RIVER FALLS, Wis. – The No. 24-ranked UW-River Falls football team closed out its regular season with a thrilling 35-34 victory over UW-Stout at Ramer Field, finishing with an undefeated 5-0 record on its home turf.
Depending on the NCAA Playoff bracket selections, UW-River Falls (6-4, 4-3 WIAC) has a chance to earn a spot in the second annual Culver's Isthmus Bowl, which will feature one team from the WIAC and the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) on Saturday, Nov. 19 in Sun Prairie, Wis. The Falcons won the inaugural Isthmus Bowl last season, defeating Washington University-St. Louis 48-27.
Coming into the game, sophomore defensive back
Michael Brown led the WIAC and ranked among top-five national leaders with seven interceptions. He added one more against the Blue Devils, including another that shut down Stout's two-point conversion with eight seconds in regulation, sealing the one-point margin of victory for UWRF.
After a slow first quarter for both teams, the Falcons and Blue Devils went back-and-forth throughout the game. UWRF claimed its largest lead of the game with one of two
Kaleb Blaha connections to
Mason Van Zeeland on the day, giving the home team a 21-10 lead early in the third quarter. Stout answered with two consecutive scores to knot the game at 21-21 heading into the final period.
Blaha scored one of his two rushing scores on the day to open the fourth quarter, giving the Falcons a 28-21 lead, but the Blue Devils answered right away to tie the game again at 28-28.
Both teams had turnovers on the downs on the following two drives before another Blaha rushing touchdown put UWRF up 35-23 with 1:33 left in the game. However, Stout marched down the field with only one timeout remaining and tied the game up on a seven-play scoring drive.
Down 35-34 with eight seconds left, Stout elected to go for the win, and the visitors' two-point conversion attempt failed as a Sean Borgerding pass was taken away by
Michael Brown. UWRF ran out the clock on the ensuing possession.
Blaha finished with 350 yards of total offense (263 passing, 87 rushing) and totaled four touchdowns, two rushing and two passing. Van Zeeland finished with two touchdowns and 81 receiving yards, while
Michael Krueger added his 11th touchdown of the season, finishing the regular season just two behind Blaha's total of 13.
The Falcon defense had four tackles for loss and two sacks and were led by
Aaron Borgerding's 10 tackles (eight solo).
Dylan Brown had a season-high three pass breakups and
Michael Brown added an interception to finish the regular season with eight.
