La Crosse, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team, ranked 20th on this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll, completed its regular season with a 56-14 victory over UW-Stevens Point Saturday afternoon at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex.
The Eagles improve to 7-3 overall and 5-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Pointers drop to 1-9 overall and 0-7 in the conference.
UWL will await word if it has earned at-large bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships.
It is UWL's seventh straight win over UW-Stevens Point. The Eagles are averaging 48.6 points in their seven-game winning streak over the Pointers.
UW-Stevens Point took the opening kickoff and drove 75 yards to take a 7-0 lead with Miles Gallagher scoring on a six-yard run with 8:21 left in the first quarter. The Pointers used 14 plays and 6:39.
UWL was stopped on fourth-and-one at the UW-Stevens Point 43-yard line on its first possession of the game. The Pointers were forced to punt and going into heavy winds, Aleks Sauer-Milli had a 12-yard punt to the Eagles' 44-yard line. UWL tied the game with Gabe Lynch scoring on a six-yard run on the final play of the first quarter. The Eagles went 56 yards on eight plays and 3:37.
UW-Stevens Point quarterback Jake Leair was sacked by Ryan Daines, who also forced the fumble, with Ryan Gengler recovering at the Pointers' 15-yard line. Two plays later, Kyle Haas connected with Tyler Bowman on a15-yard touchdown pass to give UWL a 13-7 lead with 14:06 left. The extra-point was missed.
After the teams traded punts, UW-Stevens Point drove to the UWL 34-yard line, but Lucas Milz was stopped for a one-yard run by Nate Wilcher on fourth-and-two. Haas hit Jack Studer with a 10-yard touchdown pass with 3:24 remaining in the second quarter to extend UWL's lead to 20-7.
Leair was intercepted by UWL's Trent Mullen on the first play on the ensuing scrimmage. Four plays later, Lynch scored on a three-yard run with 1:16 left in the second quarter. Haas hit Studer for the two-point conversion to make it 28-7 at halftime.
Haas threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Marko Rajkovic on the first possession of the third quarter to take a 35-7 lead. UWL went 75 yards in eight plays and 4:14.
The Eagles extended the lead to 42-7 after Gengler forced a fumble and Tyr Severson returned it 62-yards for a touchdown with 6:59 left in the third quarter.
UW-Stevens Point got on the scoreboard on Zay Segner's 59-yard touchdown run with 5:35 remaining in the quarter to cut the lead to 42-14. The Pointers used three plays and 1:24 to go 75-yards. UWL's Zach Weir connected with Rajkovic for a two-yard touchdown pass with 3:14 left in the third quarter after the Eagles went 62 yards in six plays and 2:12 to make it 49-14.
UWL finished the scoring at 56-14 with 13:27 remaining in the game on Weir's eight-yard touchdown pass to Jack Butcher. The drive used 2:14 and six plays to go 75 yards.
UWL finished with 466 yards, including 115 rushing and 351 passing. The Eagles had 23 first downs in the game while going eight-of-13 on third-down and three-of-four on fourth-down. UWL won the time of possession, 30:40 to 29:20.
Haas went 20-of-26 for 237 yards with three touchdowns while Weir finished eight-of-12 for 114 yards and two touchdowns. Lynch had seven carries or 33 yards and two touchdowns.
Studer caught five passes for 75 yards and one touchdown while Wyatt LeMoine had six receptions for 64 yards. Bowman (55 yards), Rajkovic (30) and Keaton Arndt (35) each had three catches with Bowman recording one touchdown and Rajkovic two.
Gengler and Tate Milton led the Eagles' defense with six tackles each. Gengler had a forced and fumble recovery and 1.0 quarterback sack while Milton finished with 1.5 quarterback sacks. Tyler Shaver recorded five tackles.
UW-Stevens Point totaled 252 yards with 164 rushing and 88 passing. The Pointers finished with 15 first downs. UW-Stevens Point was six-of-14 on third-down and two-of-four on fourth-down.
Leair finished three-of-nine passing for 48 yards with one interception. Segner was three-of-six for 40 yards while also rushing for a team-high 87 yards and one touchdown on nine carries.
Six different players caught a pass.
Gavino Lopez led UW-Stevens Point with eight tackles, including seven unassisted.