Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team fell 21-17 at third-ranked UW-Whitewater Saturday afternoon at Perkins Stadium. The Eagles drop to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Warhawks improve to 8-0 overall and 5-0 in the conference.

UW-Whitewater is ranked third on the D3football.com and American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Top-25 Polls while UWL is receiving votes in both polls. The Warhawks earned their 17th straight win over the Eagles with Saturday's victory.  

UWL took the opening kickoff and went 51 yards in 13 plays and 5:38 as Ryan Beirne connected on a 35-yard field goal to give the Eagles a 3-0 lead.  UW-Whitewater's opening drive ended at UWL's 17-yard line after Wojciech Gasiencia missed a 34-yard field goal. The Eagles led, 3-0, after the first quarter. 

AJ Spychala intercepted Zach Oles on the first play of the second quarter for UWL, but the Eagles were forced to punt on their next drive. Evan Lewandowski was later sacked on fourth-and-four at UW-Whitewater's 24-yard line with 4:55 remaining in the second quarter. The Warhawks drove to the Eagles' 30-yard line, but Oles' pass on fourth-and-three was incomplete. UWL maintained its 3-0 lead at halftime.

After UW-Whitewater was forced to punt on the first drive of the second half, UWL took a 10-0 lead with Lewandowski throwing a 28-yard touchdown pass to Cole Spiker with 8:10 left in the third quarter. The Eagles went nine plays and 61 yards in 4:08. 

The Warhawks responded on their next drive to cut the deficit to 10-7. Alex Peete scored on a two-yard run with 5:29 remaining in the quarter after a 85-yard, six play drive in 2:45. UWL turned the ball over on downs on its next possession with UW-Whitewater taking over at the Eagles' 44-yard line. Oles threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Holte to give the Warhawks a 14-10 lead with 14:14 left in the game. 

UWL responded on its next drive to retake the lead at 17-14. Lewandowski and Spieker connected from four-yards out on fourth-and-one with 9:51 remaining. The drive went 64 yards in nine plays and 4:18. After a fair catch on the ensuing kickoff, UW-Whitewater needed three plays to take a 21-17 advantage with Jarrod Ware scoring on a 10-yard run. Oles hit Ryan Wisniewski on a 57-yard completion and Ware followed with an eight-yard run before scoring from 10-yards out. 

The Eagles converted on fourth-and-one at the Warhawks' 39-yard line as Joey Stutzman ran for 21-yards to the 18-yard line, but Lewandowski was intercepted by Mark McGrath at UW-Whitewater's nine-yard line with 4:41 remaining. The Warhawks secured a pair of first downs before facing fourth-and-five at their 41-yard line. UW-Whitewater punted the ball, but UWL was called for too many men on the field resulting in a first down. The Warhawks then ran out the clock to earn the win.

UWL finished with 320 yards of offense, including 71 rushing and 249 passing. The Eagles had 19 first downs while going nine-of-17 on third-down and two-of-four on fourth-down. UWL won the time of possession, 30:56 to 29:04, while going two-of-three in the red-zone. 

Lewandowski went 22-of-39 for 249 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Spieker had 10 catches for 141 yards and two touchdowns while Joey Stutzman finished with 74 yards rushing on 20 attempts. 

UW-Whitewater totaled 396 yards with 207 rushing and 189 passing. The Warhawks finished with 18 first downs, going two-of-nine on third-down and one-of-two on fourth-down. UW-Whitewater was three-of-four in the red-zone.

Oles finished 11-of-18 for 189 yards with one touchdown and one interception while Ryan Wisniewski totaled five catches for 129 yards. Peete finished with 145 yards rushing and one touchdown on 26 carries.   

Noah Schober led UWL with 12 tackles, including 11 unassisted. Anthony Schumann had six tackles, all unassisted, with one forced fumble.

Kaleb Kaminski had 10 takcles for UW-Whitewater with eight unassisted. He had 3.0 tackles for loss and 1.0 quarterback sack with a pass break-up. 

UWL returns to action Saturday, November 9 hosting UW-Eau Claire at 11:30 a.m. for Veterans Day/Senior Day.