No. 3 Warhawk Football Edges UW-River Falls
Chris Lindeke, Assistant Athletic Director, Strategic Communications and Branding – University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
October 23, 2021
Box Score: https://uwwsports.com/sports/football/stats/2021/uw-river-falls/boxscore/15414
The No. 3 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater football team took the lead with just under three minutes to play Saturday and held on late for a 34-28 victory at UW-River Falls in a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest.
After the Falcons (5-2 overall, 2-2 WIAC) tied the game with 5:41 left in the fourth quarter, Jaylon Edmonson returned the ensuing short kickoff 46 yards to the UW-RF 19-yard line.
From there, Matt Maldonado put his 28-yard kick through the uprights to give the Warhawks (7-0, 4-0) a 31-28 advantage.
On the ensuing kickoff return, Daniel Baggett forced a fumble that was recovered by Kyle Koelblinger at the Falcons’ 14-yard line.
Three plays later, Maldonado hit a 31-yard field goal to double the UW-W lead to six with 1:51 on the clock.
On the first play from scrimmage on the next drive, Koelblinger picked off Kole Hinrichsen at midfield, and UW-Whitewater ran out the clock for the win.
Quarterback Max Meylor threw for 166 yards and three touchdowns. Tamir Thomas and Alex Peete led the Warhawks’ rushing attack with 83 and 74 yards, respectively. Derek Kumerow posted five receptions for 64 yards to lead all receivers.
Koelblinger led the defense with four tackles, two interceptions and one fumble recovery. Linebackers Shane McGrail and Aaron Sturdevant tied for the team high with six tackles apiece.
UW-Whitewater scored touchdowns on its first two offensive possessions and forced three-and-outs defensively on UW-River Falls’ first two possessions.
After a 41-yard punt return by Dain Hudson that was moved back to the Falcons’ 40-yard line on a penalty, the Warhawks took six plays to find the end zone. After a third-and-12 completion from Meylor to Ryan Wisniewski, Tyler Holte caught a 6-yard touchdown from Meylor at the 10:34 mark of the first quarter.
Thomas set up UW-Whitewater’s next touchdown with runs of 22 and nine yards, respectively. Meylor hit Wisniewski for a 23-yard score to make it 14-0 with 6:33 to play in the period.
UW-River Falls tallied 21 unanswered points in the second quarter to take a 21-14 advantage into halftime.
After a UW-W punt, the Falcons drove near midfield. On third down, Niko Lemke recovered a UW-RF fumble to give the Warhawks the ball at the Falcons’ 44-yard line.
From there, UW-Whitewater tied the game at 21-21 on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Meylor to Sam DeLany with 10:16 remaining in the third quarter.
Following a UW-River Falls punt, the Warhawks took the lead on a 10-play, 70-yard drive that included a 16-yard pass from Meylor to Kumerow on fourth-and-4 from the Falcons’ 33-yard line. Edmonson ran for 11 yards, and Peete completed the drive with a six-yard scoring run with 2:51 to go in the frame.
A turnover deep in UW-W territory set up UW-River Falls’ game-tying touchdown and set the stage for the final six minutes of action.
UW-Whitewater hosts UW-Eau Claire during Homecoming next Saturday, Oct. 30, at 1 p.m. at Perkins Stadium.
