Box Score Eau Claire, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team earned a 20-10 victory over UW-Eau Claire Saturday afternoon at Carson Park in the season-finale for both teams. The Eagles improve to 3-7 overall and 2-5 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Blugolds fall to 1-9 overall and 1-6 in the conference.
UW-L earned its first win at UW-Eau Claire since 1999, snapping a six-game losing streak at Carson Park. The Blugolds had won nine of the previous 11 overall meetings with the Eagles entering Saturday's game.
The Blugolds took a 3-0 lead with 8:15 left in the first quarter on Parker LeMire's 32-yard field goal. UW-Eau Claire went three yards on four plays and 1:03. The drive was set-up after Erik Hulman forced and recovered a fumble of UW-L's
John Tackett.
The Eagles came right back on the ensuing drive, set-up by
Jacob Flegner's 45-yard kickoff return to the UW-Eau Claire 40-yard line.
Ben Hertrampf rushed for 31 yards on the first play of the drive down to the Blugolds' nine-yard. Hertrampf followed with a two-yard run and then scored on a seven-yard run with 6:42 left in the first quarter.
Eric Wittkowske's extra-point was blocked. UW-L went 40 yards on three plays and 1:29.
UW-Eau Claire took a 10-6 lead early in the second quarter as Jon Van Geffen scored on a three-yard run with 13:18 remaining in the half. The Blugolds went 53 yards on seven play and 3:14 with Van Geffen rushing for 37 yards on six carries. LeMire's extra-point was good.
UW-L quickly retook the lead on its next drive as
Andrew Thompson threw a 22-yard shuffle touchdown pass to Hertrampf with 11:09 left in the second quarter. Hertrampf also rushed for 36 yards on two attempts on the drive. Wittkowske's extra-point was blocked for the second time in the game.
After UW-Eau Claire was forced to punt, UW-L started its next drive on its own two-yard line. The Eagles went 98 yards on 10 plays and 4:43 with Hertrampf scoring on a 12-yard touchdown run. Thompson was three-of-three passing on the drive for 58 yards while also having a 14-yard rush. Thompson then rushed in the two-point conversion in for a 20-10 halftime lead.
The teams combined for nine punts in the second half. UW-Eau Claire drove to its own 47-yard line on its last possession before
Josh Huempfner intercepted Mark Munger with 1:16 left.
UW-L finished with 311 yards of offense Saturday, including 217 rushing and 94 passing. The Eagles had 15 first downs and won the time of possession, 30:53 to 29:07. UW-L went five-of-13 on third-down.
Hertrampf had a career-high 234 yards rushing Saturday on 32 carries (tied career-high) and two rushing touchdowns. He also caught a team-high four passes for 32 yards and one touchdown. The 234 yards ranks seventh in single-game school history. It was Hertrampf's fifth 100-yard game of the season, including fourth in the last five games, as he finished the year with 986 yards.
He recorded his 10th career 100-yard game and finishes his career with 2,607 yards on 532 attempts, both ranking sixth in school history. Hertrampf ends his career tied for 11th with 19 rushing touchdowns.
Thompson was nine-of-12 passing for 94 yards with a touchdown while Tackett missed on his only passing attempt.
Tony Bilderback caught three passes for 46 yards.
UW-Eau Claire totaled 227 yards, including 154 rushing and 73 passing. The Blugolds finished with 13 first downs while going three-of-12 on third-down.
Van Geffen finished with 175 yards rushing on 35 attempts (5.0 average) and one touchdown. Newman was seven-of-17 passing for 50 yards while Munger finished three-of-four for 23 yards with an interception. Chris Cummings caught four passes for 24 yards.
Shane Rockweiler led UW-L with seven unassisted tackles while
Michael Garvey and
Ryan Weber each had five tackles, including four unassisted. Garvey had 1.0 tackle for loss while Weber had a forced fumble.
Kaeleb Stangler led UW-Eau Claire with eight tackles, includng seven unassisted. He aso had 1.0 tackle for loss and 1.0 quarterback sack.
