La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team dropped its 2014 home opener 41-22 to second-ranked the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (Texas) Saturday night at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. The Eagles fall to 1-2 on the season while the Crusaders, ranked second on this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll, improve to 3-0. UMHB now leads the all-time series, 3-0, with UW-L.
The teams traded punts on the first five possessions of the game before UMHB took a 3-0 lead with 3:03 left n the first quarter. The Crusaders went 41 yards on nine plays and 3:39 with Jacob O'Neill converting on a 40-yard field goal attempt. UMHB led 3-0 at the end of the first quarter.
The Crusaders made it 10-0 on Malcolm Miller's four-yard touchdown run with 11:43 remaining in the second quarter. UMHB went 88 yards on 10 plays and 3:18. UW-L cut the lead to 10-3 with 6:28 left in the first half on Joshua Fischer's 30-yard field goal. The Eagles went 61 yards on six plays and 1:52. The field goal was set-up after John Tackett's 42-yard pass to Chris Stackhouse.
Each team was forced to punt on their next possession before UMHB went 49 yards on six plays and 1:36 with Blake Jackson throwing a 18-yard touchdown pass to Eric Nelson. The touchdown gave the Crusaders a 17-3 lead with 1:27 left in the second quarter.
UMHB led 17-3 at halftime.
After the game was delayed for approximately 50 minutes due to thunderstorms, UMHB took the second half kickoff to lead 20-3 with 12:38 left in the quarter on O'Neill's 21-yard field goal. The Crusaders went 26 yards on seven plays and 2:23. The drive was set-up by Michael Carpenter's 63-yard kickoff return.
The Crusaders took a 27-3 advantage with 4:17 remaining in the third as Duane Thompson scored on a 50-yard touchdown run. The drive was 52 yards on two plays and :44.
The teams traded turnovers on the next two possessions of the game and UMHB led 27-3 at the end of the third quarter.
UW-L cut the lead to 27-9 on the first play from scrimmage in the fourth quarter as Tackett threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Tony Bilderback. The Eagles went 80 yards on eight plays and 2:34. UW-L's two-point attempt failed. After forcing a UMHB punt, UW-L cut its deficit to 27-16 with Tackett connecting with Tony Favre for a 20-yard touchdown pass with 6:40 remaining. Fischer converted the extra-point as the Eagles went 88 yards on 10 plays and 5:00.
Miller scored his second touchdown of the game with 4:21 left in the game on a 19-yard run for UMHB to make it 34-16. The drive went 47 yards on five plays and 2:24. UW-L was forced to punt on its next drive and UMHB's Dustin Frye scored on a 33-yard touchdown run with 3:08 left for a 41-16 advantage. The Crusaders went 39 yards on two plays and :51.
UW-L finished the scoring on Austin Mancosky's one-yard touchdown run with :17 remaining. Mancosky rushed for all 34 yards on the scoring drive in seven plays and 2:45. Jared Stan had a 66-yard kickoff return to start the drive.
UW-L totaled 337 yards of offense Saturday night, including 97 rushing and 240 passing. Ben Hertrampf finished with 62 yards rushing on 17 attempts while Mancosky had 34 yards on seven rushes with one touchdown. Tackett went 16-of-28 passing for 234 yards with two touchdowns. Andrew Thompson was one-of-four for six yards. Bilderback caught four passes for 94 yards and a touchdown while Stackhouse (47 yards), Scott Shewmon (14) and Stan (9) each had two catches.
The Eagles were three-of-15 (20.0%) on third-down and four-of-five in red-zone opportunities. UW-L won the time of possession, 30:19 to 29:41.
UMHB finished with 514 yards of offense, including 322 rushing and 192 passing. Frye totaled 104 yards rushing on 15 carries and one touchdown. Miller had two rushing touchdowns and Thompson one. Zach Anderson went 14-of-19 passing for 143 yards and an interception while Jackson finished three-of-five for 49 yards and a touchdown. Kamray Runnels had seven catches for 78 yards.
The Crusaders were six-of-14 (42.9%) on third-down and five-of-five in red-zone chances.
Shane Rockweiler led UW-L with 16 tackles while Zach Wall, Zackary Kleven and Jacob Flegner each totaled nine tackles. Jake Perner had eight tackles and an interception while Grant Schultz recorded a forced fumble.
Kris Brown led UMHB with eight tackles while Deshon Kinsey and Deoryen Thornton finished with seven. Jaedon Johnson had a fumble recovery while three players recorded a sack.
UW-L returns to action Saturday, October 4 at top-ranked UW-Whitewater at 1 p.m.
UW-L Drops Home Opener to Second-Ranked UMHB
/seasons/2014/boxscores/20140920_nmlq.xml
2014
Mary Hardin-Baylor
41
UW-La Crosse
22
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 2 Mary Hardin-Baylor (3-0) | 3 | 14 | 10 | 14 | 41 |
| UW-La Crosse (1-2) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 19 | 22 |
Sep 20, 2014