Whitewater, Wis. -- The UW-Whitewater football team reclaimed the Miner's Axe in the 32nd edition of the George Chryst Memorial Bowl on a rainy day at Perkins Stadium Saturday. The Warhawks won the top ten battle against the Pioneers 29-19.
The Warhawks rebounded from an early turnover to score the first points of the contest. The defense forced a three-and-out following that miscue and the offense capitalized.
Brian Stanton (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield South) ripped off a 42 yard up the middle for the big play of the drive.
Justin Klinkner (Two Rivers, Wis./Two Rivers) punched it in from four yards out for the first TD of the game and an early 7-0 lead.
The Pioneers responded with a long drive that ended with a 44-yard field goal, but the Warhawks had an answer on their next drive. Three consecutive big plays set up another UWW score. Klinkner hit
Patrick Lippe (Port Washington, Wis./Port Washington) for 21 yards then
Jacques Brooks (Franklin, Wis./Franklin) for 17 yards before scrambling up the middle for a 19-yard gain with his feet. Klinkner and Brooks capped the drive with a 13-yard connection for the 14-3 lead that the teams took into the intermission.
On the other side of the break, UW-Platteville used a 16-point third quarter to claim the lead. A pair of passing touchdowns sandwiched a safety to give the Pioneers a 19-14 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Blake Haggerty (Castle Rock, Colo./Castle View) had a monster fourth with a pair of touchdown catches and a two-point conversion. Klinkner found Haggerty on a 36-yard touchdown pass up the middle early in the fourth. Haggerty hauled in the two-point conversion attempt on the next play as the Warhawks reclaimed the lead 22-19.
The UWW defense forced another Pioneer three-and-out and the Warhawks capitalized once again. The Klinkner-Haggerty connection capped the scoring with a 16-yard score to make it 29-19.
UW-Whitewater turned Platteville over on downs on the next drive as
Paul Kim (Janesville, Wis./Janesville Parker) broke up a pass on fourth-and-five.
Efrein Ramirez (Minooka, Ill./Minooka) shortened UWP's next drive with an interception. The Pioneer defense responded in-kind, but Kim came up with a big pick to seal the game for UWW.
Klinkner completed 18 of 28 for 264 yards and three touchdowns. Stanton was UWW's top rusher with 78 yards on 12 carries.
Haggerty caught five passes for 75 yards including the pair of TDs en route to earning Offensive Player of the Game honors. Ramirez was the Warhawks' Defensive Player of the Game with 11 tackles an interception and a pass breakup.
