Box Score Whitewater, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team snapped its 19-game losing streak to UW-Whitewater with a 37-34 victory Saturday afternoon at Perkins Stadium. The Eagles, ranked 14th on this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll, improve to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Warhawks, ranked third on D3football.com, fall to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the conference. 

It is UWL's first win over UW-Whitewater since a 35-10 victory in 2004 in Whitewater. The game was played in front of a crowd of 20,113, the largest crowd to ever see an NCAA Division III football game on campus. It is also the fourth-largest in Division III football history, regardless of venue.

UWL took a 34-20 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter Saturday on Keyser Helterbrand's 20-yard touchdown pass to Wyatt LeMoine. Michael Stack's extra-point made it a 14-point game. After UW-Whitewater punted, UWL's Ryan Krueger had his punt blocked with the Warhawks taking over at the Eagles' 44-yard line. Alec Ogden's 12-yard touchdown pass to Steven Hein cut the deficit to 34-20 with 8:10 remaining. The Warhawks' two-point attempt was missed. 

The Eagles were forced to punt on their next drive and the Warhawks took over at their own 32-yard line with 6:39 left. Two plays later, Ogden connected with Alijah Maher-Parr on a 64-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 34-32 with 5:53 remaining. Hein then converted the two-point play to tie the game, 34-34. 

Facing first-and-15 on the first play of its next drive, UWL's Zach Weir had a 10-yard completion to Jack Studer and Helterbrand a one-yard run to set-up third-and-four. Weir converted the third-down conversion with a six-yard pass to Zachary Watson. Weir had a 12-yard run for another first down and Helterbrand had a three-yard run on fourth-and-one at UW-Whitewater's 37-yard line setting up Stack's game-winning 51-yard field goal on the final play of the game. 

The 51-yard field goal tied the school record set by Dewey Stendahl versus St. Norbert College (Wis.) in 1969 and Ryan Beirne against UW-Oshkosh in 2022.

UW-Whitewater took the opening kickoff of the game to UWL's one-yard line, but Tamir Thomas fumbled with Newlin recovering. The Eagles took a 7-0 lead when Weir connected with Jack Studer on an 84-yard touchdown pass with 7:55 left in the first quarter. The Warhawks tied the game on Ogden's 43-yard touchdown run to make it 7-7 with 6:08 remaining. 

UWL took a 10-7 lead with 12:31 left in the second quarter on Stack's 29-yard field goal. Later in the quarter, Ogden was sacked by Nate Hietpas, forcing a fumble with Marquis Cagle recovering at UW-Whitewater's 23-yard line. On the next play from scrimmage, Helterbrand hit Ryan Bartol with a 23-yard touchdown pass to extend UWL's lead to 17-7 with 5:36 remaining. UW-Whitewater cut its halftime deficit to 17-14 on Ogden's one-yard touchdown run with :16 left.   

Bartol's second touchdown of the game, this one from seven-yards out from Weir, gave UWL a 24-14 advantage with 6:40 remaining in the third quarter. UW-Whitewater quickly responded on the next play from scrimmage with Maher-Parr scoring on a 75-yard run to cut the lead to 24-20 with 6:29 left in the third. Stack converted a 44-yard field goal on UWL's ensuing possession for a 27-20 lead with 2:05 left in the third quarter before Helterbrand's touchdown pass to LeMoine to start the fourth quarter.

UWL finished with 468 yards of offense, including 157 rushing and 311 passing. The Eagles had 21 first downs in the game and won the time of possession, 36:46 to 23:14.  Weir and Helterbrand combined to finish 19-of-28 for 311 yards with four touchdowns. Weir was nine-of-12 for 206 yards and two touchdowns with Helterbrand going 10-of-16 ofr 105 yards and two touchdowns. Helterbrand also had a team-high 108 yards rushing on 25 carries. Studer caught six passes for 150 yards and one touchdown while Bartol finished with seven receptions for 65 yards and two touchdowns. 

Stack finished three-of-three in field goal attempts. 

Adam Quam and Tanner Newlin led UWL with seven tackles each. Newlin added a forced and recovered fumble and 1.5 tackle for loss. Jack Kelly had 2.0 tackles for loss. 

UW-Whitewater totaled 427 yards with 273 rushing and 154 passing. The Warhawks finished with 15 first downs while losing three fumbles. Ogden finished 10-of-16 for 154 yards with two touchdowns. Maher-Parr led the Warhawks with 113 yards on seven attempts while Ogden totaled 72 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries. Thomas finished with 93 yards on 14 attempts. Maher-Parr led the team with 64 yards receiving, all coming on his touchdown catch. Four different players had two receptions. 

Joey Antonietti led UW-Whitewater with 14 tackles while Hawk Heffner finished with 14 and Kyle Koelblinger 11. 

UWL returns to action Saturday, October 14 at UW-Platteville at 1 p.m.