Naperville, Ill. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team fell, 34-20, at North Central College (Ill.) Saturday afternoon in the second round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships. The Eagles finish 9-3 on the season, recording their most wins since going 9-2 in 2006. The Cardinals, the 2019 national champion, advances to the quarterfinals Saturday, December 4. North Central (Ill.) improved to 11-0 on the season with the win.
North Central (Ill.), ranked first on D3football.com, took the opening kickoff for a 6-0 lead, going 75 yards in 10 plays and 4:56. The Cardinals got a first down on a third-and-eight play at their own 30-yard line on an Eagles' pass interference penalty. North Central (Ill.) later converted a fourth-and-14 as Luke Lehnen hit DeAngelo Hardy for 25-yards to UWL seven-yard line. Ethan Greenfield scored on a seven-yard run on the next play from scrimmage. Magnus Meyer missed the extra-point.
UWL, ranked 11th on D3football.com, punted on its first possession with Sean Parker's 40-yard punt going out-of-bounds at North Central's (Ill.) two-yard line. The Cardinals went 98 yards in seven plays and 4:02 with Terrence Hill scoring on a 58-yard touchdown run. Meyer's extra-point made it 13-0. UWL drove to the North Central (Ill.) 34-yard line, but Joey Stutzman was stopped for a one-yard loss on fourth-and-one. The Cardinals led, 13-0, after the first quarter.
North Central (Ill.) took a 20-0 lead with 10:10 left in the second quarter as Lehnen threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Hardy. The Cardinals went 65 yards in nine plays and 5:05. UWL converted a fourth-and-10 at North Central's (Ill.) 22-yard line on its next drive, but Jakob Parks was intercepted by Nic Rummell in the end zone. The Eagles forced a Cardinals' punt and got on the scoreboard with Parks throwing a 17-yard touchdown pass to Matthijs Enters with 2:09 left. Ryan Beirne's extra-point cut the lead to 20-7. Parks was five-for-seven on the drive for 64 yards as UWL went 70 yards in eight plays and 3:13.
Meyer's 24-yard field goal on the final play of the second quarter was blocked by UWL's Ryan Gengler. North Central (Ill.) led, 20-7, at halftime.
UWL took the second half kickoff and cut the margin to 20-10 with Beirne hitting a 40-yard field goal with 6:32 left in the third quarter. The Eagles went 55 yards in 16 plays in 8:21. North Central (Ill.) turned the ball over on downs on its next possession at UWL's 33-yard line. Parks' 52-yard completion to Cameron Sorenson on third-and-19 set up UWL at North Central's (Ill.) 24-yard line. Beirne later hit a 32-yard field goal with 1:16 left to cut it to 20-13. UWL went 52 yards in seven plays and 2:35. North Central (Ill.) led, 20-13, after three quarters.
The Cardinals took a 27-13 lead with 13:21 remaining with Greenfield scoring on a four-yard touchdown run. North Central (Ill.) converted a fourth-and-two on the drive on a Greenfield two-yard run. Lehnen hit Andrew Kamienski for 34-yards on the next play, setting up Greenfield's touchdown. North Central (Ill.) went 59 yards in seven plays and 2:50.
UWL came right back on its ensuing drive as Parks hit Sorenson for a nine-yard touchdown pass with 11:53 left on fourth-and-goal to make it 27-20. Parks hit Jake Simuncak on a 57-yard completion to start the drive. The Eagles went 65 yards in five plays and 1:28. The Cardinals responded on their next drive, going 65 yards in nine plays and 5:34 as Hill scored on a 10-yard run with 6:07 remaining. The Eagles drove into Cardinals' territory on their next possession, but turned the ball over on downs after a pair of incomplete passes. North Central (Ill.) ran out the final 4:36 of the game.
UWL finished with 370 yards of offense Saturday, including 47 rushing and 323 receiving. The Eagles totaled 16 first downs in the game while going seven-of-14 on third-down and two-of-four on fourth-down.
Parks went 19-of-38 for 323 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Simuncak finished with seven catches for 156 yards while Sorenson (67 yards), Enters (33) and Jack Studer (30) each had three receptions. Stutzman had 33 yards rushing on 14 carries.
North Central (Ill.) totaled 484 yards with 291 rushing and 193 passing. The Cardinals finished with 27 first downs and won the time of possession, 34:44 to 25:16. The team was six-of-11 on third-down and two-of-three on fourth down.
Lehnen finished 13-of-23 for 193 yards with one touchdown. Greenfield had 198 yards rushing on 30 carries while Hill finished with 80 yards on five attempts. Both had two touchdowns. Kamienski had 81 yards receiving on five catches while Hardy totaled 71 yards on six receptions.
Elijah Alt and Ryan Daines led UWL's defense with 12 tackles each. Alt recorded nine unassisted tackles while Daines finished with 11 unassisted tackles, 1.0 tackle for loss and 1.0 quarterback sack. Dakota Cremeens, Ben Wong and Braden Lindmark each had six tackles for North Central (Ill.).