By Angela Kelm
Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater set the program and Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference attendance record during Saturday’s Family Fest football game with 20,113 at Perkins Stadium. That mark also breaks the Division III record for games played on a college campus for the second consecutive season. Despite hitting the 20,000 milestone for the first time ever, the game ended in heartbreak as the #3 Warhawks fell to #14 UW-La Crosse 37-34 on a field goal as time expired. 

Box Score |

Turnovers were key as the Eagles turned three fumble recoveries into 14 points in the game. UW-Whitewater dominated in the run game with 273 yards on the ground while UWL dominated through the air with 311 passing yards. Both offenses put up over 420 yards, but the Eagles also carried a hefty advantage in time of possession with their offense on the field for 36:46 compared to just 23:14 for the Warhawks.

UW-Whitewater put together a great drive after receiving the opening kick going 57 yards in eight plays. The final play ended in one of UWW’s four fumbles on the day as the ball was wrenched out of Tamir Thomas’ grasp at the one-yard line and recovered by La Crosse. The Eagles marched 99 yards bolstered by an 84-yard touchdown pass to take an early 7-0 lead. 

The Warhawks responded just four plays later as Alec Ogden scrambled out of the pocket and bolted up the field for a 43-yard touchdown run. Jeff Isotalo-McGuire’s kick made it 7-7 with over six minutes left in the first quarter. 

The next drive for each team resulted in punts and UWL was driving as the game transitioned to the second quarter. The Eagles took a 10-7 lead on a 29-yard field goal from Michael Stack a little over three minutes into the period. 

Following punts from each side, the Warhawks took over at their own 31. On the second play, Ogden was sacked and lost the ball with UWL recovering at the UWW23. Eagle quarterback Keyser Helterbrand from Ryan Bartol for the 23-yard strike on the next play to make it 17-7 La Crosse.

A couple more punts brought the UWW offense back on the field with just over two minutes to go before the intermission. Alijah Maher-Parr set the tone with a 29-yard scamper off the left side of the line. Ogden found Tyler Vasey for a 20-yard reception down the middle on the next play. The Ogden-Vasey connection moved the Warhawks up another 15 yards down to the Eagle five-yard line. On third-and-goal, Ogden punched it in from one-yard out to pull the Warhawks closer, 17-14, as the teams headed into the locker rooms.

The Eagles took the opening kick of the second half, but the Warhawk defense stalled their drive at the UWW37 forcing a punt. Helterbrand took the snap and opted to punt gaining a good bounce to pin UW-Whitewater at their own one-yard line. Deep in their own zone, the Warhawks went three-and-out with Kamrin Hutt punting from the back of the endzone. Despite a 43-yard boot in his first game punting, the Eagles had a short field to work with. 

Operating with a two-quarterback set for most of the second half, Zach Weir took two of the next three snaps capping the drive with an eight-yard touchdown pass. 

The Warhawks grabbed some momentum back after the touchback as Maher-Parr burst through the line and up the near sideline for a career-long 75-yard scoring run to make it 24-20. The extra point try sailed right of the post. 

Once again, the Eagles responded, this time with a field goal from 44-yards out to extend the margin back to seven, 27-20. The next UWW drive ended in a fumble recovered by the Eagles that UWL turned into seven points to push the gap to 34-20 early in the fourth quarter. 

UW-Whitewater went three-and-out on the next drive and the Warhawk defense responded in kind forcing a punt after three plays on the other side of the ball. Hutt came up big on the defensive side of special teams, bolting off the left side of the line and getting a hand on the punt to limit the yardage. UWL downed the blocked punt at their own 44 and the Warhawks capitalized on the short field. 

After converting on third-and-three, Ogden found tight end Drake Martin for 15-yards. Two plays later, Ogden hit Steven Hein crossing through the end zone for the touchdown strike. UWW opted for a two-point conversion attempt that was no good to make the score 34-24 with just over eight minutes remaining. 

The UW-Whitewater defense came up big once again forcing another three-and-out. Maher-Parr added to his day with another career long hauling in a 64-yard touchdown catch on the second play of the drive. This time, Ogden found Hein in the back of the end zone for a successful two-point conversion to knot the game 34-34. 

Isotalo-McGuire’s kick was returned 23 yards to bring out the UWL offense at their own 27 with 5:49 on the clock. Matt Burba nearly got to Weir on the first play of the drive forcing the Eagle quarterback out of the pocket. The length of the play had an illegible player downfield to back La Crosse up five yards to their own 22. The Eagles picked up the first down and then another for a first-and-ten at the Warhawks 46. Back-to-back rushes up the middle for Helterbrand made it third-and-one. Caden Straka stuffed the UWL quarterback short of the line to gain on the next rush attempt to force a fourth down. Helterbrand was able to push through the line for a three-yard gain on the next play to give the Eagles a new set up downs with just nine seconds remaining. 

The Eagles moved the ball up a single yard on the next play before calling timeout with three seconds left to send their field goal unit onto the field. Stack converted from 51-yards out as time expired to seal the game for UWL. 

Maher-Parr posted 113 yards on seven carries – an average of 16.1 yards per rush – to lead the Warhawk ground game. Ogden was 10-16 for 154 yards and two touchdown strikes. Ogden spread the ball around hitting six different Warhawk receivers in the game. 

Defensively, Joey Antonietti tallied a career-high 14 tackles including seven solo. Hawk Heffner added 12 and Kyle Koelblinger registered 11. Ethan Gallagher and Nehemiah Lomax each got to the quarterback for sacks in the game.

Emilia Houwers is state-bound and will be playing in the WIAA Girls Tennis tournament on Thursday, October 12! She qualified for State at the Sectional Tournament in La Crosse on Wednesday, October 4.

Please use the link below if you’d like to order a State Tennis T-Shirt to support Emilia Houwers. Orders are due Sunday, October 8, at midnight and should arrive by Wednesday so that you can wear them on Thursday.

https://whitewatertennisstate23.itemorder.com/shop/home/

Photo courtesy of Bob Mischka.