Box Score Stevens Point, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team fell 31-3 at UW-Stevens Point Saturday afternoon at Goerke Park. The Eagles drop to 3-5 overall and 2-3 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Pointers improve to 4-4 overall and 2-3 in the conference.
After UWL punted on the first possession of the game, UW-Stevens Point drove to the UWL two-yard line, but DeJuan Wright was stopped for no gain on third and fourth-down. UWL was forced to punt from its own seven-yard line on its next drive. The Pointers took over at the Eagles' 25-yard line and Wright scored two plays later on a 22-yard run with 7:17 left in the first quarter. Jesse Vervelde's extra-point was good to make it 7-0.
UWL punted for the third straight time and UW-Stevens Point drove to the Eagles' 37-yard line, but were forced to punt. UWL's
Tripp Soma fumbled the punt with UW-Stevens Point's Justin Dentici recovering at the UWL three-yard line. Two plays later, Ryan Swigart threw a two-yard touchdown pass to Jared Pankow with :10 remaining in the quarter. Vervelde's extra-point attempt was good for a 14-0 lead.
The Pointers took a 17-0 lead on Vervelde's 30-yard field goal with 9:52 left in the second quarter. The drive came after UW-Stevens Point's Christian Alomonte returned a UWL punt 66-yards to the Eagles' one-yard line.
UWL got on the board with :55 remaining in the first half as
Matt Van Druten connected on a 27-yard field goal to cut the lead to 17-3. The Eagles went 58 yards in 11 plays and 3:38. UW-Stevens Point led 17-3 at halftime.
After the teams opened the second half with punts, UW-Stevens Point took a 24-3 lead on Darin Ward's 25-yard touchdown run with 4:23 left in the third quarter. Vervelde's extra-point was good. The Pointers went 64 yards on six plays and 2:40. UWL drove to the UW-Stevens Point 26-yard line on its next possession of the game, but
Andrew Thompson was sacked for a loss of nine yards on fourth-down.
The Pointers finished the scoring on a Cooper Kerner 66-yard touchdown pass to Matt Sosinsky with 4:29 remaining in the game. Vervelde connected on the extra-point as UW-Stevens Point went 76 yard on four plays and 1:29.
UWL finished with 148 yards of offense Saturday, including 22 rushing and 126 passing. The Eagles were five-of-17 on third-down and won the time of possession, 31:59 to 28:01.
Tyler Jenkins led UWL with 26 yards rushing on 16 carries. He also caught three passes for 52 yards. Thompson finished 14-of-25 passing for 126 yards with one interception. He was sacked eight times.
Joel Oxton (16 yards),
Nick Holcomb (15),
Samuel Zwieg (12),
Jack Zwettler (10) and
Eric Rahman (negative two) each had two catches.
UW-Stevens Point totaled 345 yards of offense, including 166 rushing and 179 passing. The Pointers were three-of-eight on third-down. Wright totaled 86 yards rushing on 19 carries and one touchdown while Ward finished with 55 yards on seven attempts and one touchdown. Kerner went seven-of-10 passing for 162 yards with one touchdown while Swigart finished four-of-seven for 17 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Sosinsky had seven catches for 148 yards and one touchdown while Pankow caught four passes for 31 yards and a touchdown.
Luke Winnen and
Jon Becker led UWL's defense with eight tackles, including four unassisted. Becker also had one tackle for loss.
Nicholas Peters recorded seven tackles.
Matt Williquette and
Josh Neary each recorded an interception.
Matthew Salerno averaged 33.9 yards on nine punts with a long of 47-yards.
Aaron Karlen led UW-Stevens Point with 12 tackles, including 10 unassisted and 7.5 tackles for loss. He recorded 4.0 quarterback sacks. Mike Longmeyer had an interception for the Pointers.
Alex Malueg averaged 32.0 yards on three punts for UW-Stevens Point with a long of 38-yards.
UWL returns to action Saturday, November 7 hosting fifth-ranked UW-Oshkosh at 2 p.m.
