Box Score

The UW-River Falls Falcons (0-2) scored on their first drive of the game but fell 22-6 at Simpson College (2-0) this afternoon.

UWRF took the first drive 78 yards on sixteen plays taking 6:54 off of the clock. Kywon Cartwright finished the drive off with a nine yard touchdown run on a handoff out of the shotgun formation.

The Falcons defense held Simpson in check on their first drive forcing them into a fourth and nine situation where Tyler Ledbeter was able to pick of Simpson quarterback Dylan Berkey. It was the first of two interceptions for Ledbeter with the second coming on a fourth down play as well.

Turnovers were again a big problem for UWRF. They lost three fumbles in the game and had one interception that came late.

"This was a frustrating day for everyone in the program," said Falcon Coach Matt Walkler. "A couple of costly turnovers changed the game. Hats off to Simpson, but this was a case of stopping ourselves."

Simpson took advantage of the first Falcon fumble lost by scoring on a 43 yard connection from Berkey to Walker Holland. The touchdown strike came after the UWRF defense had Simpson pushed back to a third down and twenty.

Early in the second quarter after another Falcon fumble Simpson brought the ball all the way to the one yard one. A big stand by the Falcon defensive forced Simpson to settle for three points.

Simpson had a chance to tack on another three points to end the first half but UWRF blocked it. The Falcons special teams had a strong performance with a blocked field goal and two blocked extra points in the game.

After going into half 10-6 in favor or Simpson neither team could gain any momentum in a field possession battle of a third quarter. Neither team punted in the whole first half but they combined for six total third quarter punts.

Ryan Kusilek started the game at quarterback and threw 14-27 for 145 yards. In the last series of the third quarter through the whole fourth quarter Sawyer Moon played quarterback throwing 12-20 for 133 yards. Moon led the Falcons down to the two yard line but a Cartwright fumble gave the ball back to Simpson.

Simpson took advantage of the turnover and scored on a 38 yard play action touchdown bomb from Berkey to Holland.

UWRF tried to march down one last time to get back into the game but ended with a turnover on downs. Simpson ran the ball down the field and again scored a touchdown to go up 22-6 which would be the way the game would end.

Emmanuel Udeh led UWRF in rushing with 50 yards on 11 carries while Cartwright had 23 yards on nine carries.

Jordan Christianson had eight grabs for 101 yards, Charles Dixon caught seven passes for 57 yards and Jake Ryan had six receptions for 95 yards.

The defense flew around the field all game with eight players having five or more tackles. Nick Zimmerman led with eight total tackles, Ledbeter and Geno DeMike each had seven, Robbie Flom, Derek Tarter and Nick Jacobsen each had six and Cole Sirek and Luke Radke had five.

"Our effort and passion are there and I love these guys. Now we have to figure out how to finish games," said Walker. "Even with an up and down day we were driving to the end zone to take the lead with under 10 minutes to play and fumbled into the end zone."

UWRF heads to South Dakota next week to play the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology with kickoff set for 1 p.m.

Box Score