Decorah, Iowa - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team opened its 2016 season with a 45-14 victory at Luther College (Iowa) Saturday afternoon at Carlson Stadium. The Eagles, under first-year head coach Mike Schmidt, earned their third straight season-opening victory with Saturday's win. UWL defeated the University of Dubuque, Iowa (24-8) in 2014 and Luther, Iowa (26-19) in 2015.
Schmidt, the 13th head coach in UWL history, is the sixth coach to win his opening game and first since Bill Vickroy in 1952. Carl Sputh (1915), Raymond Kellor (1917), Howard Johnson (1930) and Clark Van Galder (1948) also won their first game at the helm of UWL.
Now leading the all-time series, 9-4, with Luther (Iowa), UWL opened the scoring after each team punted on its first possession. The Eagles went 81 yards on 11 plays and 3:17 with Tarek Yaeggi connecting on a four-yard touchdown pass to Joel Oxton. Joshua Fischer converted the extra-point attempt for a 7-0 lead. Tyler Jenkins rushed for 33 yards on the drive.
The Norse responded on their ensuing drive to tie the game at 7-7 as Sam Houlihan scored on a 52-yard touchdown run with 5:02 remaining. Luther (Iowa) went 70 yards on six plays and 3:27 with Cory Wirth converting the extra-point.
The teams exchanged interceptions on the next two drives before UWL took a 14-7 lead with :58 left in the first quarter with Yaeggi scoring on a five-yard run. UWL went 25 yards on four plays and 1:04 after Peter Krien intercepted Luther's (Iowa) Brady Letner at the Norse' 25-yard line.
UWL only needed three plays to go 56 yards in :51 to take a 21-7 advantage with 13:10 remaining in the second quarter. Austin Mancosky rushed for seven yards followed by a Yaeggi to Jack Zwettler 15-yard pass. Jenkins then scored on a 34-yard run. The Eagles took a 28-7 halftime lead with :25 left in the first half as they went 98 yards on 12 plays and 3:04 as Troy Bailey scored on a two-yard run. UWL rushed for 60 yards on the drive.
Jalen Clark gave the Eagles a 35-7 lead with 8:32 remaining in the third quarter on a two-yard touchdown run, the only play of the drive. UWL's Ryan Kruser had a 29-yard punt return to set-up Clark's touchdown. Yaeggi connected on a 38-yard touchdown pass with Samuel Zwieg with 4:12 left in the third quarter to make it 42-7. UWL went 56 yards on four plays and :47.
A Christian Moore two-yard touchdown run with 8:42 left in the fourth quarter for Luther (Iowa) cut the lead to 42-14. The Norse went 84 yards on 14 plays and 6:31.
UWL finished the game's scoring on a 40-yard field goal with 3:30 left in the fourth quarter. The Eagles went 40 yards on 11 plays and 5:10.
UWL totaled 481 yards of offense Saturday, including 289 rushing and 192 passing. Six different players scored a touchdown for the Eagles. Jenkins led the team with 117 yards rushing on 15 attempts (7.8 average) and one touchdown while Yaeggi, Clark and Bailey each had one rushing touchdown. Yaeggi went 14-of-26 passing for 189 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Oxton caught six passes for 60 yards while Zwieg finished with three receptions for 65 yards. Both players had one touchdown.
The Eagles' 45 points are the most since a 49-14 win over UW-Eau Claire on November 6, 2010 while UWL's 481 yards of offense are the most since finishing with 537 (264 rushing; 273 passing) in a 32-25 victory over UW-Oshkosh on October 3, 2009.
Luther (Iowa) totaled 328 yards Saturday, including 239 rushing and 89 passing. Moore had 74 yards rushing on 17 attempts (4.4 average) and one touchdown while Letney finished three-of-10 passing for 89 yards with one interception. Three different players had one catch for the Norse.
UWL finished with 27 first downs and had one penalty for 15 yards. Luther (Iowa) totaled 16 first downs and won the time of possession, 38:28 to 21:32. The Norse had six penalties for 57 yards. UWL went six-of-11 on third-down and four-of-five in the red-zone while Luther (Iowa) finished seven-of-15 on third-down and one-of-one in the red-zone.
Michael Garvey, Jacob Krueger and Peter Kissling led UWL's defense with nine tackles each. Along with the interception, Krien finished with eight tackles and 2.0 quarterback sacks.
Fischer went six-of-six in extra-point attempts along with his 40-yard field goal. Zach Kirby averaged 35.4 yards on five punts with a long of 53-yards. He had three punts inside the 20-yard line.
Josh Olerud led Luther (Iowa) with 13 tackles.
UWL returns to action Saturday, September 10 hosting Ripon College (Wis.) in the Eagles' home opener at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex.
UWL Opens Season with Road Win at Luther
/seasons/2016/boxscores/20160903_hf72.xml
2016
UW-La Crosse
45
Luther
14
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UW-La Crosse (1-0) | 14 | 14 | 14 | 3 | 45 |
| Luther (0-1) | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 14 |
Sep 03, 2016