Whitewater, Wis. – In a match-up of top nine nationally ranked teams, the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team rallied from a 17-0 halftime deficit to earn a 23-20 double overtime win at UW-Whitewater Saturday afternoon at Perkins Stadium.
UWL, ranked fifth on this week's D3football.com Top2 5 Poll, improve to 3-0 overall while ninth-ranked UW-Whitewater drops to 3-1.
It's UWL's third straight win over UW-Whitewater after a 37-34 road win in 2023 and 24-21 home victory last season. It's the first three-game winning streak for UWL in the series since 1999-2001.
The game featured three punts at the start on Saturday, including a pair by UWL. UW-Whitewater took a 7-0 lead with 3:29 left in the first quarter on a 11-play, 64-yard drive going 6:11. Noah Battle scored on a three-yard run with Seth Adams converting the extra-point. The Warhawks converted three third-down conversions on the drive.
The teams traded turnovers early in the second quarter after UWL's Kyle Haas was intercepted by UW-Whitewater's Kaden Sleets and the Warhawks' Justin Klinkner fumbled with the Eagles' Thomas Laufenberg recovering.
Both teams punted on its next possessions. UW-Whitewater's Ethan Gallagher intercepted Haas at UWL's 36-yard line and three plays later, Klinker scored on a six-yard run with 4:26 remaining in the second quarter to give the Warhawks a 14-0 lead. The drive went 30 yards in three plays and 1:17.
UW-Whitewater took a 17-0 halftime lead on Adams' 45-yard field with :08 left in the second quarter. The Warhawks used nine plays and 2:30 to go 37 yards.
UWL got on the scoreboard in the third quarter after Nolan Wulf recovered a UW-Whitewater fumble in the endzone after Warhawks' punter Hunter Liszka mishandled the snap. Michael Stack's extra-point cut the lead to 17-7 with 4:49 remaining in the quarter.
After Trent Mullen intercepted Klinkner on UW-Whitewater's next possession, UWL went 35 yards and nine plays in 4:42 with Stack converting a 43-yard field goal to make it 17-10 with 12:19 left in the fourth quarter.
Klinkner's punt was blocked by Laufenberg on the Warhawks' next drive with the Eagles taking over at their 45-yard line. UWL converted a third-down on its ensuing drive and Gabe Lynch's 22-yard touchdown run with 2:20 left tied the game at 17-17 after Stack's extra-point. The drive went 55 yards in six plays and 3:13.
Both teams punted on its next two drives. The Warhawks took over at its own 20-yard line after an Eagles' punt with :46 remaining, but took a knee for two plays to send the game to overtime.
Stack's 36-yard field goal on UWL's first possession of overtime gave the Eagles a 20-17 lead, but Adams responded with a 37-yard field goal for UW-Whitewater to tie the contest, 20-20.
On UW-Whitewater's second overtime possession, Klinkner was sacked by Ben Moore to force a fumble with Christian Powell recovering the ball at the 23-yard line. After three runs from Lynch, Stack hit a game-winning 36-yard field goal on the final play of the game.
UWL finished with 259 yards of offense, including 136 rushing and 123 passing. The Eagles had 13 first downs in the game while going six-of-17 on third-down.
Haas went 14-of-31 for 107 yards with three interceptions while Jack Janke caught six passes for 47 yards. Jack Rilling had four receptions for 47 yards. Lynch led UWL with 94 yards rushing on 20 attempts and one touchdown.
Stack was three-of-three in field goal attempts.
UW-Whitewater totaled 213 yards with 134 rushing and 79 passing. The Warhawks finished with 19 first downs and went 10-of-20 on third-down while missing both of their fourth-down attempts. UW-Whitewater won the time of possession, 34:34 to 25:26.
Klinkner finished 16-of-27 for 79 yards with an interception. Brian Stanton led the Warhawks with 54 yards rushing on 15 attempts while Battle totaled 50 yards on nine carries. Tyler Vasey caught nine passes for 52 yards.
Tyler Shaver, Jared Pelishek and Nicholas Jorndt led UWL's defense with eight tackles each while Ott finished with seven tackles, including 2.5 for loss. Bodie Schanhofer and Henry Walsh had 2.0 tackles for loss as the Eagles finished with 10.0 as a team. UWL had 3.0 quarterback sacks.
Efrein Ramirez led UW-Whitewater with 15 tackles with Gallagher finishing with 11.
UWL returns to action Saturday, October 11 hosting UW-Eau Claire at 11:40 a.m.