By Angela Kelm
Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information
UW-Whitewater
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater football team registered another instant classic win at Perkins Stadium Saturday, defeating UW-River Falls 30-27 on a field goal with no time remaining. The Warhawks picked up the win in front of a stellar crowd in excess of 13,000 at The Perk during the university’s annual Homecoming celebration.
Saturday’s game was a battle of two halves, the first dominated by UWW, the second by UWRF. Still, the Warhawks found a way at the end to come out on top in epic fashion – a 49-yard field goal that hit the crossbar and bounced through the uprights with no time remaining.
The Warhawks were firing on all cylinders from the get-go. UWW’s defense forced a three-and-out on the opening drive and the offense put up points in their first opportunity of the game. The seven-play, 38-yard drive was capped by an Evan Lewandowski (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Lake Zurich)–Sam DeLany (Delafield, Wis./Kettle Moraine) connection from four-yards out. Jeffery Isotalo-McGuire (Phoenix, Ariz./Pinnacle) added the extra point for the early 7-0 lead.
The defense handed the ball right back to the Warhawk offense as Thomas Wojnowski (Oak Creek, Wis./Oak Creek) picked off the Falcon quarterback on the first play of the next drive. Returning it down to the UWRF 23, Wojnowski gave the offense great field position that turned into a 38-yard field goal for Isotalo-McGuire and a 10-0 lead.
Two possessions later, just over a minute into the second quarter, Preston Strasburg (Fort Atkinson, Wis./Fort Atkinson) punched it in from the one-yard line. The point after made it 17-0 UWW.
UW-River Falls responded putting together an 11-play, 89-yard drive capped by a touchdown pass to get on the board. A bad snap on the extra point had the Warhawks barreling down on the holder and forcing an incomplete pass to keep it 17-6.
UW-Whitewater’s next drive stalled ending in a punt, but the defense continued to impress. Kyle Gallagher (Niles, Ill./Notre Dame College Prep) got to UWRF quarterback Kaleb Blaha for a sack and loss of 11-yards to force third down. Later in the drive, on fourth down, Shane McGrail (Plainfield, Ill./North) sacked Blaha for a loss of 17 to bring the Warhawk offense back out at the Falcon 36.
Six plays later, Isotalo-McGuire added three more, splitting the uprights from 30-yards out for a 20-6 lead with just over two minutes to go.
The defense gave the offense one more opportunity in the first half, forcing a punt with a minute to go. Tamir Thomas (Menomonee Falls, Wis./Menomonee Falls) opened the drive with a 24-yard scamper up the middle to midfield. Lewandowski followed with a pair of completions to Steven Hein (St. Charles, Ill./North) and Tommy Coates (Chicago, Ill./De La Salle Institute) to get the offense down to the Falcon 17. On the next play, Lewandowski handed to Thomas who went up the middle for 17-yards and the touchdown. Isotalo-McGuire stayed perfect on the day making it 27-6.
UWRF completed a pass with 29 seconds to go before Reed Farrington (Edgerton, Wis./Edgerton) and Justin Allen (Huntley, Ill./Huntley) teamed up for another Warhawk sack to send UWW into the intermission with all of the momentum.
The third quarter was all UW-River Falls. Scoring on their first drive the Falcons added more points following a Warhawk turnover to pull to within seven, 27-20, with 15 minutes left to play.
Late in the fourth, with UWRF driving, Gallagher exploded off the corner and sacked Blaha once again forcing a 4th-and-13 from the UWW 31. The Warhawks nearly got to Blaha on the next play, but he was able to find a receiver just past the first down marker out of the scramble. UWRF scored a touchdown on the next play and knotted the game at 27-27 with the extra point.
The teams traded punts with UWW regaining possession at their own 43 with about 30 seconds to go. On 3rd and 10, Strasburg went up the middle for a first down to the River Falls 44 with head coach Kevin Bullis signaling for the timeout with 11 seconds to go. Lewandowski hit DeLany to get UWW into field goal range. The Warhawks called timeout with five seconds left. As the field goal crew set up, the Falcons called timeout to try and ice Isotalo-McGuire.
After the brief break, the field goal unit set, a good hold followed a good snap and Isotalo-McGuire put his full boot into the 49-yarder. The kick was dead center, coming down on the top of the crossbar and bouncing through for the field goal with no time remaining.
With wins Saturday, UW-Whitewater and UW-La Crosse are now tied for the top spot in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. UW-Platteville fell to UW-Stout taking them out of a tie for the top spot with two weeks of regular season play remaining.
