RIVER FALLS, Wis. – The No. 17-ranked UW-River Falls football team improved to 2-1 overall with a 63-27 win over the University of Northwestern during the 2022 home opener at Ramer Field.
UWRF totaled 643 yards of total offense, 392 on the ground and 251 through the air. The Falcon defense limited Northwestern to -20 rushing yards.
The Falcons opened the game with a boom, scoring on the first play of its first pair of offensive drives.
Mason Van Zeeland hauled in his first of three touchdown receptions from
Kaleb Blaha, a 73-yard score to give UWRF its first lead. On the next possession,
TJ Little also scored a 73-yard touchdown, rushing in his first TD as a Falcon.
UWRF scored twice more in the second quarter to lead 28-6 at halftime.
Despite a pair of scores from Van Zeeland and Blaha to extend UWRF's lead to 35-6 early into the second half, Northwestern responded with a pair of scores of their own to trim the Falcon lead to 35-20. That was the closest the Eagles would cut into the UWRF lead though, as the home team tacked on four more touchdowns in the fourth quarter to secure the win.
Tim Oeun,
Isaiah Randall, and more touchdowns from Van Zeeland and Little pushed the UWRF lead to 63-27.
Blaha finished with 315 total yards of offense and five touchdowns. Little led the ground game with 135 yards, and Van Zeeland totaled 120 receiving yards.
Defensively, the Falcons tallied six sacks, led by a pair from
Jake Halsey.
Andrew Schumacher and
Dylan Brown both had interceptions, while
Aaron Borgerding led the team with seven total tackles.
Justin Scheberl was a perfect 9-for-9 on PATs.
UWRF has a bye week before heading into Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) play on Homecoming, Saturday, Oct. 1, versus UW-Stevens Point.
