La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team earned a 40-22 victory over UW-Stout Saturday afternoon at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex.  The Eagles, playing their Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) home opener, improve to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the conference while the Blue Devils fall to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in the WIAC. 

It is UWL's eighth straight win over UW-Stout.  The Eagles, receiving votes on the D3football.com and American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Top-25 Polls, improved to 3-0 at home this season with Saturday's win. 

UWL turned the ball over on downs on its first possession of the game after being stopped on fourth-and-one at UW-Stout's 41-yard line. The Blue Devils drove to the Eagles' 10-yard line on their first drive, but Alec Benzinger missed a 27-yard field. UWL took a 7-0 lead with 4:47 remaining in the first quarter as Evan Lewandowski threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Cole Spieker.  The Eagles led, 7-0, after the first quarter. 

Joey Stutzman gave UWL a 13-0 lead on a six-yard touchdown run with 11:34 left in the second quarter.  The extra-point was missed.  After forcing a UW-Stout punt, UWL went 60-yards in nine plays with Lewandowski connecting with Cameron Sorenson on a five-yard touchdown pass with 5:24 remaining in the first half for a 20-0 lead.   

UWL led, 20-0, at halftime. 

Both teams were forced to punt on its first possessions of the second half, but UW-Stout's Levy Hamer fumbled UWL's punt with the Eagles' Max Duchow recovering at UWL's 40-yard line.  The Eagles used seven plays to go 60 yards to take a 27-0 lead on Stutzman's one-yard touchdown run with 9:37 remaining in the third quarter.  UW-Stout got on the board with 5:07 left in the third quarter on Sean Borgerding's 15-yard touchdown pass to Kevion McDonald. The drive went 49 yards in five plays after a 19-yard UWL punt. 

The Eagles responded on their next drive, going 62 yards in seven plays.  Lewandowski threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Spieker with 1:39 left to make it 33-6 after the extra-point failed.  UWL led, 33-6, after the third quarter. 

Lewandowski and Spieker connected for the third time in the game with 11:59 left on a eight-yard touchdown pass for a 40-6 advantage. UWL went 44 yards in four plays after Rusty Murphy stopped Borgerding on fourth-and-six.  Borgerding threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Hamer with 10:12 remaining to make it 40-14. Borgerding and Hamer connected on the two-point conversion. The Blue Devils cut it to 40-22 on a 12-play, 69-yard drive as Nick Arguedas scored on a one-yard run with 2:57 remaining. Borgerding's two-point pass went to Arguedas. 

UW-Stout recovered the on-side kick, but Borgerding was sacked by Anthony Schumann at UWL's 20-yard line to end the drive. 

UWL finished with a season-high 472 yards of offense Saturday, including 112 rushing and 360 passing.  The Eagles had 25 first downs in the game while going two-of-11 on third-down and three-of-five on fourth-down.  UWL won the time of possession, 33:45 to 26:15, while going six-of-six (all touchdowns) in the red-zone. 

Lewandowski went 26-of-40 for 360 yards and four touchdowns, setting career-highs in completions, yards and touchdowns. He tied his career-high in attempts. Spieker caught 14 passes for 183 yards and three touchdowns, all career-highs.  His 14 catches are tied for third in single-game school history.  Joel Oxton (vs. UW-Platteville on November 12, 2016) and Nick Holcomb (vs. UW-Oshkosh on October 21, 2017) each caught a school record 15 passes.

Stutzman led UWL with 77 yards rushing on 21 carries and two touchdowns.  Jake Simuncak had seven catches for 103 yards. 

UW-Stout totaled 374 yards, including negative seven rushing and 381 passing.  The Blue Devils finished with 22 first downs and went four-of-14 on third-down and two-of-five on fourth-down. UW-Stout was three-of-five (three touchdowns) in the red-zone.  

Borgerding was 27-of-53 for 381 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He was sacked eight times. Hamer caught 10 passes for 189 yards and one touchdown whle McDonald had eight receptions for 75 yards and one touchdown. McDonald was the team's leading rusher with eight yards on one carry. 

Noah Schober led UWL with seven tackles while Peter Kissling, Ryan Flathers, Rusty Murphy and Josiah Goerlitz each had five. Schumann had 2.5 tackles for loss and 2.0 quarterback sacks while Flathers also had 2.0 quarterback sacks.

Jed Schlegel led UW-Stout with nine tackles. 

UWL returns to action Saturday, October 19 at UW-River Falls at 1 p.m.