Box Score UW-La Crosse 38, UW-River Falls 17

River Falls, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team earned a 38-17 victory over UW-River Falls Saturday afternoon at Ramer Field. The Eagles improve to 4-5 overall and 3-3 in the WIAC while the Falcons fall to 2-7 overall and 2-4 in the conference. It is UW-L's 19th win in the last 20 meetings with UW-River Falls. UW-L, in its 100th season of football, played its 900th game in school history against four-year institutions Saturday. The Eagles are now 574-279-47 (.664).

The Eagles took a 7-0 lead with 7:31 left in the first quarter as Andy Sires threw his first of four touchdown passes of the game. He connected with Jeff Haffemann on a six-yard touchdown as UW-L went 35 yards on six plays in 3:17. The drive was set-up after Jacob Flegner's 16-yard punt return to the Eagles' 49-yard line.

After a high snap a punt attempt by UW-River Falls on its next possession, UW-L took over at the Falcons' 11-yard line. Adam Pannier made it 10-0 with 4:43 left in the first with a 33-yard field goal. The Eagles' drive went four plays for minus five yards in 1:22.

Sires and Haffemann connected on a two-yard touchdown pass with 10:16 left in the second quarter to give UW-L a 17-0 lead. The Eagles went 79 yards on 14 plays in 5:06. The drive was set-up after the Falcons' Chad Blair missed a 38-yard field goal attempt.

Blair cut the lead to 17-3 for UW-River Falls with 9:07 left in the half on a 25-yard field goal. The Falcons went 41 yards on five plays in 1:12.

Later in the quarter, UW-L's Gavin Marquart intercepted UW-River Falls' Ryan Kusilek, setting up the Eagles at their own 16-yard line with :44 remaining. Sires threw a 45-yard pass to Tony Favre down to the UW-River Falls' 39-yard line, but after an incompletion and sack by the Falcons' Jacob Mandoza and Alex Hohenstein, UW-L called a timeout with :21 left. Sires then completed a short pass to Jake Gundlach who took it 47-yards for a touchdown to give UW-L a 24-3 halftime lead. The Eagles went 84 yards on four plays in :40.

UW-River Falls cut the margin to 24-10 with 8:37 remaining in the third quarter with Kusilek throwing a six-yard touchdown pass to Jake Ryan. The Falcons went eight yards on two plays in :52 after Sires was intercepted by Cole Sirek, who returned it 11 yards to the Eagles' eight-yard line.

UW-L came right back on its next possession to lead 31-10 with 5:50 left. Sires threw his fourth touchdown of the game, this time for 23 yards to Favre. The Eagles went 69 yards on eight plays in 2:47.

Kelly O'Leary gave the Eagles a 38-10 lead with 6:31 remaining in the game on a three-yard touchdown run. UW-L went 59 yards on nine plays in 3:28.

Kusilek threw his second touchdown pass of the game, six-yards to Nathan Brandt, with 5:25 left to cut the lead to 38-17. Ryan had a caught a 47-yard pass earlier in the drive.

UW-L finished with 437 yards of offense Saturday, including 115 rushing and 322 passing. The Eagles totaled 18 first downs, including finishing nine-of-20 on third-down, and won the time of possession, 34:23 to 25:27. UW-L was five-of-seven the red-zone.

Sires was 18-of-28 passing for 322 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. The 322 yards and four touchdown passes are both career-highs. Jake Perner led the Eagles with 52 yards rushing on 17 carries while Gundlach finished with 39 yards on nine attempts and O'Leary 38 yards on 10 carries.

Haffemann (51 yards, two touchdowns) and Jake Welch (58 yards) each had five receptions.

The Eagels' Christian Hallingstad had three of his four punts inside the 20-yard line Saturday.

UW-River Falls had 254 total yards, including 22 rushing and 232 passing. The Falcons finished with 10 first downs and were seven-of-19 on third-down.

Kusilek finished 22-of-41 for 232 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Brad Beeskow (eight carries) and John Schimenz (13) led the Falcons with 30 yards rushing. Ryan caught six passes for 103 yards while Brandt finished with five receptions for 78 yards. Both players had a touchdown catch. Beeskow also caught five passes for 14 yards.

Jake Meckstroth and Max Nicholson led UW-L's defense with seven tackles. Meckstroth recorded seven unassisted tackles and 2.0 tackle for loss while Nicholso had six unassisted tackles and one pass break-up. Jack Leahy, Jon Becker and Marquart each had five tackles.

Mandoza finished with 13 tackles, including 10 unassisted, for UW-River Falls. He had 2.5 quarterback sacks and one forced fumble. Nick Zimmerman recorded 12 tackles, including 10 unassisted.

UW-L returns to action Saturday, November 10 in the season-finale. The Eagles host three-time defending NCAA Division III champion UW-Whitewater at 1 p.m. at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. It will be Senior and Veterans' Day.