No. 11 Warhawk Football Picks Up Thrilling Win at No. 19 John Carroll
Editor’s note: This was Jace Rindahl’s first game as UW-W’s head coach.
By Angela Kelm
UW-W Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information
The No. 11 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater football team opened the 2023 campaign with a thrilling 27-23 comeback win over No. 19 John Carroll in University Heights, Ohio Saturday afternoon.
The Warhawks started the opening drive from their own 25 after a touchback and moved the ball to the John Carroll 38 over the next eight plays. That’s where the drive stalled and UWW turned the ball over on downs.
The Blue Streaks capitalized marching down the field and capping a seven-play drive with a 32-yard passing touchdown to take the early lead. After a missed extra point, JCU led 6-0 at the 9:15 mark. That score held well into the second quarter.
Parker Breunig jumped a passing lane for the interception midway through the second to give the ball back to Alec Ogden and the Warhawk offense. He found Tommy Coates for seven yards on the first play before UWW went to the ground game. The tandem of AlijahMaher-Parr and Tamir Thomas from the backfield drove the Warhawks down to the JCU 11. A 42-yard scamper by Maher-Parr bolstered the drive and helped set up a 28-yard field goal from Jeff Isotalo-McGuire to make it 6-3.
John Carroll responded, using a 50-yard run to open the next drive to set up a touchdown to take a 13-3 lead into the intermission. On the other side of the break, the offenses were on display.
The Warhawks pulled closer with their first drive of the second half. Ogden spread the ball around hitting Drake Martin twice for 13 yards, then Coates for 12, then Nick Wind for 12 before dropping a perfect pass into the hands of Steven Hein for the 37-yard score. Isotalo-McGuire hit the extra point to pull UWW within three, 13-10.
The Blue Streaks pushed the lead back to six, 16-10 with a field goal in the ensuing drive, but the Warhawk offense was clicking and took their first lead in the game in their next possession.
The big play of the drive was a 46-yard rush on 3rd-and-1 from Ogden as he crossed the goal line for the touchdown. Isotalo-McGuire’s extra point gave UWW the lead 17-16 with 6:19 on the clock in the third.
The fourth quarter saw the offenses continue to surge as Isotalo-McGuire hit another field goal, this one from 24 yards out just two plays into the final period to make it 20-16 UWW.
John Carroll put together an extended 10-play scoring drive in their next possession. A short four-yard pass was the one that hit paydirt for the Blue Streaks as JCU reclaimed the lead 23-20 with 8:47 remaining.
The John Carroll defense stiffened and forced a punt after just 1:47 ticked off the clock. The Warhawk defense responded in kind forcing a three-and-out to give the ball back to the offense. The JCU punt went out of bounds at the UWW 15 as the Warhawk offense took over with 4:45 left.
UW-Whitewater put together one of their best drives of the day in their next possession. Ogden found Hein for nine yards to open the drive before Thomas went off the right side of the line for six more and a first down. Coates hauled in an 18-yard catch from Ogden to take the Warhawks near midfield. On 3rd-and-10, the Ogden-Coates connection was clutch again to keep the drive going with a 14-yard strike.
Thomas took the next two carries up the middle for 15 yards. After no gain on the next play, Ogden hit Hein for 11-yards and another first down at the JCU12. Maher-Parr picked up one more yard before Ogden went back to the air.
The first-year Warhawk took the snap out of the shotgun, surveyed and picked Wind as his target drifting deep into the left side of the endzone. The high-arced pass narrowly made it over the outstretched arms of the Blue Streak defensive back as he leapt in an attempt to tip the ball away. Wind had to make an acrobatic catch as he nearly laid out to get his right hand on the ball, tipping it up as he gained footing before hauling in the catch with both hands just inside the pylon at the back of the endzone. The 11-yard strike and extra point gave UWW the 27-23 lead with just 39 seconds remaining.
John Carroll tried to manage the clock after gaining a first down, but Thomas Wojnowski sealed the game for UW-Whitewater with an interception at the JCU 46 with just five ticks of the clock left.
Staying true to the rich tradition of Warhawk football – UWW pounded the rock with 232 rushing yards compared to 175 for JCU. UWW gained 276 through the air for a total of 508 yards of offense.
Maher-Parr was the leading rusher for the Warhawks with 94 yards on 13 attempts. Thomas gained 80 on 15 carries in the game. Ogden was 23-41 for 230 yards and two passing touchdowns without tossing an interception. On the ground, he added 55 yards and a rushing touchdown.
Coates was Ogden’s favorite target with 9 receptions for 77 yards. Hein hauled in six catches for 99 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, Hawk Heffner led the Warhawks with eight total tackles. Lucas Sadler, Trey Castella and Roy Panthier all got into the backfield to record tackles for loss while Wojnowski and Breunig led the secondary with a pair of interceptions.
