In front of a packed Perkins Stadium crowd, the No. 6 UW-Whitewater football team topped No. 2 UW-River Falls 24-16 Saturday. The massive crowd of 20,118 made for an incredible atmosphere in the huge Warhawk win. [Per the UW-W website, the attendance was the third highest on record. The all-time record was the game on October 5, 2024 versus UW-Oshkosh, with attendance of 21, 233.]

As expected, each team was dominant in their go-to styles with the Warhawks winning the run game 190-60 in net rushing yards and 3-0 in rushing touchdowns. The Falcons dominated in the air with a 229-38 sway in passing yards, but just a 1-0 advantage in passing touchdowns. UW-Whitewater’s defense solidified the win with five sacks for a loss of 21 yards and three interceptions for 83 yards in returns.

Drew Kortz (Freedom, Wis./Freedom) and the Warhawk defense set the tone early. The defensive back jumped a passing lane and picked off the Falcon quarterback on their first drive to give UWW the ball with great field position at the RF28. Unfortunately, UW-Whitewater couldn’t turn the takeaway into points, but they would be the first to score, getting on the board on their next drive.

Tommy Novotny (Milwaukee, Wis./Marquette) was tapped for the carry on 3rd-and-17. The shifty backed bounced it outside and up the River Falls sideline, breaking a tackle and outrunning the defense for a 69-yard score. Hunter Liszka (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North) hit the point after for a 7-0 lead. 

UW-River Falls ended the shutout on a safety after a bad snap sailed into the endzone late in the first quarter. 

The Warhawks responded with another huge Novotny run. This time, Novotny took the handoff on the first play of the drive and made a defender miss with a phenomenal cut that had a linebacker diving at air as he bolted up the near sideline for a 65-yard touchdown. Liszka’s extra point made it 14-2 UWW. 

The Falcons used a five-play, 75-yard drive to pull within five, 14-9 on their next drive. An interception at the Warhawk five led to a pick-6 and the first, and only, UW-River Falls lead of the game, 16-14. Before the half, UWW would reclaim the lead. 

After the UW-Whitewater drive stalled at the River Falls 28, Liszka split the uprights on a career-long 45-yard field goal to give the Warhawks a 17-16 lead. They held the lead the rest of the way. 

Following a scoreless third quarter, Novotny gave UWW a cushion with his third rushing TD of the game. This time the freshman scampered in from 11-yards out. Liszka hit the extra point to give UW-Whitewater a 24-16 advantage. The Warhawk defense was up the task the rest of the way. 

UWW turned the Falcons over on downs twice in the final quarter, the first at the Warhawk 35 and the second at UWW’s four-yard line. On UWRF’s final drive, the Falcons ran five plays in the redzone and the Warhawks thwarted every scoring chance. UW-Whitewater took over with 19 seconds remaining to kneel out the clock. 

Career games from multiple players bolstered the Warhawk win. Novotny posted career marks in rushing attempts (23), rushing yards (192), rushing touchdowns (3) and longest rush (69). Defensively, Jayden Fowler (Morton Grove, Ill./Niles Township West) paced the Warhawks with a career-high 12 tackles. Dom Beres (Bartlett, Ill./St. Francis) also tallied a career-high in the tackles column with 10. Jace Chamberlain (Oak Forest, Ill./St. Laurence) had a phenomenal game with 3.5 tackles for a loss of 17 and two sacks for a loss of 15 – both career bests. Kortz’s pair of interceptions are the most for him in a single game in his career. He added four tackles, a tackle for loss, a pass breakup and 54 interception return yards to his stats on the day. 

UW-Whitewater heads back out on the road next week to take on No. 19 UW-La Crosse Saturday at 1 PM. 

Editor’s note: This report is from the UW-W Athletics website.

The regular season has officially come to a close for the boys’ and girls’ cross country teams. The Whippets traveled to Green Lake on Friday night to compete in the Nightfall Classic, one of the most unique meets of the season. The entire event is contested under large light towers, with Christmas lights wrapping around the turns and trees throughout the golf course. It truly is a sight to see!

Girls

Competing in the Division 2 race, Virginia Nelson once again led the way with a steady effort, placing 35th in 22:18. Melody Smith has hovered around the low 23-minute range for the past few weeks, showing impressive consistency regardless of the difficulty of the course. She placed 53rd with a time of 23:18. Ema Aranda raced her way around the course to stop the clock at 24:04 in 70th place. Peyton Comfort was on fire Friday night, breaking her lifetime best with a 24:56 finish. It was her first-ever sub-25-minute 5K, earning her 94th place. Lia Ramirez also had a terrific night, running a lifetime best by a large margin. She placed 156th in 30:15 — just 16 seconds away from breaking the 30-minute barrier! As a team, the girls finished 12th overall.

Boys

Tyler Carollo continues to show his consistency as well. Three of his last four races have been within a handful of seconds of one another, and on Friday he placed 35th in 18:46. Marcus Roe turned in another sub-20-minute effort, placing 66th in 19:48.Marcus Roselle continued to contribute as the team’s third runner, placing 76th in 20:07. Wyatt Esch and Angel Kilar ran together for much of the back half of the race, but Wyatt was able to pull ahead late and placed 104th in 21:06. Being able to run with Wyatt once again helped Angel, who shaved a few more seconds off his lifetime personal best. Angel placed 109th in 21:22. Preston Miller continues to improve in the sixth-runner spot and ran a lifetime best of 21:51 to place 120th. Jameson Rothwell rounded out the varsity seven, placing 130th in 22:40. Carson Miller placed 134th in 23:07, with Hunter Runnoe right behind him in 143rd with a time of 23:31. Ian Agen closed out his night with a season best by a large margin, placing 170th in 27:18. The varsity boys finished 14th overall, while the JV team did not have enough runners to record a team score.

