UW-La Crosse 29, UW-Stout 28

Menomonie, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team earned a 29-28 victory at UW-Stout Saturday afternoon at Don and Nona Williams Stadium. The Eagles improve to 2-6 overall and 2-3 in the WIAC while the Blue Devils fall to 4-4 overall and 2-3 in the conference. UW-L snaps a three-game losing streak to UW-Stout with the victory.

UW-L cut the lead to 28-27 with :23 remaining as Nick Anker hit Kyle Steffen on a nine-yard touchdown pass. The Eagles went for two and Anker connected with Brock Mc Mullen with the two-point conversion pass to give UW-L a 29-28 lead. The Eagles went 86 yards on 11 plays to take the lead after the Blue Devils' Craig Warminski scored on a 29-yard run with 2:27 remaining to make it 28-21. Richard Marteney made the extra-point.

After UW-L's late touchdown, UW-Stout drove to the UW-L 40-yard line, but ran out of time as Ross Carey hit Antawan Walker on an 18-yard pass play on the final play of the game.

The Eagles took a 7-0 lead on their first possession of the game as Travis Bordeau scored on a 23-yard touchdown run. Justin Huinker converted the extra-point attempt. UW-L went 81 yards in 11 plays and 5:11. UW-Stout came right back on its first possession as Warminski scored on a two-yard run. The Blue Devils used 3:24 on the drive, using eight plays to go 67 yards. Marteney made the extra-point.

UW-L punted on its next possession and UW-Stout went 45 yards in 10 plays to take a 14-7 lead with :05 remaining in the first quarter. Warminski scored on a one-yard run with Marteney adding the extra-point. 

On the first possession of the second quarter, Anker hit Steffen with their first nine-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 14-14. The Eagles went 80 yards in 12 plays and 5:30 with Huinker hitting the extra-point.

The game was tied 14-14 at halftime.

Anker threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Tony Bilderback with :09 left in the third quarter to give UW-L a 21-14 lead. Huinker made his third straight conversion. 

UW-Stout tied the game at 21-21 with 6:04 left in the game on Carey's 72-yard touchdown run. The extra-point was made by Marteney. UW-L was forced to punt on its next possession and UW-Stout took its last lead at 28-21 with 2:27 remaining before the Eagles' final drive to win the game.

UW-L finished with 381 yards of offense, including 109 rushing and 272 passing. Lee Lauters led the Eagles with 51 yards rushing on 16 attempts. Anker was 31-of-53 passing for 272 yards and three touchdowns. The 31 completions tied a single-game school record held by Josh Boraas, who had 31 completions versus Minnesota-Duluth Nov. 13, 1999. 

Anker also became UW-L's career leader in completions Saturday. He now has 441 completions, breaking the record of 440 held by Dennis Goettl (1988-91). Anker is also second in career attempts (807) and yards (4,627). 

Bordeau led UW-L with seven catches (53 yards) Saturday while Steffen finished with six catches and team-high 68 yards with two touchdowns. Lauters also caught six passes (33 yards).

UW-Stout totaled 374 yards, including 232 rushing and 142 passing. Warminski had 119 yards on 21 carries and three touchdowns. Carey finished 13-of-25 for 142 yards with an interception. Patrick Mengelkoch led the Blue Devils with five catches for 51 yards.

Dustin Drath led the Eagles' defense with 11 tackles while Jim Litscher totaled nine. Billy Niggemann had an interception while Ryan Immel had 1.5 quarteback sacks. Donovan Winter recorded 1.0 sack while Jake Kleven had 0.5.

Trevor Fiege led the Blue Devils with nint tackles and 1.0 sack. Justin Rindt also had 1.0 sack. Aaron Kobes, Nick Bocik and Ryan Pearcy each had eight tackles.

UW-L finished with 21 first downs to UW-Stout's 17. The Eagles held the time of possession, 31:10 to 28:50, while finishing five-of-19 on third-down and three-of-five on fourth-down. The Blue Devils were four-of-12 on third-down.  UW-Stout was one-of-two on fourth-down. 

UW-L returns to action Saturday, Nov. 6 hosting UW-Eau Claire at 11:30 a.m. in its regular-season home finale.