La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team remained undefeated at home with a 44-13 victory over UW-Oshkosh Saturday afternoon at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. The Eagles, ranked 12th on this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll, improve to 5-1 overall and 3-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). The Titans, ranked 18th, drops to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the conference.
UWL used four plays to take a 7-0 lead on
Kyle Haas' 63-yard touchdown pass to
Marko Rajkovic with 13:22 left in the first quarter.
Michael Stack converted the extra-point. The drive went 75 yards and 1:38.
After three punts, UW-Oshkosh intercepted Haas at UWL's 35-yard line by Trevor Bahrs. The Titans cut the lead to 7-3 with 4:29 remaining in the first quarter on Axel Vera Trejo's 38-yard field goal. UW-Oshkosh used five plays and 1:48 to go 14 yards.
Kyle Haas went 29-of-41 for 396 yards with four touchdowns and one interception.
The Eagles went 69 yards in four plays and 1:46 to take a 14-3 lead on
Tyler Bowman's 32-yard touchdown pass to
Nolan Wulf with 2:39 left in the opening quarter. The Titans turned the ball over on downs on their ensuing possession as Quentin Keene was stopped at UWL's 45-yard line on fourth-and-one by the Eagles'
Grant Achterkirch. UWL took advantage, extending its lead to 21-3 with 11:50 remaining in the second quarter on a Haas six-yard touchdown pass to
Jack Janke. The drive went 55 yards in six plays and 3:10
Haas scored on a one-yard run with 1:04 left in the first half to make it 28-3. UWL went 91 yards in 12 plays and 4:38. UW-Oshkosh cut the halftime lead to 28-6 on a Vera Trejo 23-yard field goal on the final play of the second quarter. The Titans went 59 yards in 10 plays and 1:04.
UWL took a 35-6 lead with 5:45 remaining in the third quarter as Haas threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Bowman. The Eagles went 55 yards in six plays and 3:09. After forcing a UW-Oshkosh punt, UWL extended the lead to 42-6 with :15 left in the third quarter after Haas connected with Bowman on a five-yard touchdown pass. The drive used four plays and 2:04 to go 65 yards.
Keene's 24-yard touchdown pass to Jackson Brush with 12:42 remaining in the game cut the lead to 42-13. The Titans went 70 yards in six plays and 2:27. UWL finished the scoring with a safety with 5:54 remaining.
UWL finished with 515 yards of offense, including 78 rushing and 437 passing. The Eagles had 29 first downs while going six-of-12 on third-down and one-of-two on fourth-down. UWL won the time of possession, 32:55 to 27:05.
The 44 points are the most for UWL versus UW-Oshkosh since a 56-14 victory in 2003.
Haas went 29-of-41 for 396 yards with four touchdowns and one interception.
Brady Kuhn led the Eagles with 36 yards rushing on seven attempts. Janke finished with 14 catches for 186 yards and one touchdown while Bowman had four receptions for 43 yards and two touchdowns. Janke's 14 receptions are tied for fourth in single-game school history. Cole Spieker caught a school record 17 passes versus UW-Eau Claire on November 9, 2019.
UWL held UW-Oshkosh to 79 yards rushing.
UW-Oshkosh totaled 271 yards with 79 rushing and 192 passing. The Titans finished with 18 first downs, going three-of-13 on third-down and missing their only fourth-down attempt.
Keene finished 17-of-29 for 167 yards with one touchdown while Ben Vallafskey had 66 yards rushing on 14 attempts. Brush led the Titans with six catches for 73 yards with one touchdown.
Nicholas Jorndt led UWL's defense with seven tackles while
Tyler Shaver,
Ben Ott and
Bodie Schanhofer each had five tackles.
Thomas Laufenberg had 2.5 quarterback sacks.
Ben Wellhoefer led UW-Oshkosh with eight tackles.
UWL returns to action Saturday, November 1 hosting UW-Stout at 1 p.m.
