UWW Football wins battle of birds
Warhawks defeated UW-La Crosse 21-14 Friday night at Perkins Stadium.
October 17, 2017
Junior running back Drew Patterson’s legs carried the UW-Whitewater football team to a 21-14 victory over No. 24 UW-La Crosse.
Patterson nished the game with 221 yards on 32 carries and scored all three of the Warhawk touchdowns. No touchdown was more important than Patterson’s 93-yard spurt to give the Warhawks a 21-7 lead with ten minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
“To pop a big run at that point of the game, where we were, it’s huge for the team.” Patterson said. “It was well executed up front, and the down eld block by the receiver was amazing.”
The Eagles came into the game leading the conference in passing yards and touchdowns, but the Warhawks defense limited them to 222 yards on 54 attempts. Just as important as the Warhawks defense was in stopping the passing, the Eagles starting quarterback, Tarek Yaeggi, was injured midway through the second quarter.
“I think he’s (Yaeggi) the best quarterback in the league,” head coach Kevin Bullis said. “And it’s tough to see that.”
Yaeggi’s replacement sophomore Drew David nished the game with 134 passing yards and two passing touchdowns.
The Warhawks’ defensive line wreaked havoc for the second week in a row. After tallying seven sacks against UW-Stout the week before the Warhawks sacked the UW-La Crosse Eagles quarterbacks five times. Junior defensive lineman Harry Henschler tallied three sacks on the evening giving him 9.5 sacks on the season.
The Warhawks will play for another cup when they cross state borders to take on Loras College for the Hawk Cup Oct. 19 in Dubuque, Iowa.
UW-W will look to retain the cup after a 2-1 victory at home last season. The last time they traveled to Loras they captured an- other 2-1 triumph.
“As a D-line we’re all fast guys and we’ve been coached really well,” Henschler said.
Going into the game Bullis felt that the Warhawks lines, on both sides, had the advantage over the Eagles.
“We felt really good about the match ups with our lines,” Bullis said. “But then you have to go out there and prove it.”
Big plays led to all three of the Warhawk touchdowns. The first touchdown of the game was scored one play after senior wide receiver Marcus Hudson caught a 45-yard pass to set up a four-yard Patterson touchdown run. Then, with the Warhawks’ first play in the second half junior wide receiver Jarrod Ware ran 53 yards on a reverse to set up another Patterson touchdown.
The Warhawks started the game with a different quarterback under center. Sophomore Merrick Gentile
got the start for the game, but was injured on the game’s rst drive. Bullis said the plan was to use both Gentile and usual starter Cole Wilber throughout the game.
Wilber finished the game completing seven of 20 passes for 61 yards.
It was the second straight game that the Warhawks had to battle the elements. During warm-ups, there was a 25-minute lightning delay. On and off rain continued throughout at the game.
The similarities did not end there as UW-L entered the game at No. 24 in the nation and last week’s opponent, the Blue Devils entered the game ranked 23rd in the nation.
UW-W, now 3-3, will continue conference play on Oct. 21 when they travel to UW-River Falls to take on the Falcons.
