The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team earned a 29-14 victory over UW-River Falls Saturday afternoon at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex in the Eagles' regular-season home finale. With the victory, UWL secures a winning season in improving to 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). UW-River Falls drops to 3-6 overall and 2-4 in the conference.
UWL scored on the second play from scrimmage to start Saturday's game with Ben Schramski throwing a 72-yard touchdown pass to Dominic Labellarte. The Falcons' Antoin Kealoha intercepted Schramski on the first play from scrimmage, but UW-River Falls was called for offsides. The Falcons drove to the Eagles' 18-yard line on their first possession of the game, but threw an incomplete pass on fourth-and-four. UWL took a 14-0 lead with 2:07 remaining in the first quarter on Austin Mancosky scored on a two-yard run. The Eagles went 66 yards in eight plays and 3:11.
After a UW-River Falls' 24-yard punt, UWL took over at the Falcons' 30-yard line with 12:02 left in the second quarter. Ryan Beirne's 26-yard field goal with 9:14 remaining gave the Eagles a 17-0 lead.
UWL led 17-0 at halftime, limiting UW-River Falls to 102 yards of offense.
The Eagles took a 19-0 lead with 14:04 left in the third quarter after a Falcons' fumble in the end zone. Schramski hit Labellarte with a 46-yard touchdown pass three plays later to give UWL a 26-0 lead with 13:30 remaining in the third quarter.
UW-River Falls got on the scoreboard on Kole Hinrichsen's four-yard touchdown run with 6:55 left in the third quarter to make it 26-7. The Falcons went 56 yards in seven plays and 3:10. UW-River Falls cut it to 26-14 on the first play of the fourth quarter with Hinrichsen throwing a 71-yard touchdown pass to Trenton Monson. The drive was set-up after Alex Wood intercepted a Schramski pass at the Falcons' 15-yard line.
Beirne's 34-yard field goal with 8:56 left gave UWL a 29-14 advantage after the Eagles wnt 51 yards in 13 plays and 5:51. H
UWL finished with 376 yards of offense, including 103 rushing and 273 passing. Schramski went 14-of-31 for 273 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Labellarte finished with four catches for 161 yards and two touchdowns. Mancosky finished 53 yards and one touchdown on 14 rushing attempts. The Eagles had 16 first downs while finishing four-of-15 on third down. UWL won the time of possession, 30:05 to 29:55.
UW-River Falls totaled 246 yards with 35 rushing and 211 passing. Hinrichsen finished nine-of-22 for 153 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Ben Beckman went nine-of-23 for 58 yards. Monson had nine receptions for 128 yards and one touchdown while Sam Altena led the Falcons with 43 yards rushing on 15 attempts. The Falcons had 13 first downs while going five-of-19 on third-down.
Colton Nieman led UWL with nine tackles while also recording an interception. Elijah McGeehan had six tackles while Rusty Murphyalso recorded an interception. Ryan Flathers had 3.5 tackles for loss, including 2.5 quarterback sacks, as UWL finished with 7.0 sacks overall.
Max Praschak led UW-River Falls with 12 tackles.
UWL returns to action Saturday, November 10 at UW-Eau Claire at 11:30 a.m.