With the regular season now in the books, the Whippets turn their full attention to the Rock Valley Conference Championship, which will be contested on their HOME COURSE at UW-Whitewater on Thursday, October 15.

The championship schedule is:

• Girls Varsity: 4:00 PM
• Boys Varsity: 4:40 PM
• Combined Boys & Girls JV: 5:15 PM

We are excited to bring the RVC Championship to Whitewater and compete in front of our home crowd!

Full Results: Nightfall Classic

Article Submitted by Chad Carstens
Whitewater High School Head Cross Country Coach
ccarstens@wwusd.org

The Whippets took on Delavan-Darien on Tuesday, September 29th and came out on top in a close matchup, defeating the Comets 88–69! The girls put together some exciting races, big time drops, and a whole lot of event wins throughout the night!

200 Medley Relay
Emma Maas, Maya Davis, Maggie Maas & MJ Verduzco kicked things off with a 1st place finish in 2:19.10! MJ brought it home with her fastest 50 Free split yet at 32.14!

Caitlin Alford, Finley De Porter, Storm De Porter & Laken De Porter finished 3rd! Finley dropped 5 seconds off her 50 Breaststroke split, while Laken closed with a speedy 31.95 50 Free!

200 Freestyle
Emma Maas finished 2nd overall while knocking 7 seconds off her previous time!

200 IM
Maya Davis had a RACE! Once she hit the Breaststroke and Freestyle portions, there was no looking back. Maya powered her way to the event win while dropping 4 seconds!

50 Freestyle
WHIPPET SWEEP!
Laken De Porter — 31.98
Storm De Porter — 32.27
MJ Verduzco — 34.34

The girls went 1-2-3 to take over the event!

100 Butterfly
Maggie Maas dominated the 100 Fly, winning the event by more than 20 seconds with a time of 1:17.06!

100 Freestyle
Finley De Porter was the lone Whippet in the event — and apparently that was all we needed! Finley dropped 7 seconds to WIN the race with an impressive 1:13.18!

500 Freestyle
Storm De Porter and Laken De Porter battled through the distance event, and BOTH came away with best times! Storm dropped another 4 seconds, while Laken knocked off another 2 seconds!

200 Freestyle Relay
Maya Davis, Caitlin Alford, MJ Verduzco & Finley De Porter put together a strong 1st place swim in 2:19.45! Maya got the relay rolling with an impressive 31.98 lead-off split!

100 Backstroke
Maggie Maas showed off some more speed, taking 1st place in 1:16.36!
Caitlin Alford added a 3rd place finish with a time of 1:40.24!

100 Breaststroke
Another Whippet 1-2 finish!
Emma Maas continues to get faster and faster, dropping her time to 1:25.03!
Maya Davis followed right behind to lock down the top two spots for the Whippets!

400 Freestyle Relay
The Whippets finished the night strong as Maggie Maas, Laken De Porter, Storm De Porter & Emma Maas brought it home in 4:43.01!

A total TEAM effort and a fun conference win for the Whippets! From event sweeps and close races to more PRs and big drops, these ladies continue to show how much work they’re putting in.

NEXT UP: SENIOR NIGHT!

The Whippets are back HOME on Tuesday, October 6th against Beloit Memorial — and it’s a special one as we celebrate our two seniors, Maggie & MJ!

Swimming starts at 5:30 PM

Come pack the pool, cheer on the Whippets, and help us celebrate our seniors!

Article and Photo Submitted by Sarah Reynolds
Whitewater High School Head Girls’ Swim Coach

Earning another conference win Thursday night has Whippet Soccer poised to finish conference play next week in a very good position. The rain never let up last night against Big Foot, but luckily, neither did your Whippets. Despite the gloomy weather, WHS got off to a flying start when Elijah Gutierrez opened the scoring in just the 3′ minute with a powerfully struck free kick that was too much for the keeper to handle. This early momentum boost managed to elevate Whitewater’s play and saw them largely dominate the first half. Big Foot had a few minutes of sustained possession, and with just 28 seconds remaining in the half, they were able to equalize.

WHS didn’t let up and came out even stronger and faster in the second half. With numerous chances either saved by the goalie, put just wide, or even off of the post, Whitewater looked like the team more likely to score. Finally, the deadlock was broken in the 66′ minute when Christian Aranda took a long throw that traveled almost all the way to the penalty spot. Christian’s throw found Evan Amundson who had a beautiful flick on header to Langdon Coburn who fired the ball into the roof of the net making the score 2-1. 4 minutes later, sustained pressure by Wesley Baker and Derick Martinez led to a mistake at the back where Big Foot conceded an own goal. Stand-out defensive performances from Frank Mbifi, Aaron Garcia, Anjay Magaña, and Hector Aranda helped to make sure the Chiefdogs never found their way back into the game.

Whippet Soccer ends their conference play next week Tuesday (10/6) when they host East Troy for Parents’ Night. WHS will also be honoring our seniors on Thursday (10/8) when we host Shoreland Lutheran. We hope to see you all there. Go, Whippets!

Article and Graphic Submitted by Sam Burns
Whitewater High School Head Boys’ Soccer Coach
dburns@wwusd.org