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The No. 3 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater football team scoed 28 first-quarter points Saturday afternoon on its way to a 69-7 victory against Greenville (Ill.) in the first round of the NCAA Division III Championship at Perkins Stadium.
 
The Warhawks (11-0 overall) advance to the second round, where they'll face DePauw (Ind.) next Saturday, Nov. 27, at a time and location to be announced.
 
Alex Peete (Ringwood, Ill./Johnsburg) paced the UW-W offense with 93 yards rushing and four touchdowns (one receiving), eclipsing the 1,000-yard mark for the season for the third time in his career. Max Meylor (Mt. Horeb, Wis./Mt. Horeb) threw for 239 yards and three touchdowns, and Ryan Wisniewski (Sparta, Wis./Sparta) led the receiving corps with five receptions 98 yards and one touchdown.
 
Hawk Heffner (Grafton, Wis./Grafton) led the defense with 11 tackles, and Luke Nelson (Union Grove, Wis./Union Grove) collected eight stops. UW-Whitewater limited the Panthers (8-3) to 72 rushing yards, more than 175 yards below their season average.
 
The Warhawks tallied four touchdowns in the first 15 minutes of action. Meylor hit Peete for a 27-yard catch-and-run on third-and-16 for the first score of the game, and, after UW-W recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, Meylor found Wisniewski for a five-yard score.
 
Greenville drove into Warhawk territory on the next drive, but the defense put together a fourth-down stop. UW-W then embarked on an eight-play, 69-yard drive capped by Peete's 1-yard touchdown for a 21-0 lead with 2:18 on the clock.
 
On the next drive, Thomas Wojnowski (Oak Creek, Wis./Oak Creek) stepped in front of Chase Butterfield's pass at the 25-yard line and ran it in untouched for a 25-yard touchdown.
 
The Panthers found the end zone with just over three minutes to play in the second quarter to cut their deficit to 28-7 before halftime.
 
Following a three-and-out by Greenville on the opening possession of the second half, Peete zig-zaged his way through the defense for a 32-yard touchdown at the 11:22 mark of the third quarter to bring the UW-W lead back to 28 points.
 
A 13-yard touchdown pass from Meylor to Tyler Holte (Elgin, Ill./St. Edward Central Catholic), which was set up by Wisniewski's 49-yard reception, made it 41-7 with 9:20 remaining in the quarter. Peete posted a 10-yard touchdown run, and Evan Lewandowski (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Lake Zurich) tossed a 12-yard score to Michael Berentes (Rock Falls, Ill./Rock Falls) as UW-Whitewater closed the period with a 55-7 advantage.
 
Lewandowski avoided pressure to his right and found Dain Hudson (Waukesha, Wis./West) near the goal line for a 34-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter, and Ryan Ponick (Stanley, Wis./Stanley-Boyd) completed the scoring just over three minutes later with an 11-yard touchdown run.
 
UW-Whitewater's offensive scoring output Saturday was its highest in the NCAA Playoffs since 2009, when it defeated Lakeland 70-7 in the first round.