RIVER FALLS, Wis. (uwrfsports.com) - The Falcons were held to only 48 yards on 35 plays in the first half against the fourth-ranked UW-Whitewater Warhawks, and UWRF dropped their third road game of the year. The Warhawks jumped ahead 31-0 by halftime and used three rushing touchdowns to rack up 290 total yards in the first half to put the game out of reach.
UW-Whitewater's quarterback Cole Wilbur started off the offense by rushing 26 yards for a touchdown on the fourth play of their opening drive to make the game 7-0. After a missed field goal on their second drive, a pass from Wilbur to JT Parish for a 39-yard gain set up a three-yard touchdown run by Ronny Ponick in under a minute to go up 14-0. Five of Whitewater's six touchdown drives on Saturday took less than a minute and a half.
A pass from
Ben Beckman was intercepted on the first play of the second quarter, and Alex Peete broke loose for a 35-yard touchdown run to build the lead to 21-0. UW-Whitewater didn't punt the ball in the first half and added a 19-yard field goal and a 12-yard touchdown from Wilbur to Ponick to build their 31-point lead at halftime.
The UWRF defense stepped up their game in the opening minutes of the second half and forced two punts for the Warhawks. The Falcons began to move the ball in the second half through the run game but couldn't convert on two fourth downs in the third quarter. Wilber completed his second touchdown pass of the day on the ensuing drive to go up 37-0, and Wilber finished the day 9-15 for 137 yards and two touchdowns. The Falcons responded with their best drive of the day, marching down the field on a 13-play, 93-yard drive over five minutes.
Sam Altena punched in a 1-yard rush to close the gap to 37-7. UW-Whitewater played their backups the rest of the way and forced one more turnover when Beckman threw across his body on third and goal.
Beckman finished the day with 15 completions for 152 yards and three interceptions. The Falcons had success on the ground in the second half and finished with over 150 yards, including 54 yards on only six attempts for
Tyler Blum.
Max Praschak was a force on defense by recording eight solo tackles and 12 total.
The Falcons are now 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the WIAC and will host UW-Eau Claire next week at Ramer Field at 1 p.m. The Blugolds are 3-4 this season and are coming off a 40-16 win over UW-Platteville.
