By Angela Kelm
Asst. Athletic Director for Sports Information
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater football team shut out UW-Eau Claire 59-0 in the team’s regular season finale at Perkins Stadium Saturday. The Warhawks honored 13 seniors prior to the game as part of UWW’s annual Senior Day sponsored by Educators Credit Union. In addition to the seniors, UW-Whitewater recognized current and former military members and a special captain presented by Shriners Hospitals for Children.
UW-Whitewater wrapped up the regular season with a 9-1 record. As the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference runner-up, the Warhawks will await word on postseason play. The NCAA Division III football selection show will be aired live on ncaa.com Sunday (Nov. 12) at 4 p.m.
The Warhawks put up over 660 yards of offense while the defense held the Blugolds to just 175 in the game. In a phenomenal regular season finale, well over half of UWW’s 107-player roster saw the field in the game.
UW-Whitewater won the toss and elected to receive, a choice that allowed them to set the tone early. On the second play from scrimmage, Tamir Thomas (Menomonee Falls, Wis./Menomonee Falls) took the handoff and burst through the middle of the line untouched. He ran away from the defense for the 85-yard touchdown run — his career long. The drive took less than 20 seconds – and it wasn’t the shortest for UWW.
After UWEC turned the ball over on downs at the UWW32, the Warhawks ran the same scoring play with the exact same result. Thomas burst through the line and pulled away from defenders for a 68-yard scoring run. Just over five minutes into the game, UW-Whitewater held a 14-0 lead and the Warhawks never looked back.
UWW added two more scores in the first quarter with Brian Stanton (Plainfield, Ill./South) hauling in a 32-yard pass from Jason Ceniti (Madison, Wis./Madison Memorial) for his first career receiving touchdown and Thomas registering his third rushing TD of the game, this time on a 17-yard carry.
In the second, Jeff Isotalo-McGuire split the uprights on a 34-yard field goal to extend the lead to 31-0. Alec Ogden (Marshall, Wis./Monona Grove) added an 11-yard rushing touchdown and Stanton capped the first half with a career-long 70-yard touchdown run to give the Warhawks a 45-0 lead at the intermission.
Ceniti found Patrick Lippe (Port Washington, Wis./Port Washington) wide open in the end zone from 22-yards out for the lone score of the third and Darrick Hill (Stoughton, Wis./Stoughton) rounded out the scoring with a 14-yard run late in the fourth for the final.
The Warhawks held true to their tradition of pounding the rock – accumulating 472 rushing yards in the contest. Thomas posted 191 on seven carries while Stanton added 99 on six rushes. Nine Warhawks tallied carries in the game.
Ceniti and Ogden combined to go 15-24 for 189 yards and two touchdowns. Lippe was the top target with 60 yards on four catches. Eight Warhawks registered at least one catch in the game.
Defensively, Joey Antonietti (La Grange, Ill./Lyons Township) led UWW with seven tackles while 28 Warhawks wrote their name in the defensive stats with at least one tackle.
