Box Score



The No. 7 ranked University of St. Thomas won its 26^th consecutive regular season game as they handed the Falcons their second loss, 43-9. It was a record-setting Saturday afternoon as the two teams combined for 965 yards on 183 total offensive plays.

Freshman quarterback Ryan Kusilek set school records in pass attempts and completions as he went 39-74 for 342 yards and a touchdown. The 342 yards is just three shy of the school record set by Ryan Luesenheide in 2010.

Kusilek's 74 attempts sets a WIAC individual single game record. The previous record was 71 by Platteville's Tom Stetzer vs. Stout on Sept. 29, 2011 and against Olivet Nazarene on Sept. 7, 2002. The 39 completions ties Kusilek for fourth place in the WIAC single game records book. The 74 team attempts ties the WIAC record which was set by Platteville in a game against Stevens Point on Sept. 22, 2001.
 
Defensively, the Falcons recovered two more fumbles in the first half, giving them five on the season. They have not recovered five fumbles in an entire season since 2007. In all, the Falcons had four turnovers, recovered an onside kick, and picked up a loose ball on another kickoff, but could not capitalize.
 
In the opening drive of the second half, Alex Adams picked off a pass giving the Falcons the ball at the 29. Down by just two scores, the Falcons had an opportunity to creep back into the game but a four-and-out returned the ball to the Tommies. On the very next play, a sweep to Aaron Tyrell-Byrd went 75 yards untouched to put the Tommies up 22-0.
 
“I'm really proud of our defensive effort,” Falcon Coach Matt Walker commented, “The score in no way was indicative of the defensive performance. They were put in way too many difficult situations. St. Thomas played well and took advantage of its opportunities.”
 
The Falcons went on to convert just  one-for-six on fourth-down attempts in the second half, four of which were in St. Thomas territory. Three of those drives stalled within the opponents 31 and an interception in the end zone killed another Falcon drive.
 
“We had some opportunities. We had some turnovers, got the onside kick, and drove the ball deep into the scoring zone plenty of times with nothing to show for it,” Walker continued, “But, this is a resilient group of men that will stay together and keep fighting.”
 
St. Thomas opened scoring on its first drive as a pass went through Mike Cano's hands and fell into Dan Ferrazzo's gloves for a 33-yard-score. Later in the half, the ball bounced the other way as a pass slipped through the hands of a Tommie receiver and Cano was there to grab his fifth career interception.
 
Robbie Flom had a career-best 12.5 tackles and Nate Smits picked up 10 along with the lone sack for the Falcons. Zach Stuhr picked up the Tommie fumble in the first quarter and Nick Zimmerman grabbed the loose ball in the end zone killing the Tommies scoring drive in the second quarter.
 
Kusilek's big day offensively was spread out to seven different targets. Jake Ryan grabbed nine passes for 95 yards, catching nine in each of the first two games. Nathan Brandt hauled in his second touchdown of the season (seventh of career) as he finished with nine catches for 75 yards.  John Wahlstrom had eight grabs for 63 yards and Jon Manke had six for 74.
 
It was an exciting day for the special teams units as Will Jensen booted two balls over 60 yards (62 and 69) and Chad Blair led the first successful onside kick since 2007. Later in the game, with the Tommies looking for the onside kick, Blair booted a ball that hung up in the wind before falling to the turf in no man's land -allowing the Falcons to recover once again.
 
The Falcons had some opportunities but were unable to move the chains, going 4-for-20 on third downs and came up empty-handed on four drives within the Tommies 27 yard line. But for the second straight week the team has thrown for over 300 yards – prior to this season that had been just one time in the last 41 games.
 
The Falcons have a bye on Sept. 15 and then return home to host UW-Stout in a non-conference game on Sept. 22 with kickoff set for 7 p.m., at Ramer Field.

Box Score