Box Score Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team opened its 2014 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) season with a 38-7 loss at top-ranked UW-Whitewater Saturday afternoon at Perkins Stadium.  The Eagles drop to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the WIAC while the Warhawks improve to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the conference.  It is UW-Whitewater's 12th straight win over UW-L.

UW-Whitewater, first on the D3football.com and American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Top-25 Polls, took the opening kickoff and drove 77 yards to take a 7-0 lead.  Nick Patterson scored on a one-yard touchdown run with 11:18 left in the opening quarter as the Warhawks used 10 plays and 3:48 to go the 77-yards.

UW-L was forced to punt on its first possession of the game and Matthew Salerno's 51-yard punt was downed at UW-Whitewater's one-yard line.  The Warhawks went 99-yards on 14 plays in 6:20 as Patterson ran it in from two-yards out with 1:59 remaining in the first quarter to make it 14-0.

The Warhawks took a 21-0 lead with 7:27 left in the second quarter as Matt Behrendt threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Jake Kumerow.  The drive went 80 yards in six plays and 2:39. After a UW-L punt, UW-Whitewater's Will Meyer hit a 22-yard field goal with 1:00 left in the second to give the Warhawks' a 24-0 halftime lead.  UW-Whitewater went 70 yards in 11 plays and 4:37.

Behrendt hit Kumerow on a three-yard touchdown pass with 2:10 remaining in the third quarter to give UW-Whitewater a 31-0 lead.  The Warhawks went 96 yards on 10 plays and 4:46.  Behrendt and Kumerow connected for their third touchdown of the game with 11:06 left in the fourth quarter, this one from 17-yards out.  The drive went 77 yards on eight plays and 4:44.

UW-L got on the scoreboard on the ensuing drive with Trent Cummings hitting Tony Bilderback on a six-yard touchdown pass.  Joshua Fischer's extra-point made it 38-7 with 8:20 remaining in the game.  Cummings went six-of-nine on the drive as the Eagles went 53 yards on nine plays and 2:39.

UW-L finished with 155 yards of offense, including 11 rushing and 144 passing.  Ben Hertrampf had 13 yards rushing on six attempts while Cummings went 17-of-30 passing for 144 yards with one touchdown.  Bilderback caught six passes for 67 yards and a touchdown.  Chris Stackhouse had three receptions for 23 yards while Hertrampf had three catches for 14 yards. 

The Eagles were held to seven first downs while going three-of-12 on third-down.

UW-Whitewater totaled 619 yards Saturday, including 315 rushing and 304 passing.  Jordan Ratliffe had a team-high 76 yards rushing on nine carries while Patterson finished with 61 yards on 12 attempts and two touchdowns.  Behrendt went 23-of-27 for 300 yards and three touchdowns while Kumerow caught 10 passes for 143 yards and three touchdowns.

The Warhawks finished with 32 first downs and were 11-of-14 on third-down.  UW-Whitewater won the time of possession, 42:11 to 17:49.

Peter Krien led UW-L's defense with nine tackles, including seven unasissted.  Mitch Hawkins, Zach Wall, Jon Becker and Shane Rockweiler each finished with eight tackles, seven unassisted.  Jacob Flegner added seven unassisted tackles and Grant Schultz six.  Schultz also had 2.0 tackles for loss while Austin Feuerheim recorded a fumble recovery.

Salerno had four of his eight punts inside the 20-yard line.

Justin Dischler led UW-Whitewater's defense with four tackles. 

UW-L returns to action Saturday, October 11 hosting UW-Oshkosh at 1 p.m. on Varsity Homecoming/Wall of Fame Day.