La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team improved to 7-1 overall and 5-0 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) with a 59-14 victory over UW-Eau Claire Saturday afternoon at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. The Blugolds drop to 2-6 overall and 1-4 in the conference.
UWL, ranked fourth on D3football.com Top-25 Poll, earned its sixth straight win over UW-Eau Claire with Saturday's victory. The Eagles' 59 points are the most versus the Blugolds in school history. UWL earned a 55-40 victory in 1997.
UW-Eau Claire was forced to punt on the game's first possession. UWL drove to the UW-Eau Claire 49-yard line, but Tyler Bowman fumbled with the Blugolds' JP Wolterstorff recovering the ball. UW-Eau Claire took a 7-0 lead on the ensuing drive as Ivan Ruble scored on a two-yard run with 6:03 left in the first quarter. The Blugolds went 57 yards in 11 plays and 5:41. Dan Zeuli's extra-point was good. The Blugolds drew a pass interference call in the Eagles' end zone to continue the drive. UWL quickly responded to tie the game with Gabe Lynch scoring on a two-yard run with 2:03 remaining in the opening period. The Eagles fumbled on the drive, but Bowman recovered the ball at the Blugolds' 21-yard line. UW-Eau Claire was called for pass interference and two plays later, Lynch had the game-tying touchdown. Michael Stack converted the extra-point to make it 7-7. UWL went 75 yards in 10 plays and 4:00.
The game remained tied, 7-7, after the firs quarter.
The Blugolds took a 14-7 lead on Harry Roubidoux's 25-yard touchdown pass to Isaac Garside with 13:10 remaining in the second quarter with the drive going 68 yards in 10 plays and 3:44. On its next possession, UWL tied the game at 14-14 as Helterbrand connected with Wyatt LeMoine for a 55-yard touchdown pass with 11:32 left in the first half. The Eagles went 72 yards in four plays and 1:34.
UWL took its first lead of the game three plays later with Shane Lange returning Roubidoux's pass 13-yards for a touchdown with 10:33 remaining. The Blugolds were forced to punt on their next drive and the Eagles drove to UW-Eau Claire's one-yard line where Helterbrand hit Dryden Schaefer for a one-yard touchdown pass with 6:12 left in the first half. The drive went 71 yards in seven plays and 2:57. After another UW-Eau Claire punt, UWL extended its lead to 35-14 on Helterbrand's 38-yard touchdown pass to Jack Studer with :19 left as the drive went 77 yards in 10 plays and 4:19.
UWL led, 35-14, at halftime.
On the first drive of the second half, Helterbrand threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Marko Rajkovic with 11:25 remaining to make it 42-14. UWL used eight plays to go 65 yards in 3:30. Helterbrand threw his fifth touchdown pass of the game with 3:18 left in the third quarter on a 36-yard completion to Bowman with the drive going 86 yards in 11 plays and 6:05.
After a UW-Eau Claire punt mishap and 28-yard loss on fourth-down, UWL took over at the Blugolds' seven-yard line. Maddox Pratt made a 25-yard field goal for UWL to make it 52-14 with :43 left in the third quarter. Roubidoux was intercepted by Bryson Mazur on the first play of the fourth quarter and UWL used four plays to extend the lead to 59-14 on Dayo Oye's five-yard touchdown run with 12:53 remaining. The scoring drive used 2:00 to go 25 yards in four plays.
UWL totaled 562 yards of offense Saturday, including 175 rushing and 387 passing. The Eagles finished with 25 first downs, went eight-of-12 on third-down and five-of-five in the red-zone. UWL won the time of possession, 33:54 to 26:06.
Helterbrand went 24-of-27 for 360 yards with five touchdowns while also rushing for a team-high 52 yards on six carries. Lynch finished with 49 yards rushing on 12 attempts and one touchdown while Oye had 42 yards on 11 carries and one touchdown. Studer caught seven passes for 158 yards and one touchdown with Bowman finishing with seven receptions for 86 yards and one touchdown.
UW-Eau Claire finished with 198 yards with 31 rushing and 167 passing. The Blugolds had 12 first downs were six-of-15 on third-down.
Roubidoux finished 18-of-30 for 167 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. Ruble led the Blugolds with 57 yards rushing on 20 attempts and one touchdown while Landon Tonsager had eight catches for 89 yards.
Tanner Newlin led UWL with seven tackles while Lange, Bryson Mazur and Landon Oine each recorded an interception. Jack Kelly had five quarterback hurries. The Eagles had 9.0 tackles for loss. Ryan Kuechle led UW-Eau Claire with 11 tackles.
UWL returns to action Saturday, November 4 at seventh-ranked UW-River Falls at 1 p.m.
UWL Scores Season-High 59 Points in Win over UW-Eau Claire; Remain Undefeated in WIAC Play
/seasons/2023/boxscores/20231028_xd7y.xml
2023
UW-Eau Claire
14
UW-La Crosse
59
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UW-Eau Claire (2-6) | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| No. 4 UW-La Crosse (7-1) | 7 | 28 | 17 | 7 | 59 |
Oct 28, 2023