Box Score Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team fell 30-12 at sixth-ranked UW-Whitewater Friday night at Perkins Stadium.  The Eagles drop to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Warhawks improve to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the conference.  UW-Whitewater earned its 13th straight victory over UWL with Friday's win.

UW-Whitewater, ranked sixth on this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll, took a 3-0 lead on the first drive of the game Friday night.  After starting the drive at its own four-yard line, the Warhawks drove to the Eagles' 19-yard line, but were stopped on a third-and-17 incompletion.  Lake Bachar followed with a 37-yard field goal with 11:11 remaining in the first quarter to make it 3-0.  UW-Whitewater went 12 plays and 77 yards in 3:49.

After UWL was forced to punt on its first possession, UW-Whitewater took a 10-0 lead on Jordan Ratliffe's two-yard run with 7:20 left in the first quarter.  Quarterback Chris Nelson was four-of-four on the drive for 73 yards.  The Warhawks used six plays to go 87 yards in 2:44.

UW-Whitewater, winners of six of the last eight NCAA Division III titles, led 10-0 at the end of the opening quarter.

Bachar missed a 43-yard field goal with 12:02 left in the second quarter, but UWL was forced to punt on the ensuing drive.  UW-Whitewater followed with a drive to the UWL 16-yard line, but Tyler Glass was stopped for no rush on fourth-and-two.  After the teams traded punts, UWL's John Tackett was intercepted by Vince Mason at the Eagles' eight-yard line.  Three plays later, Jarrod Ware scored on a three-yard run to give the Warhawks a 16-0 lead with 2:55 remaining in the first half.  The extra-point was missed.

UWL responded on its next drive to cut the lead to 16-6 with Tyler Jenkins scoring on a two-yard run with :13 left in the first half.  The Eagles went 73 yards in 12 plays and 2:45 as Tackett completed four passes on the drive and rush for 12 yards on third-and-10 to keep the drive going.  Matt Van Druten extra-point was blocked.

UW-Whitewater led 16-6 at halftime.

The Eagles cut the margin to 16-12 on the first drive of the third quarter with Tackett throwing a six-yard touchdown pass to Joel Oxton with 11:15 remaining in the third quarter.  UWL went 77 yards in 10 plays and 3:45.  Tackett went eight-of-nine on the drive for 74 yards.  His two-point passing attempt failed.

The Warhawks came right back on their first possession of the second half to take a 23-12 lead.  UW-Whitewater went 65 yards in seven plays and 3:44 as Nelson threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Manny Jones with 7:24 left in the quarter.  UW-Whitewater led 23-12 after three quarters.

UWL drove to UW-Whitewater's 27-yard line early in the fourth quarter before being intercepted by Shawn Shillcox with 9:54 remaining.  On the ensuing drive, UWL's Peter Krien blocked Bachar's punt attempt, setting the Eagles up at the Warhawks' 35-yard line, but UWL turned the ball over on downs after three incompletions from Tackett on the drive.

Glass finished the scoring for UW-Whitewater with 1:46 left in the game, scoring on a 21-yard run.   The Warhawks went 62 yards in eight plays and 4:10.

UWL finished with 18 first down and 296 yards of offense Friday, including 64 rushing and 232 passing.  The Eagles were six-of-14 on third-down.  Jenkins finished with 37 yards rushing on 10 attempts with one touchdown while Tackett had 26 yards rushing on 13 carries.  Tackett went 23-of-41 passing for 232 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions.  He was sacked four times.  Oxton caught 10 passes for 114 yards and a touchdown while Jack Zwettler had four catches for 32 yards.

UW-Whitewater recorded 25 first downs and 537 yards, including 243 rushing and 294 passing.  The Warhawks finished nine-of-16 on third-down and won the time of possession, 33:29 to 26:31.  Ratliffe had 130 yards rushing on 12 attempts (10.8 average) with one touchdown while Glass totaled 93 yards on 14 carries (6.6 average) and one touchdown.  Nelson went 19-of-27 for 246 yards with one touchdown and one interception.  Joe Worth caught seven passes for 86 yards while Marcus Hudson had six receptions for 108 yards.

Matthew Salerno averaged 37.8 yards on five punts for UWL with a long of 41 while Bachar averaged 38.0 yards on two punts with a long of 46.

Ryan Weber and Jon Becker led UWL's defense with 10 tackles.  Becker finished with seven unassisted tackles and an interception.  Trent Napp recorded 2.0 tackles for loss while Nicholas Peters and Dakin Coons each had a quarterback sack.

Shillcox and Ryan Winske led UW-Whitewater with seven tackles each. 

UWL returns to action Saturday, October 24 hosting UW-Eau Claire at 11:30 a.m. at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex.