RIVER FALLS, Wis. – The No. 17-ranked UW-River Falls football team defeated No. 16 UW-Oshkosh 27-24 Saturday afternoon from Smith Stadium at Ramer Field.
Michael Brown's second consecutive game with a pair of interceptions sealed the win for the Falcons, as his second of the game with second left in regulation turned over a Titan fourth down try, and UWRF was able to run out the clock for the victory.
For the fifth game in a row, UWRF held its opponent to under 100 rushing yards, limiting UWO to 90 yards on the ground. The Falcons compiled compiled 392 yards of total offense and 26 first downs.
Sophomore quarterback
Kaleb Blaha once again paced the offense, totaling 315 yards of total offense with three touchdowns. He passed for 172 yards with one touchdown through the air and rushed in a pair of scores for a total of 143 rushing yards.
UWRF claimed a 17-3 lead after scores from Blaha and
Mason Van Zeeland, along with
Justin Scheberl's first career field goal from 23 yards out.
With little time left in the first half, UWO scored on 4th down and was successful on a two-point conversion to trim the UWRF lead to 17-11 at the break, giving the visitors momentum for the second. They scored on their next two possessions to claim a 24-17 advantage, but missed on one of the PAT attempts, allowing the Falcons to tie the game up next drive on a Blaha rushing touchdown.
Tied 24-24 heading into the fourth quarter, UWRF took back the lead on its first possession of the final stanza, a Scheberl 23-yard field goal for the eventual game-winner.
Michael Brown took away the Titans' comeback hopes with interceptions on UWO's next two offensive possessions.
The Falcon defense totaled five tackles for loss and two sacks, led by 10 tackles from
Aaron Borgerding.
Andrew Schumacher forced one fumble and had a pass breakup.