL to keep the game tied, 14-14. UW-River Falls went 55 yards in 10 plays and 1:26 to take a 17-14 halftime advantage on Scheberl's 42-yard field goal on the final play of the first half.
On the first drive of the third quarter, UWL drove to the UW-River Falls' 12-yard line, but Stack missed a 30-yard field goal with 8:04 remaining in the third quarter. UWL forced a punt and needed three plays to take a 21-17 lead after Lynch scored on a 42-yard touchdown run with 5:32 left in the quarter. Warzynski and Stephen Reifenberger combined on a 36-yard completion to the Eagles' six-yard line on the Falcons' ensuing possession, but Trevor Asher fumbled on the next play with Nate Wilcher recovering at UWL's nine-yard line. Haas was intercepted by UW-River Falls' Andrew Schumacher at UWL's 20-yard line on the Eagles' next drive. Fitzgerald scored on a six-yard touchdown run with 14:21 remaining in the game to give the Falcons a 24-21 advantage.
UWL went 78 yards in 13 plays and 6:14 to take a 28-24 lead as Haas connected with Tyler Bowman on a two-yard touchdown pass with 8:03 left. Both teams traded punts with UW-River Falls then taking over at its own 20-yard line with 5:15 remaining. Warzynski and Michael Krueger had a seven-yard completion on the first play, but Fitzgerald was intercepted by Trent Mullen on the next play at the Falcons' 45-yard line. UWL ran out the final 4:39 as Lynch had a first down run on third-and-two and Haas converted a fourth-and-five with an eight-yard run.
UWL finished with 430 yards of offense with 259 rushing and 171 passing. The Eagles had 29 first downs in the game while going eight-of-17 on third-down and one-of-two on fourth-down. UWL won the time of possession, 42:07 to 17:53.
Haas went 19-of-33 passing for 171 yards with two touchdowns and one interception while also rushing for 25 yards and one touchdown on nine carries. Lynch finished with a career-high 38 carries for a career-high 229 yards with one touchdown. Lynch's 38 carries ranks fourth in single-game school history while his 229 yards is eighth-most. Ted Pretasky and Andrew Mocadlo hold the school record with 41 rushing attempts while Mocadlo had a school record 391 rushing yards. Lynch's 38 carries are the most since Dan Hall finished with 39 against UW-Eau Claire on October 6, 2007. His 229 yards are the most since Ben Hertrampf had 234 yards versus UW-Eau Claire on November 15, 2014.
Jack Studer led the Eagles with five catches for 47 yards. Eight players caught a pass. Keaton Arndt had three receptions for 31 yards while Jack Janke finished with three catches for 28 yards.
UW-River Falls totaled 339 yards, including 96 rushing and 243 passing. The Falcons finished with 17 first downs and went six-of-12 on third-down. The team was one-of-two on fourth-down.
Warzynski finished 21-of-30 for 241 yards with one touchdown. He also rushed for 30 yards and one touchdown on seven attempts. Krueger led the Falcons with 56 yards rushing on 14 carries. Rush caught nine passes for 131 yards and one touchdown. Krueger had six receptions for 29 yards.
Ethan Tranel averaged 46.0 yards on three punts for UWL with a long of 50 yards and one inside the 20-yard line. Aaron Schmitz led the Eagles with eight tackles, including 1.0 for loss, while Christian Powell recorded six tackles with 1.0 for loss.
Aaron Borgerding led UW-River Falls with a game-high 16 tackles, including 13 solo.
UWL returns to action Saturday, November 2 at UW-Stout at 1 p.m.