UW-Whitewater upped its record to 3-0 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a 38-12 win over UW-River Falls Saturday in Perkins Stadium.
Whitewater has a seventeen game WIAC win streak. UW-W has also not lost a game in Perkins Stadium since the last game of the 2004 season.
Whitewater led 21-0 at the end of the first quarter thanks to three rushing touchdowns, two by tailback
Justin Beaver (Palmyra/Palmyra-Eagle) (sr, Palmyra) and one by
Max Wasikowski (Cudahy/Cudahy) (so, Cudahy). All three of the scores were the result of five play drives.
UW-W's second score was set up by a 22-yard punt return by
Neil Mrkvicka (Greendale/Greendale) (sr, Greendale). Already the UW-W and WIAC career leader in punt returns, Mrkvicka returned five punts for 73 yards to up his career punt return yardage to 1,088 yards – good for second in that WIAC record category. Matt Pekarske of UW-La Crosse (1982, 1984-86) is ahead in first place with 1,181 yards.
River Falls' defensive back Joe Simonson (sr, Ogilvie, MN) picked off a pass and returned it to the Whitewater 37. Seven plays later, 5:51 before half, Nathan Anderson (sr, Marinette) ran in from six yards out, and the PAT failed making it 21-6 Whitewater at halftime.
UW-W's next score was set up when
Anthony White (Milwaukee/Bay View) (so, Milwaukee/Bay View) blocked a Falcon field goal attempt. Eight plays later quarterback
Danny Jones (Pleasanton, CA/Amador Valley) (sr, Pleasanton, CA) ran in from 19 yards out to give UW-W a 28-6 lead.
Jeff Schebler (Davenport, IA/Assumption) (so, Davenport, IA) kicked a 23 yard field goal at the end of a drive that began with
Matt Blaziewske (Kenosha/Tremper) (sr, Kenosha/Tremper) interception to give Whitewater the ball on the 50 yard line.
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Jace Rindahl (Cambridge/Cambridge) (jr, Cambridge) picked off another Falcon pass Jones which was followed two players later by other
Danny Jones (Pleasanton, CA/Amador Valley) TD, this one a six yard run with 13:37 left in the game to give UW-W its biggest lead of the game, 38-6. River Falls ended the scoring for the day with a Ryan Luessenheide (fr, New Hope/MN) pass to Michael Zweifel covering 52 yards.
With almost every statistical category equal, a notable exception was Whitewater's 291 yards rushing to 155 for the Falcons, the quintessential rushing team in the WIAC for more than two decades.
Beaver rushed 25 times for 233 yards, his school record seventh 200 yard game in his career. Beaver is the UW-W and WIAC career rushing leader. Anderson led UW-RF with 126 yards
rushing on 23 carries. RF linebacker Bruce Baillargeon (sr, Somerset) led both teams with 22 tackles, 17 of them solos. UW-W linebacker
Tristan Borzick (Kenosha/Tremper) (sr, Kenosha/Tremper) had nine tackles, one for a loss and one quarterback sack.
UW-Whitewater will host UW-Oshkosh Saturday, October 13 at 1:00 in Perkins Stadium. The game is part of UW-W's annual Homecoming and Athletic Hall of Fame celebrations.
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