La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team, ranked 14th on D3football.com, improved to 6-1 overall and 4-0 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) with a 44-38 victory over UW-Stout Saturday afternoon at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex.  The Blue Devils, receiving votes on the D3football.com Top-25 Poll, drops to 5-2 overall and 2-2 in the conference. 

It UWL's ninth straight win over UW-Stout. The Blue Devils have not earned a win over the Eagles since a 10-0 victory in Menomonie in 2011.  UW-Stout's last win in La Crosse came in 2009 by the score of 35-28. 

UWL is 4-0 in the WIAC for the first time since 1996.  The Eagles won their 11th straight home game on Saturday, their longest-winning streak at home since 2002-04. 

UWL was forced to punt on its first possession of the game Saturday and UW-Stout drove 90 yards in nine plays and 4:06 to take a 7-0 lead.  Sean Borgerding threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Arthur Cox with 9:30 remaining in the opening quarter. Luke Cook's extra-point was good. UWL's Jakob Parks was intercepted by Dylan Larrabee at the Eagles' 34-yard line on the next drive with Larrabee returning it 20-yards to UWL's 14-yard line. Five plays later, Borgerding scored on a four-yard run with 6:46 left in the first quarter to make it 14-0. The Blue Devils went 14 yards in 2:05.  

The Eagles responded on their ensuing drive to get on the scoreboard with Joey Stutzman scoring on a three-yard run with 1:45 left in the quarter. UWL went 65 yards in 11 plays and 5:00. Stutzman had 28 yards rushing on the drive. Ryan Beirne converted the extra-point to make it 14-7.    

UWL tied the game with 9:16 remaining in the second quarter on Cade Osborn's 11-yard interception return for a touchdown off Borgerding to make it 14-14. It was UWL's first interception return for a touchdown since Noah Schober's 27-yard return at UW-Stevens Point on Novemer 16, 2019. The Blue Devils took a 17-14 lead on their next drive, going 69 yards in 12 plays and 6:26 with Jack Meyer hitting a 23-yard field goal with 2:56 left in the half.  The Eagles quickly responded on the game's next possession, taking a 21-17 lead with :47 remaining in the second quarter on Parks' 33-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Sorenson.  UWL went 63 yards in six plays and 2:08. UWL led, 21-17, at halftime. 

Borgerding was intercepted by UWL's Elijah Alt on UW-Stout's first drive of the third quarter. Beirne's 23-yard field goal with 6:20 left in the quarter gave UWL a 24-17 lead. The drive went 46 yards in 11 plays and 6:02. The Blue Devils quickly cut it to 24-23 with 4:15 remaining in the third quarter with Borgerding throwing a 44-yard touchdown pass to Levy Hamer.  Cook's extra-point hit the upright after UW-Stout went 68 yards in four plays and 2:03.  UWL responded with a touchdown of its own on its next drive with Brad Tobin scoring on an 18-yard run with :31 remaining in the quarter.  The Eagles went 60 yards in seven plays and 3:45.  UWL led, 31-23, after three quarters. 

After forcing a UW-Stout punt, UWL took a 15-point lead with 8:10 left in the game with Parks throwing a five-yard touchdown pass to Jake Studer. Beirne's extra-point made it 38-23. UWL used nine plays to go 65 yards in 5:07.  Two plays later, Borgerding quickly cut the deficit to seven with a 85-yard touchdown pass to Cox with 7:25 remaining. Borgerding's two-point pass to Levy was good to cut it to 38-31. UWL responded again with a touchdown drive, using eight plays to go 65 yards in 4:21 as Tobin scored on a 24-yard run. Beirne's extra-point was blocked giving UWL a 44-31 lead. UW-Stout came back with Borgerding throwing his fourth touchdown of the game, this one from 12-yards on fourth-down to Parker Fossum. Meyer's extra-point made it 44-38 with 1:27 remaining. 

UWL's Rusty Murphy recovered UW-Stout's onside kick with 1:26 remaining. The Eagles turned the ball over on downs with :02 remaining, but the Blue Devils' final play resulted in a fumble recovering by UWL's Ryan Gengler at UW-Stout's 48-yard line. 

UWL finished with 412 yards of offense Saturday, including 219 rushing and 193 passing.  The Eagles had 24 first downs in the game while finishing nine-of-14 on third-down and winning the time of possession, 33:54 to 26:06.  UWL was four-of-four in the red-zone. Parks went 16-of-24 passing for 193 yards with two touchdowns and one interception while Stutzman finished with 147 yards rushing and one touchdown on 34 carries. Tobin had 65 yards rushing on 11 attempts (5.9 average) and two touchdowns.  Sorenson caught seven passes for 91 yards and one touchdown.

UW-Stout totaled 431 yards with 90 rushing and 341 passing.  The Blue Devils finished with 19 first downs, went three-of-nine on third-down and three-of-three on fourth-down. UW-Stout was three-of-three in red-zone opportunities. Borgerding went 20-of-29 for 341 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. Matt Pomietlo had 59 yards rushing on 16 carries for the Blue Devils. Cox (167 yards) and Hamer (124) each finished with six catches.  Cox had a pair of touchdown receptions while Hamer had one.  

Alt led UWL's defense with 10 tackles, including six unassisted. Murphy finished with nine tackles with six unassisted while Ryan Daines had eight tackles, including two unassisted. The Eagles' Sean Parker averaged 42.0 yards on two punts with both finishing inside the 20-yard line. 

Nate Rewald led UW-Stout wiht 14 tackles, including 11 unassisted. Cannon Griner finished with 12 tackles with seven unassisted. 

UWL returns to action Saturday, October 30 at UW-Stevens Point at 1 p.m.