UW-Stevens Point 31, UW-La Crosse 17

Stevens Point, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team fell 31-17 at UW-Stevens Point Saturday afternoon at Community Stadium at Goerke Field. The Eagles fall to 1-6 overall and 1-3 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Pointers improve to 5-2 overall and 3-1 in the conference.

It is the Pointers' third straight win over the Eagles. 

UW-L took a 3-0 lead on the first possession of the game, driving 49 yards on nine plays as Justin Huinker hit a season-long 42-yard field goal. UW-Stevens Point came back to take a 7-3 lead later in the opening quarter with Mike Griffin scoring on a 21-yard run with 6:00 left. 

The Pointers led 14-3 after Kyle Furhman scored on a one-yard run with 1:26 remaining in the first half. UW-Stevens Point went 76 yards on eight plays and led 14-3 at halftime.

Matt McGilliard intercepted his first pass of the game on UW-Stevens Point's opening possession of the third quarter, but UW-L later fumbled at the Pointers' 11-yard line. The Pointers went 83 yards on 12 plays in 5:48 to lead 17-3 as Jared Fohrman connected on a 22-yard field goal. 

After a UW-L punt, Jake Swank hit Jared Jenkins with a 23-yard touchdown pass and 24-3 lead. The duo connected again with 9:19 remaining in the fourth quarter, this time from five-yards out, to lead 31-3. 

McGilliard intercepted Tyler Wolf at the UW-L eight-yard line with 7:30 left in the game and the Eagles used a five-play, 92-yard drive in 2:14 to cut the lead to 31-10. Bakary Dao scored on a seven-yard run. Quarterback Mike Butterfield had a 61-yard run in the series.

UW-L forced a UW-Stevens Point punt with 1:59 remaining and went 91 yards in nine plays and 1:48 with Butterfield throwing a 35-yard touchdown pass to Tony Bilderback.  The score made it 31-17.

UW-L totaled 373 yards of offense Saturday, including 169 rushing and 204 passing. Butterfield was the teams' leading rusher with 110 yards on eight attempts. He was also six-of-seven passing for 86 yards and a touchdown while returning four kickoffs for 61 yards. Nick Anker was 15-of-31 passing for 118 yards and an interception. 

Travis Bordeau was the Eagles' leading receiver with seven catches for 60 yards while Ross Slovensky had six catches for 56 yards.

UW-Stevens Point finished with 382 yards, including 188 rushing and 194 passing. Furhman had 121 yards rushing on 25 carries while Swank finished 10-of-22 passing for 194 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Jenkins caught seven passes for 177 yards and two touchdowns. 

UW-L was five-of-17 on third-down while UW-Stevens Point finished three-of-10. The Pointers had four turnovers to the Eagles' two and UW-L won the time of possession, 32:51 to 27:09. 

Dustin Drath led the UW-L defense with nine tackles, including eight solo. Jake Meckstroth totaled eight tackles (six solo) and a quarterback sack. Donovan Winter and Jim Litscher each had a fumble recovery and combined on the Eagles' second sack while McGilliard recorded two interceptions.

Curtis Krump led UW-Stevens Point with eight tackles, including seven solo. The Pointers' had three sacks. 

UW-L returns to action Saturday, Oct. 30 at UW-Stout starting at 1 p.m.