The UW-Whitewater football team became the third team in the history of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference to win four consecutive conference titles with their 52-13 defeat of UW-Platteville on Saturday in Platteville. UW-River Falls won four consecutive titles from 1984-1987 and La Crosse did it twice, winning four in a row from 1939-1942 and six in a row from 1949-1954. The title is the 29
th in Warhawk football history. UW-W finishes the regular season 9-1 overall and 6-1 in the WIAC. UW-P finishes at 4-6 and 2-5.
Box Score
It didn't take UW-W long to get going as they scored on their first possession of the game. The nine play, sixty-six yard drive was capped with a one-yard
Levell Coppage (Oak Park, IL/Oak Park) touchdown run at the 9:26 mark of the first quarter.
Jeff Schebler (Davenport, IA/Assumption) added the extra point to give the 'Hawks a 7-0 lead.
Just over two minutes later the Pioneers went four and out and had to punt the ball away to the Warhawks. UW-W proceeded to drive sixty-nine yards in eight plays to score another touchdown. This drive, like the previous, ended on a Coppage rush of two yards for the score. Schebler tacked on the extra point to give the Warhawks a 14-0 lead.
Jace Rindahl (Cambridge/Cambridge) recovered a Pioneer fumble on the ensuing possession to get the ball back for UW-W. A drive that lasted twelve plays and went seventy-four yards concluded with a six-yard rushing touchdown by
Antwan Anderson (Madison/Madison Memorial) to give the 'Hawks a three touchdown lead.
Another UW-P turnover, this time an interception by Jared Keisow, resulted in yet another Warhawk touchdown.
Jeff Donovan (Wauwatosa/East) connected with
Aaron Rusch (Hartford/Hartford) on a 45-yard pass to score and extend the lead for UW-W.
The Pioneers finally got on the board with 1:48 remaining in the first half as Jake Wiederholt completed a three-yard touchdown pass to John Akim.
Schebler took over as the all-time leader in National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III record book as he knocked his fifty-third career field goal through the uprights to begin scoring for the Warhawks in the second half. The 3-point score gave the Warhawks a 31-7 lead.
An interception by
Max Ford (Oak Park, IL/Oak Park River Forest) on Platteville's next possession resulted in an eight play drive by UW-W ending in a Donovan 45-yard pass to
Cory Robinson (Cambridge/Cambridge) for yet another Warhawk touchdown.
Platteville turned the ball over on downs on their following possession and UW-W took over at their own 37-yard line. The following nine-play drive by the Warhawks ended in another Anderson rushing touchdown, his second of the game. A sixth successful extra point by Schebler gave the Warhawks a 45-7 lead.
Keisow intercepted another Pioneer pass in the fourth quarter and ran it all the way to Platteville's 12-yard line to regain possession for UW-W. The Warhawks were unable to convert as they went for it on fourth and one. Prior to this drive the Warhawks had scored touchdowns on all four of UW-P's previous turnovers.
A
Jake Andersen (Kansasville/Westosha Central) rushing touchdown of eight yards late in the fourth gave the Warhawks a 52-7 lead and ended the scoring for the 'Hawks. UW-Platteville got into the end zone with 16 seconds remaining in the game to pull to 52-13, but an unsuccessful extra point attempt ended the possession.
UW-Whitewater tallied 536 yards of total offense while giving up only 305. Coppage eclipsed the 100-yard total for the seventh time this season. Rusch covered 135 yards in the air to go along with one touchdown. Overall the Warhawks scored seven touchdowns; five rushing and two receiving.
The Warhawks share the conference title with UW-Stevens Point who defeated UW-La Crosse on Saturday. The Pointers defeated UW-W on October 25th to give them the tie-breaker and the automatic qualifying bid into the NCAA Division III football tournament. UW-W will have to await the announcement of an at-large bid which is expected to be announced around 2:00 central on Sunday.
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