The No. 4 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater football team combined a stout defense with an opportunistic offense and took advantage of big plays on special teams Saturday afternoon in a 42-7 victory over Dubuque (Iowa) in a non-conference contest in front of 10,316 fans at Perkins Stadium.
 
The Warhawks (1-0 overall) held the ball for nearly 35 minutes in the game, piling up 439 yards of total offense while allowing only 196 on defense, and finishing with a 30-9 advantage in first downs.
 
UW-Whitewater's defense allowed only 25 yards rushing on 23 attempts and didn't allow a first down until midway through the second quarter.
 
Three different Warhawk running backs rushed 12 or more times. Senior Ronny Ponick (Stanley, Wis./Stanley-Boyd) paced the group with 12 carries for 80 yards and one touchdown, while junior Alex Peete (Ringwood, Ill./Johnsburg) collected 14 carries for 79 yards and two scores. Senior Jarrod Ware (Bradley, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) added 12 carries for 67 yards and one touchdown.
 
Junior quarterback Zach Oles (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) tallied 151 passing yards and two touchdowns, and junior wide receiver Derek Kumerow (Bartlett, Ill./South Elgin) finished with a team-best six receptions for 46 yards.
 
Junior defensive back Mark McGrath (Lisle, Ill./Lisle) led the defense with five tackles, two interceptions, one fumble recovery and one blocked kick. Senior linebacker Jacob Erbs (Reedsburg, Wis./Reedsburg) and junior linebacker Kaleb Kaminski (Tomahawk, Wis./Tomahawk) added five tackles apiece.
 
Freshman defensive lineman Niko Lemke (Salem, Wis./Westosha Central) posted two of UW-Whitewater's three sacks.
 
The two teams traded empty posessions before the Warhawks stopped the Spartans (0-1) on fourth-and-one in Dubuque territory on a botched punt. Ware ran three straight times for 14 yards, completing the run with a two-yard plunge to give the Warhawks a 7-0 lead with 6:32 to play in the first quarter.
 
McGrath blocked the Spartans' punt attempt on the next drive to set up UW-Whitewater in Dubuque territory again. After a key third-and-11 conversion on a pass from junior Max Meylor (Mt. Horeb, Wis./Mt. Horeb) to Kumerow, Peete sprinted around left end for a 6-yard score to make it 14-0 with 3:18 on the clock.
 
The Warhawks made it a three-touchdown game five minutes into the second quarter, when Peete plowed through a pair of defenders on his way to a 16-yard score.
 
The Spartans drew to within 21-7 with 1:53 left in the second quarter, but UW-Whitewater gained its three-score lead back after halftime as Oles hit sophomore wide receiver Tyler Holte (Elgin, Ill./St. Edward Central Catholic) up the seam of the field for a 27-yard touchdown with 4:32 left in the period.
 
Senior linebacker Matt Anderson (Rockford, Ill./Lutheran) forced a fumble recovered by McGrath three minutes into the fourth quarter, and the Warhawks took advantage again as Oles hit junior wide receiver Ryan Wisniewski (Sparta, Wis./Sparta) on a third-down touch pass to the corner of the end zone from 23 yards out to make it 35-7 at the 10:25 mark.
 
Ponick finished a seven-play, 62-yard drive with one minute to play in the game on a 1-yard run to account for the final margin.
 
The Warhawks continue non-conference play next Saturday, Sept. 14, at Concordia-Moorhead. Kickoff is slated for 12 p.m in Moorhead, Minn.