Box Score St. Paul, Minn. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team fell 46-0 at 11th-ranked the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) Saturday afternoon at Palmer Field in O'Shaughnessy Stadium.  The Eagles drop to 1-1 on the season while the Tommies improve to 2-0 in the first meeting between the teams since 1983.

St. Thomas (Minn.), ranked 11th on this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll, took the opening kickoff and went 68 yards on eight plays in 3:06 to lead 7-0 as Matt O'Connell threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Nick Waldvogel.  After UW-L was forced to punt on its first possession of the contest and St. Thomas (Minn.) took a 14-0 lead with 9:33 left in the opening quarter on Jack Gilliland's 40-yard touchdown run.  The Tommies went 48 yards in two plays and :53.

Later in the first quarter, St. Thomas (Minn.) drove to UW-L's 24-yard line, but the Eagles' Eric Bitney forced a fumble with Mitch Hawkins recovering. UW-L drove to the St. Thomas (Minn.) 34-yard line on the ensuing drive, but were forced to punt.

The Tommies took a 21-0 lead with 1:58 left in the first half as John Gould threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Waldvogel.  Gould replaced O'Connell who was forced to leave the game with an injury.  St. Thomas (Minn.) went 96 yards on the drive in 15 plays and 7:09.  The Tommies led 21-0 at halftime.

Gould threw his second touchdown pass of the game with 10:15 left in the third quarter as he connected with Charlie Dowdle from seven yards out.  The Tommies went 36 yards in seven plays and 3:25.  Dominici Truocco's two-point rush gave St. Thomas (Minn.) at 29-0 advantage.

Jack Kaiser's one-yard touchdown run with 3:07 remaining in the third quarter made it 36-0.  The drive went 53 yards on 13 plays and 5:44.  On UW-L's next possession, Cavan Metzler returned a Ben Hertrampf fumble 33-yards for a touchdown with 2:19 left in the quarter for a 43-0 lead.  Paul Graupner finished the game's scoring with a 36-yard field goal with 8:20 left in the game.  The Tommies wnet 57 yards in 13 plays and 6:34.

UW-L finished with 138 yards, including 72 rushing and 66 passing.  The Eagles were held to eight first downs while finishing three-of-12 (25.0%) on third-down.

Colton Peterson, making his first career collegiate start, finished six-of-13 passing for 66 yards while being sacked twice.  Eric Rahman totaled 36 yards rushing on nine attempts; Hertrampf 34 yards on eight carries and Austin Mancosky 23 yards on six attempts.

Hertrampf caught three passes for 15 yards while Tony Bilderback finished with two catches for 36 yards.

St. Thomas (Minn.) totaled 519 yards, including 302 rushing and 217 passing.  The Tommies recorded 30 first downs, finished nine-of-16 (???) on third-down and converted all four of their fourth-down attempts. St. Thomas won the time of possession, 36:30 to 23:30.

O'Connell was nine-of-15 for 99 yards with one touchdown while Gould finished 11-of-13 for 93 yards and two touchdowns. O'Connell also finished with 64 yards rushing on 11 attempts while Kaiser had 60 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown.

Twelve different players caught a pass for St. Thomas, including four each by Waldvogel (45 yards, two touchdowns) and Dowdle (41 yards, one touchdown).

Bitney led UW-L's defense with nine tackles, including 1.0 for loss, and one forced fumble.  Jacob DeSantis recorded eight tackles, including five unassisted, and 1.5 tackles for loss and 1.0 quarterback sack.  Jacob Flegner (six unassisted) and Noah Risch (five unassisted) each had seven tackles.

Cavan Metzler led the St. Thomas (Minn.) defense with nine tackles, including six unassisted.  He also recorded 2.5 tackles for loss, one forced and one fumble recovered.

UW-L returns to action Saturday, September 20 hosting second-ranked the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (Texas) in the Eagles' home opener.  Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex.