On a beautiful fall afternoon the UW-River Falls Falcons topped UW-Eau Claire 20-10 due to a balanced effort on all aspects of the game.
"This was a big win for the program and everybody invovled," Falcon Coach
Matt Walker said. "I can't say enough about the players and how they keep fighting. I am proud of our coaches for hanging in there and how much they continue to invest to this program."
A balanced rushing attack from a committee of players helped UWRF win the time of possession battle rushing 45 times for 182 yards.
Rance Ashley led with 16 carries for 65 yards, Kusilek had 53 yards on eight carries and
Nick Zimmerman added 37 yards in his first game on the offensive side of the ball.
Brad Beeskow,
Jordan Christianson and
Wade Malecha all added to the ground attack as well. Walker said he was happy with how well Ashley did in his first game really playing tailback rather than fullback, credited Beeskow with a strong game and said he though Kusilek managed the game well coming off a rough game a week ago.
UWEC took the first drive of the game all the way down the field for an eight play 61 yard drive that ended in a five yard touchdown strike taking 4:36 off the clock. The Falcons answered back by scoring on their first offensive possesion in the game. They took 6:11 off the clock going 14 plays for 80 yards. The drive almost stalled early on when UWRF was faced with a 3rd and 17 from their own 24 when Kusilek found Christianson for a 39 yard completion. The drive ended with Kusilek finding Beeskow for a two yard touchdown. Chrisianson finished with a game high 94 yards off five catches and Beeskow had six catches for 41 yards.
Towards the end of the first quarter UWRF fumbled the ball away to UWEC which they took advantage of by connecting on a 23 yard field goal early in the second quarter. While turnovers have plagued the Falcons all year the fumble lost was their only one of the afternoon today.
With 4:53 left in the first quarter Kusilek made a 30 yard field goal for the first UWRF field goal of the season coming off of year where they made no field goals last season.
UWEC made an effort to answer the field goal to end the half by taking the ball all the way to the Falcons two yard line but the defense stayed strong and forced a turnover on downs. The defense had a balanced game as well with alot of different players recording tackles. Tyler Ledbebter recorded a team high six tackles,
Luke Radke and
Geno DeMike each had five. DeMike also recorded one of the two sacks in the game while
Zach Loos picked up the other one.
Robbie Flom had three pass breakups while
Kyle Kittel and
Cole Sirek each had two.
"I thought our secondary played tremendous and we really tackled well," Walker said.
Early in the third quarter the Kusilek-Christianson combo hooked for a big completion again, this time for 32 yards on a 3rd and six. With 7:40 left in the quarter Kusilek ran up the middle to cap off a nine play, 49 yard drive and gave UWRF a 17-10 lead.
With just 7:07 left to go in the game Kusilek hit a 21 yard field goal to give the Falcons a 20-10 lead. UWEC put a strong effort at a comeback marching down the field but stalling on the seven yard line. Needing a touchdown and field goal in the game they decided to kick the field goal with 3:46 left to go. Kittel came around the outside and got a big block on the play to prevent the score.
"It was an all around good day for our team," Walker said. "We can have a big run to end the season here."
The Falcons will look to keep that run going when they play at home next Saturday against UW-La Crosse. They are now 2-5 on the season and 1-3 in the WIAC.
Box Score
