Game Stats
La Crosse, Wis. - The UW-La Crosse football team won its 2009 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) opener with a 32-25 home victory over UW-Oshkosh Saturday night at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. The Eagles improve to 4-0 overall while the Titans fall to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
UW-L, ranked 17th on this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll, had 92 plays on offense and finished with 537 yards, including 264 rushing and 273 passing. The 92 offensive plays is tied for fourth in single-game school history. UW-L had a school record 95 plays versus UW-Eau Claire October 30, 1995 and against UW-Platteville October 6, 2001.
With Saturday's victory, UW-L has now won 24 straight games over UW-Oshkosh and 35 of the last 37 overall.
UW-Oshkosh took an early 3-0 lead with 8:07 remaining in the first quarter on Andy Lindsay's 25-yard field. UW-L tied at 3-3 with 4:15 left in the opening period on Dylan Rude's 23-yard field goal.
The Eagles led 9-3 early in the second quarter as Nick Anker hit Alex Maxinoski on a 61-yard touchdown pass, but Rude's extra-point was missed. Reid Oldenburg scored on a 20-yard run with 5:08 left in the first half to make it 15-3 at halftime as Rude missed his second straight extra-point.
On the first possession of the second half, Rude converted on a 24-yard field goal to give UW-L a 18-3 advantage, but Jeremy Roach cut the lead to 18-10 for UW-Oshkosh on a 27-yard run with 9:40 left in the third quarter. Anker was then picked off by Jake Schnetzer on the next play from scrimmage, but the Titans were forced to punt from the UW-L 41-yard line. The Eagles' Tyler O'Kane fumbled Kyle Calhoun's punt at his own five-yard line and Nick Jolin recovered for UW-Oshkosh. The Titans made it 18-16 with 6:06 remaining as Tyler Wegner hit Garrie Fox with a two-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal. Lindsay was then stopped as he tried to run in the two-point conversion.
UW-L drove 73 yards on 10 plays to take a 25-16 lead with Anker hitting Travis Bordeau on a six-yard touchdown pass with 1:59 remaining in the third quarter. Rude converted the extra-point to give UW-L a nine-point advantage. UW-Oshkosh came right back to cut the lead to 25-22 with :35 left in the period as Nate Wara threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Ben Rosandick. Lindsay's extra-point was blocked by Billy Niggeman.
Lee Lauters gave the Eagles a 32-22 lead early in the final quarter as he scored on a eight-yard touchdown run. Rude converted the extra-point. The Titans cut the margin to 32-25 with 1:49 left with Lindsay hitting a 35-yard field goal, but UW-L's Brock Larson recovered the Titans' on-side kick attempt. The Eagles were able to run out the clock with a first-down run from Jason Church on fourth-and-one at the Titans' 28-yard line.
UW-L totaled 31 first downs in the game and won the time of possession, 36:24 to 23:36. The Eagles were eight-of-15 on third-down and five-of-six in red-zone opportunities.
Oldenburg finished with 15 carries and 101 yards rushing and one touchdown while Lauters totaled 97 yards on 19 attempts and a touchdown. Anker was 21-of-37 passing for a career-high 273 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. He also rushed for 66 yards.
Bordeau caught seven passes for 94 yards while Maxinoski had five receptions for 91 yards. Both players caught one touchdown pass.
The Eagles' Aaron Johnson recorded seven tackles while Niggeman had six. Justin Hartwig, Jonathan Flancher, Derek Jones and Mike Lenzendorf each had a quarterback sack for UW-L while Matt McGilliard recorded an interception.
UW-Oshkosh finished the game with 261 yards, including 73 rushing and 188 passing. The Titans were held to 14 first downs and finished seven-of-18 on third-down. The team also scored on all three of its red-zone chances.
Roach had 85 yards rushing on 11 carries and a touchdown while Wara was 14-of-27 passing for 150 yards and a touchdown and interception. He was sacked three times. Wegner finished five-of-nine for 38 yards and a touchdown. Eleven different players caught a pass for the Titans led by Justin Budiac with four receptions for 31 yards.
James Taraboi led the UW-Oshkosh defense with 13 tackles, including 12 solo. Dan Swanson had a quarterback sack while Jake Schnetzer recorded two interceptions. Nate Heard also had one interception.
UW-L returns to action Saturday, Oct. 10 at UW-Platteville at 2 p.m.
