Stevens Point, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team, ranked 13th on this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll, improved to 7-1 overall and 5-0 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) with a 56-3 win at UW-Stevens Point Saturday afternoon at Community Stadium at Goerke Park. The Pointers drop to 2-6 overall and 0-5 in the conference.
It is UWL's fourth straight win over UW-Stevens Point. The Eagles are 5-0 in the WIAC for the first time since 1996. The 56 points are a season-high.
UW-Stevens Point took a 3-0 lead with 8:54 remaining in the first quarter on a Victor Ponterio 30-yard field goal. The field goal was set-up after the Pointers recovered an Eagles' fumble on a punt return. UWL quickly took a 7-3 lead on its first drive of the game with Jakob Parks throwing a 18-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Sorenson with 5:59 left in the opening quarter. UWL went 93 yards in six plays and 2:54. After forcing a Pointers' punt, the Eagles went 68 yards in four plays and 2:14 to take a 14-3 lead with Joey Stutzman scoring on a 38-yard run.
The Eagles forced a turnover on downs on the Pointers' next drive, stopping UW-Stevens Point at UWL's 19-yard line on the final play of the first quarter. Eight plays later, Stutzman scored on a six-yard run to give UWL a 21-3 advantage with 10:32 remaining in the first half. UWL went 83 yards in eight plays and 4:33. The Eagles took a 28-3 halftime lead when Jake Simuncak returned a punt 62-yards for a touchdown with 2:08 left in the second quarter.
Parks threw his second touchdown of the game on UWL's first drive of the third quarter, connecting with Simuncak from 13-yards out. UWL went 38 yards in three plays and 1:25. The drive was set-up after Jack Anderson sacked Trey Schroeder, forced and recovered the fumble at the Pointers' 38-yard line. On UW-Stevens Point's next drive, UWL's Gurtej Grewal returned Schroeder's interception 15-yards for a touchdown with 10:48 left in the third quarter to give UWL a 42-3 lead. It marked the second straight game UWL returned an interception for a touchdown after Cade Osborn had an 11-yard return in the Eagles' 44-38 win over UW-Stout October 23.
UWL added a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter, both coming from Cade Garcia. He connected with Max Stubbendick on a four-yard pass with 13:42 left. The Eagles went 83 yards in eight plays and 4:44. Garcia finished the scoring with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Stoltenburg with 6:46 remaining. UWL used six plays to go 81 yards in 3:51.
UWL finished with a season-high 606 yards of offense (9.5 per play), including 342 rushing (season-high) and 264 passing. The Eagles totaled a season-high 32 first downs while going three-of-six on third-down. UWL won the time of possession, 34:29 to 25:31, and were five-of-seven in the red-zone. The Eagles did not punt in the game.
Parks and Garcia each threw a pair of touchdown passes. Parks went 10-of-11 for 135 yards while Garcia finished six-of-10 for 129 yards with an interception along with the two touchdowns. Stutzman led UWL with 120 yards rushing on 12 carries (10.0 average) and two touchdowns. Brant Bohman had 94 yards on 14 attempts (6.7 average) while Brad Tobin finished with 84 yards on 10 carries (8.4 average) and Ben Michalowski 36 yards on three attempts (12.0).
Simuncak had five catches for 74 yards and a touchdown while Stubbendick (37 yards) and Sorenson (33) each had three receptions and a touchdown.
UW-Stevens Point totaled 185 yards with 95 rushing and 90 passing. The Pointers were held to eight first downs, finishing one-of-13 on third-down. Schroeder went 13-of-27 for 90 yards with one interception. He also led the Pointers with 27 yards rushing on 14 carries. Vercion Gammel had five receptions for 21 yards. Joe Augilera had 27 yards on four catches.
Elijah Alt led UWL with eight tackles while Ryan Daines finished with seven. Jack Kelly and Jack Anderson each had six tackles with Kelly finishing with 3.0 tackles for loss and 2.0 quarterback sacks. Anderson had 1.5 tackles for loss and quarterback sacks while forcing and recovering a fumble.
Kamer Kryzanski led UW-Stevens Point with 12 tackles.
UWL returns to action Saturday, November 6 at third-ranked UW-Whitewater at 1 p.m.