Collegeville, Minn. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team fell, 24-13, at Saint John's University (Minn.) Saturday afternoon at Clemens Stadium in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Second Round.

The Eagles, ranked 18th on D3football.com, finishes its season at 8-4 while the Johnnies, ranked third, improve to 11-0.

Saint John's (Minn.) advances to the third round to face Susquehanna University (Pa.) on Saturday, December 7. Susquehanna (Pa.) earned a 42-35 victory over Hobart College (N.Y.) Saturday.  

UWL made its 15th appearance in the NCAA Division III Championships in school history this season, including fourth straight. The four consecutive national championship berths is the first time UWL has accomplished the feat since six straight trips from 1988-93. The Eagles are 20-13 all-time in NCAA III playoff history, winning two (1992, 1995) national titles.  UWL played in the NCAA Division III Quarterfinals for the sixth time (1991-93, 1995-96, 2023) in school history last season.

In the first meeting of the teams since 1996, Saint John's (Minn.) improved to 6-1 all-time versus UWL with Saturday's victory. The Johnnies earned their third win in the NCAA Division III Second Round over the Eagles, also securing victories in 1991 (29-10) and 1993 (47-25). UWL earned a second round victory over Saint John's (Minn.) in 1996 (37-30).

UWL took the opening kickoff and drove to Saint John's (Minn.) 25-yard line, but Cooper Yaggie intercepted Kyle Haas. The Eagles picked up three first downs on the drive, including pass interference against the Johnnies as well as a pair of first down runs by Braedon Ott.

Saint John's (Minn.) punted on its first possession, recording one first down. UWL went 45 yards in 11 plays on its ensuing drive, getting to the Saint John's (Minn.) 31-yard line. Haas was stopped after a nine-yard run on third-and-22. The Eagles had three first downs on the drive, but a holding penalty forced the third-and-22.

The Johnnies used seven plays and 2:06 to go 55 yards to score the first points of the game. Saint John's (Minn.) had a pair of first downs on back-to-back pass plays, including a 44-yard gain from Aaron Syverson to Joey Gendreau to UWL's 17-yard line. After a pair of incompletions, Ross Gengler and Adam Quam sacked Syverson for a loss of six yards. Conor Murphy hit a 41-yard field goal on the final play of the first quarter to give the Johnnies a 3-0 lead.

On fourth-and-four at the Saint John's (Minn.) 45-yard line, Haas punted the ball down to the Johnnies' two-yard line. Saint John's (Minn.) turned the ball over on downs on the next possession on Syverson's incompletion to Thomas Jacobs. 

After UWL punted on three incompletions, Saint John's (Minn.) took over at its own 16-yard line after an Ethan Tranel 47-yard punt. The Johnnies drove to the Eagles' 32-yard line, but turned the ball over on downs for the second consecutive time on an incompletion.

Tranel's 54-yard punt on the next possession set-up Saint John's (Minn.) 18-yard line. The first half ended with Gengler sacking Syverson for 12-yards at the UWL 34-yard line.

Saint John's (Minn.) went 75 yards in six plays and 3:05 on the second half kickoff to take a 10-0 lead when Syverson connected with Marselio Mendez on a 33-yard touchdown pass with 11:55 left in the third quarter. Will Blakey had 19 yards rushing and Corey Bohmert 23 yards before the touchdown. Murphy converted the extra-point.

UWL responded for its first points of the game on ensuing drive. Gabe Lynch opened the drive with a 24-yard run. The Johnnies were called for roughing the passer setting up the Eagles at the Saint John's (Minn.) 33-yard line. Three plays later, Braedon Ott scored on a 25-yard run with 9:22 remaining to cut the lead to 10-7. Maddox Pratt made the extra-point.

On the ensuing drive, Saint John's (Minn.) regained a 10-point lead after using 11 plays and 7:26 to go 75 yards. Svyerson hit Riley Schwellenbach for nine-yards on third-and-nine to UWL's 33-yard line. The next play featured Syverson and Mendez combining on a 21-yard pass to the Eagles' 12-yard line.  Nate Wilcher sacked Syverson on the ensuing play for a loss of 16-yards. Facing third-and-20, Svyerson threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Dylan Wheeler with 1:56 left in the third quarter to make it 17-7. 

The Eagles drove the Johnnies' 14-yard line on the next possession, but Zach Frank and Landon Gallagher stopped Haas on fourth-and-one. UWL had four first downs on the drive, including Haas connecting with Wyatt LeMoine for 13-yards on third-and-six.

Jack Janke's 23-yard punt return set-up UWL at the Saint John's (Minn.) 45-yard line with 6:28 left in the fourth quarter. The Eagles needed five plays to cut the deficit to 17-13 as Haas threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Jack Studer with 4:17 remaining. The extra-point was missed keeping it a four-point game.

Facing third-and-four at their own 31-yard line, Bohmert caught a 69-yard touchdown pass from Syverson to make it 24-13 with 2:38 remaining.

Ben Dahl's intercepted Haas at UWL's 29-yard line with 2:25 left. The Johnnies had to punt with the Eagles taking over at their own 20-yard line with 1:36 remaining. UWL drove to the Saint John's (Minn.) seven-yard line, but Hayden Sanders sacked Haas on the final play of the game.
 

UWL finished with 347 yards, including 179 rushing and 168 passing. The Eagles had 21 first downs in the game and went six-of-14 on third-down and one-of-four on fourth-down. UWL won the time of possession, 30:10 to 29:50.

Haas went 19-of-33 for 168 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions while rushing for 60 yards on 14 attempts. Lynch led UWL with 63 yards rushing on 13 carries.

Tyler Bowman totaled eight receptions for 76 yards while Studer caught five passes for 44 yards and one touchdown. Keaton Arndt finished with three receptions for 23 yards.

Tranel averaged 50.5 yards on two punts.

Saint John's (Minn.) totaled 432 yards with 75 rushing and 357 passing while recording 22 first downs. The Johnnies were six-of-12 on third-down and missed both of their fourth-down conversions.

Syverson finished 27-of-39 for 357 yards and three touchdowns. Bohmert had 69 yards rushing on 10 carries. Mendez caught 11 passes for 135 yards and one touchdown while Gendreau had seven receptions for 96 yards.

Ty Severson led UWL with eight tackles, including six unassisted. Quam, Tanner Newlin and Ryan Daines each finished with six tackles. UWL 5.0 quarterback sacks with Gengler finishing with 1.5.

Yaggie led Saint John's (Minn.) with nine tackles, including six solo. Sanders had 2.0 tackles for loss, including 1.0 sack.