UW-Whitewater 70, Dakota St. 7
WHITEWATER, Wis. — UW-Whitewater, ranked number one in
Division III and the defending NCAA III champion, won its
seventeenth game in a row, defeating Dakota State University 70-7
Saturday afternoon in Perkins Stadium. The victory also extended
UW-W's home win streak to sixteen games and its non-conference
string to ten games.
UW-W scored six of its eight possessions in the first half, and
ten of sixteen times in the game.
UW-W got on the board at 10:53 in the first quarter on an 11 yard
run by Levell Coppage. Coppage did it again at 7:58, this time
going 61 yards, which for a short time was the longest run from
scrimmage by a UW-W player this season. Still in the first quarter,
5:43, Matt Blanchard connected with Adam Brandes on a 44 yard
touchdown. And, with 0:24 left in the first quarter, Booker Stanley
punched it in from one yard out to make 28-0 at the end of the
stanza.
The Warhawks added two more scores in the second quarter.
Blanchard hooked up with Aaron Rusch for 24 yards at 9:14. The TD
is the 20th of Rusch's career, tying him for third place in the
school record book with Anthony Talton (1989-91). Blanchard threw
his third touchdown pass, this time to David Leaf for 75 yards at
4:45. The pass is Whitewater's longest scoring toss since Jeff
Donovan hit Jordan Wells for a 77 yard score against Puget Sound
September 26, 2009. Whitewater went in to the intermission leading
42-0.
Whitewater tacked on three more scores in the third quarter.
Stanley ran one in from nine yards out at 12:11, Antwan Anderson
scored on a one yard run at 7:02, and Stanley raced 84 yards with
5:39 left in the frame to put UW-W in front 63-0. Stanley's run
from scrimmage is the longest for UW-W since Justin Beaver went 96
against UW-Oshkosh September 23, 2006.
Michael Pirtle ran 17 yards with 13:39 left in the game to wrap up
Whitewater's scoring. The ten extra points kicked by freshman Eric
Kindler tied the school game record, also accomplished by Mike
Chaulk versus Lakeland College in 2005.
Dakota State broke the shutout on a Paul Bagala to Stacey Berg for
a 31 yard touchdown with 0:45 left in the game.
UW-W amassed 663 yards of offense, 463 of those on the ground.
Stanley rushed 12 times for 159 yards, Coppage added 108 yards on 6
rushes (all in the first half), and Anderson carried the ball 19
times for 114 yards. It marks the first time in school history with
three UW-W running backs rushing for over 100 yards in a single
game. Blanchard went 10-13 for 202 yards and no interceptions. Leaf
accounted for 96 yards on 4 catches.
The Whitewater defense limited DSU to minus two yards rushing on
23 attempts, with six sacks cutting into the total. Senior
defensive tackle Luke Hibner had two of the sacks and three tackles
for a loss. The Trojans totaled 206 yards passing on 24-41 passing,
with one interception. Bagala accounted for all of the passing
totals, including six to sophomore wide receiver Wes Dauz for 23
yards. Senior linebacker Joe Whealy and junior defensive back Joe
Monize were both credited with nine tackles for DSU.
UW-W, 2-0, will travel to Kentucky to take on Campbellsville
University Saturday, September 18. The next home game for the
Warhawks will be October 9 at 3:00, with UW-Stout the opponent for
the annual Family Day game. Dakota State, 0-2, will play at
Dickinson State University September 18.
