La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football fell 63-45 to 11th-ranked UW-Platteville Saturday afternoon at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex in the regular-season finale for both teams. The Eagles drop to 5-5 on the season and 2-5 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC0 while the Pioneers improve to 8-2 overall and 5-2 in the conference. UW-Platteville will await word if it has earned an at-large bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championship.
UWL's Luke Winnen recovered a Sean Studer fumble on the second play from scrimmage to set the Eagles up at the Pioneers' 37-yard line. Four plays later, Tarek Yaeggi hit Nick Holcomb for a 26-yard touchdown pass with 12:52 remaining. Joshua Fischer converted the extra-point for a 7-0 lead.
UW-Platteville, ranked 11th on this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll, then went 87 yards in 14 plays and 6:10 to force a 7-7 tie as Tom Kelly threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Dillon Villhauer with 6:43 remaining in the first quarter. Samuel Herkert made the extra-point. Both teams turned the ball over on downs on the next two possessions of the game to keep the score tied at 7-7 after the first quarter.
The Eagles' Zach Kirby's punt was blocked early in the second quarter by Ben Mogilevsky with Clayton Becker recovering the ball at UWL's one-yard line. Nelson scored on the following play from scrimmage to give UW-Platteville a 14-7 lead with 13:55 left in the second quarter. After Kirby's 19-yard punt set UW-Platteville up at its own 47-yard line, Kelly threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Patrick Sheehan with 11:44 left to make it 21-7. Yaeggi was intercepted by Colin Griffin at the Eagles' 34-yard line on their next drive and Kelly connected with Dan Arnold for a 17-yard touchdown pass to give UW-Platteville a 28-7 advantage with 9:13 remaining in the second quarter.
UWL cut the lead to 28-14 after a 14-play, 71-yard drive in 4:50 as Tyler Jenkins scored on a one-yard run with 4:17 left in the first half. The Eagles forced a Pioneers' punt on UW-Platteville's next possession and cut their deficit to 28-17 with Fischer hitting a 31-yard field goal with :46 remaining. UWL went 67 yards in 11 plays and 2:00. UW-Platteville led 28-17 at halftime.
Yaeggi opened the second half with a 66-yard touchdown pass to Holcomb with 12:58 remaining in the third quarter to cut UW-Platteville's lead to 28-24. UWL went 80 yards in five plays and 2:03. UW-Platteville responded with its own 80-yard drive in 12 plays and 5:27 to take a 35-24 advantage with Wyatt Thompson scoring on a three-yard run. UWL was forced to punt on its next possession and UW-Platteville went 60 yards in 10 plays and 4:41 with Kelly throwing a nine-yard touchdown pass to Arnold with 1:25 remaining in the third quarter to make it 42-24.
UWL cut the lead to 42-31 with 13:45 left in the game as Yaeggi threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Joel Oxton, but Thompson scored on a 58-yard touchdown run two plays later for a 49-31 UW-Platteville lead. Jenkins scored on a one-yard run with 9:58 for UWL to cut the lead to 49-38 after the Eagles went 70 yards in 10 plays and 2:54. The Pioneers used four rushing plays for 54 yards from Thompson, including an 11-yard touchdown run, with 8:02 remaining to make it 56-38.
The Eagles turned the ball over on downs on the game's next possession and Thompson scored his fourth rushing touchdown of the second half, scoring on an eight-yard run with 2:25 left in the game for a 63-38 lead. Yaeggi's five-yard touchdown pass to Oxton with :16 remaining finished the scoring.
The teams combined for 108 points, 1,217 yards of offense and 57 first downs.
UWL finished with 637 yards of offense Saturday, including 99 rushing and 538 passing. The Eagles ran a school record 99 plays on offense, breaking the mark of 96 versus UW-Eau Claire November 7, 2009. UWL's 637 yards Saturday ranks fourth in single-game school history. The Eagles had 28 first downs Saturday while going 12-of-23 on third-down and four-of-six on fourth down. The team was five-of-five in the red-zone.
Yaeggi finished 39-of-66 for 538 yards with four touchdowns and one interception, breaking UWL's single-game records for completions, attempts and yards. Yaeggi broke his own school record of 33 completions set October 15 against UW-Whitewater. His 66 attempts broke the single-game record of 57 by Nick Anker versus UW-Eau Claire November 7, 2009 while his 538 yards passing breaks the mark of 509 by Bob Krepfle set against UW-River Falls November 12, 1983. Yaeggi's 538 yards also set a WIAC record, surpassing the mark of 523 set by UW-Stevens Point's Kirk Baumgartner against UW-Stout October 24, 1987.
Yaeggi also set single-season school records for completions (218) and passing yards (2,729), breaking the records of Anker (208 completions in 2010) and Matt Makaryk (2,560 yards in 2002).
Oxton finished with 15 catches for 160 yards and two touchdowns Saturday while Holcomb had six catches for 170 yards and two touchdowns. Ryan Kruser had 10 receptions for 91 yards. Oxton's 15 receptions broke the single-game school record of 14 by Jason Wagner versus UW-Stout October 17, 2007.
Tyler Jenkins had 52 yards rushing on 15 carries and two touchdowns Saturday while Troy Bailey finished with 41 yards on nine attempts.
UW-Platteville totaled 580 yards, including 443 rushing and 137 passing. The Pioneers had 29 first downs and won the time of possession, 30:29 to 29:31. The team was six-of-nine on third-down and finished seven-of-eight in the red-zone.
Thompson set a school record with 316 yards rushing on 30 attempts (10.5 average) and four touchdowns Saturday. His 316 yards is also tied for eighth in WIAC history. Kelly went 14-of-22 for 137 yards and four touchdowns while Dan Arnold caught five passes for 60 yards and two touchdowns. Quinn Buschbacher also had five catches for 29 yards.
Ryan Weber led UWL's defense with 13 tackles, including nine unassisted while Peter Krien and Sam Phillips each finished with nine tackles. Krien had eight unassisted tackles while Phillips recorded 1.0 quarterback sack.
Ben Mogilevsky led UW-Platteville with 10 tackles, including eight unassisted, while Patrick Swanson recorded nine tackles with six unassisted.
UW-La Crosse Drops Season Finale to UW-Platteville
/seasons/2016/boxscores/20161112_hqwg.xml
2016
UW-Platteville
63
UW-La Crosse
45
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 12 UW-Platteville (8-2) | 7 | 21 | 14 | 21 | 63 |
| UW-La Crosse (5-5) | 7 | 10 | 7 | 21 | 45 |
Nov 12, 2016