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The No. 5 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater football team scored 35 points in the second quarter Saturday afternoon to take control in a 67-14 victory over Eureka (Ill.) in the first round of the NCAA Division III Championship at Perkins Stadium.
The Warhawks (11-0 overall), who picked up their 17th straight win dating back to last season, advance to next Saturday's second round, where they'll face St. Norbert, a 31-7 winner over No. 12 Trine (Ind.) in the first round.
Time and location of the second-round game will be announced Sunday.
UW-Whitewater totaled a season-high 649 yards, including 500 rushing yards, and held the Red Devils (9-2), who came in averaging more than 335 rushing yards per game, to 71 yards on the ground and 1.8 yards per carry.
Junior running back
Ronny Ponick (Stanley, Wis./Stanley-Boyd) posted 12 carries for a career-high 202 yards and three touchdowns, and sophomore running back
Alex Peete (Ringwood, Ill./Johnsburg) rushed for 116 yards on 10 carries and added three touchdowns.
Sophomore wide receiver
Ryan Wisniewski (Sparta, Wis./Sparta) posted two rushing touchdowns for a combined 83 yards, and sophomore running back
Preston Strasburg (Fort Atkinson, Wis./Fort Atkinson) registered 10 carries for 75 yards and one score.
Senior linebacker
Bryce Leszczynski (Milwaukee, Wis./Pius XI) totaled a team-best seven tackles. Junior linebacker
Jacob Erbs (Reedsburg, Wis./Reedsburg) posted six tackles, including two for a loss, and one forced fumble, and senior defensive back
Bailey Breunig (Prairie du Sac, Wis./Sauk Prairie) added five stops and one forced fumble and recovered fumble.
After forcing a punt, the Warhawks opened with a 50-yard pass from senior quarterback
Cole Wilber (Mission Viejo, Calif./Dana Hills) to senior wide receiver
Jerimie Richards (Country Club Hills, Ill./Andrew) and an 18-yard touchdown run by Wisniewski on the next play to take a 7-0 lead with 11:43 to go.
UW-Whitewater tacked on another touchdown late in the second quarter as Peete dashed in from 20 yards to make it 15-0 after junior
Andy Cooper (Munising, Mich./Munising) ran in for a two-point conversion.
All five of the Warhawks' scoring drives in the second quarter were less than two minutes. Sophomore running back
Ronny Ponick (Stanley, Wis./Stanley-Boyd) completed a six-play, 81-yard drive – all on his running plays – with a 1-yard plunge for a touchdown.
After Breunig jarred the ball away from Eureka's Le'Anthony Reasnover on the first play of the next drive, Ponick converted another score with a 19-yard run to make it 29-0 at the 9:15 mark.
Peete ran for consecutive touchdowns, the second after a botched hanoff gave UW-Whitewater the ball at the Red Devils' 20-yard line.
After the Warhawks held on fourth down on the next drive, Wisniewski scampered untouched for 65 yards to the end zone to make it a 50-point lead with 56 seconds left until halftime.
Sophomore kicker
Wojciech Gasienica (Norridge, Ill./Ridgewood) knocked a 31-yard field goal attempt through the uprights for a 53-0 lead three minutes into the third quarter, and Ponick recorded all 95 yards on UW-Whitewater's next drive to make it 60-0 at the 3:41 mark of the period.
Eureka scored touchdowns on each of its next two drives, but the Warhawks found the end zone last as Strasburg completed a six-play, 56-yard drive with a three-yard score.
UW-Whitewater last played St. Norbert in a first-round game of the NCAA Playoffs in 2015, defeating the Green Knights 48-0 at Perkins Stadium.
