La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team opened its 2021 home schedule with a 38-7 victory over the University of Dubuque (Iowa) Saturday night at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. The Eagles improve to 2-0 on the season while the Spartans drop to 1-1. 

It was UWL's 900th game in school history in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III. The Eagles are now 573-287-40 (.659) in 96 seasons in Division III.  The .659 winning percentage ranks eighth in NCAA III history.

UWL, receiving votes on this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll, improve to 5-1 in its last six openers. UWL and Dubuque (Iowa), playing for the first time since 2014, are now tied, 5-5 in its all-time series. 

Playing in front of a crowd of 3,690, UWL forced a Dubuque (Iowa) punt on the first possession of the game. The Eagles took a 7-0 lead on its first drive, going 56 yards in six plays as Joey Stutzman scored from one-yard out with 11:31 remaining in the first quarter. Stutzman had 36 yards rushing on the drive.   

After forcing a Dubuque (Iowa) punt, UWL went 56 yards in seven plays to take a 14-0 lead with Jakob Parks throwing a two-yard touchdown pass to Jake Simuncak with 4:00 left in the opening quarter. The Spartans cut the lead to 14-7 with 7:55 left in the second quarter on a Sayvaun Roberts' three-yard touchdown run. Dubuque (Iowa) went 82 yards in six plays. Dubuque (Iowa) had a chance to cut into UWL's lead later in the second quarter, but Jacob Wolf missed a 34-yard field goal with :39 remaining. UWL led, 14-7, at halftime. 

UWL, playing its first home game in 672 days, took a 17-7 lead on its first drive of the third quarter as Ryan Beirne a 23-yard field goal with 11:47 remaining. The drive went 73 yards in nine plays.  The Spartans' Jacob Keller was intercepted by the Eagles' AJ Spychala on the next possession and UWL took advantage on the ensuing drive. The Eagles went 69 yards in eight plays with Parks connecting with Stutzman on a 35-yard touchdown pass to make it 24-7. Parks threw his third touchdown pass of the game with 12:22 remaining in the fourth quarter, this time from 13-yards to Cameron Sorenson to give UWL a 31-7 lead. The Eagles went 91 yards in nine plays. 

The Eagles finished the scoring on Brant Bohman's nine-yard touchdown run with 5:46 left, going 56 yards in seven plays. 

UWL finished with 421 yards of offense, including 185 rushing and 236 passing. The Eagles totaled 22 first downs in the game while going six-of-nine on third-down and five-of-five in the red-zone. Parks finished 15-of-22 for 236 yards with three touchdowns while Stutzman led the Eagles with 100 yards rushing on 19 attempts and one touchdown. He also had the 35-yard touchdown catch. Simuncak had eight catches for 81 yards and one touchdown while Sorenson finished with 98 yards on four receptions and one touchdown. 

Dubuque (Iowa) totaled 251 yards Saturday night, including 64 rushing and 187 passing. The Spartans had 16 first downs, went five-of-14 on third-down and one-of-four in the red-zone. Dubuque (Iowa) was one-of-three on fourth-down. Keller went 19-of-33 for 187 yards with two interceptions. Na'Im Tiger Geelsin led the Spartans with 50 yards rushing on four carries while Kallion Buckner totaled 49 yards on 12 attempts. Elliott Pipkin caught seven passes for 57 yards. 

Cade Osborn and Ryan Daines led UWL with eight tackles each. Daines totaled 4.5 tackles for loss and 2.0 quarterback sacks. Osborn had 1.0 quarterback sack while Max Brower also recorded an interception for the Eagles. Garrett Hertzfeldt recorded seven tackles for Dubuque (Iowa). 

UWL returns to action Saturday, September 18 at NCAA Division II Grand Valley State University (Mich.) at 2 p.m. (Central).