Allendale, Mich. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team fell 45-24 at National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II Grand Valley State University (Mich.) Saturday afternoon at Lubbers Stadium. The Eagles, ranked 24th on D3football.com, drop to 2-1 on the season while the Lakers improve to 2-0. 

UWL ends its non-conference schedule with a 2-1 record.
 

Playing in front of a crowd of 9,658, UWL and Grand Valley State (Mich.) were meeting for the second time in school history. GVSU earned a 24-14 win in the 1978 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Division I Playoffs.  GVSU, ranked 12th on D2Football.com, took the opening kickoff and went 73 yards in eight plays as Tariq Reid scored on a two-yard run to give the Lakers a 7-0 lead with 11:00 left in the first quarter. UWL was forced to punt on its first possession, but the Eagles' Elijah Alt intercepted the Lakers' Cade Peterson on GVSU's next possession.  UWL went 54 yards in nine plays to tie the game at 7-7 with 4:40 remaining in the opening quarter with Jakob Parks throwing a one-yard touchdown pass to Jake Simuncak. 

The Lakers fumbled on their next play on offense with Alt recovering at the GVSU 30-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Parks hit Simuncak with a 30-yard touchdown pass to give UWL a 14-7 advantage with 4:21 left.  The Eagles led, 14-7 at the end of the opening quarter.  

Ryan Beirne's 26-yard field goal with 10:17 left in the first half gave UWL a 17-7 lead.  The Eagles went 81 yards in 16 plays to take a 10-point lead. GVSU missed a field goal on its ensuing drive, but UWL was forced to punt on its next drive. The Lakers cut the lead to 17-14 with 5:12 remaining in the second quarter as Peterson threw a 65-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Rison. Parks was intercepted on UWL's next drive and GVSU took advantage as Aryuan Cain-Veasey scored on a two-yard run with :52 left to give the Lakers a 21-17 halftime lead.

UWL was forced to punt on its first drive of the third quarter and GVSU went 90 yards in five plays to take a 28-17 lead on Jack Provencher's one-yard run with 8:15 left in the third quarter.

Josh Gorball's 23-yard field goal with 14:50 remaining in the game gave the Lakers a 31-17 lead.  UWL cut the advantage to 31-24 after Max Duchow recovered a GVSU fumble forced by Rusty Murphy.  The Eagles went 25 yards in four plays on Parks' seven-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Sorenson with 11:51 left. Peterson gave GVSU a 14-point lead at 38-24 with 9:16 left on a 20-yard touchdown pass to Daevon Anderson. UWL turned the ball over on downs on its next possession and Bryce Young-Walls finished the scoring for GVSU with a 29-yard touchdown run with 1:51 remaining.  

UWL finished with 393 yards of offense, including 166 rushing and 227 passing.  The Eagles had 21 first downs in the game while going four-of-12 on third-down.  UWL won the time of possession, 32:00 to 28:00.  The Eagles were three-of-three in the red-zone.

Parks went 20-of-33 for 227 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. Brant Bohman led the Eagles with 47 yards rushing on four attempts while Simuncak caught six passes for 69 yards and two touchdowns. 

GVSU totaled 534 yards, including 320 rushing and 214 passing.  The Lakers finished with 22 first downs while going four-of-eight on third-down. GVSU was five-of-six in the red-zone. 

Peterson finished 12-of-17 for 214 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. He led the team with 89 yards rushing on four attempts while Young-Walls had 88 yards on 12 carries and Reid 86 yards on 14 attempts. Four different players caught two passes for the Lakers with Rison finishing with 107 yards. 

Alt and Trevar Helland led UWL with 11 tackles each while AJ Spychala finished with 10 tackles.  Alt had one interception, one forced and one recovered fumble. Abe Swanson led GVSU with 10 tackles. 

UWL returns to action Saturday, October 2 opening Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) play at UW-River Falls at 1 p.m.