The No. 5 Warhawks improved to 6-1 on the season with a 37-20 win over the UW-Stout Blue Devils. UW-Whitewater’s defense held a powerful UW-Stout offense to just a field goal in the first half and disrupted the pass attack all day, while Warhawk quarterback Alec Ogden led the offense reaching 1,000 pass yards for the season.  

UW-Stout lit up the scoreboard offensively in their previous conference matchups with an average 46 points per game in the WIAC before entering Perkins Stadium, but were dominated by the Warhawk defense. The Blue Devils punted on their first seven drives and Whitewater took the ball out of the hands of Stout’s quarterback Mitch Waechter with a fumble recovery and an interception in the second half. Whitewater’s secondary was a nuisance to Waechter, who was able to complete just 23 of his 53 pass attempts for 43.4%. Tyson Harvey led the team with three pass-break-ups and one interception, while Egon Hein had two pass-break-ups and prevented a number of deep shots to Stout receiver Will Knutson.

“Egon is a veteran,” Harvey said. “He is someone who we can follow in his footsteps, he is leading us and we are using his techniques and just trying to be better and focus on us.”

Offensively the Warhawks had an impressive showing as they marched their way to their second highest scoring game of the season led by Ogden who filled up the stat sheet. With 281 yards passing he surpassed the 1,000 yard mark on the season and tacked on two scores through the air. On the ground Ogden scrambled for 90 yards and added two more touchdowns.

“Our running backs are really good at running the ball so it makes it easier for me to just run,” Ogden said. “A lot of teams will try to stack the box and try and make it difficult for our running backs to be successful so it is my job to make a play, and that is what our offense is and how we do it.”

Whitewater has thrived behind Ogden and their impressive rushing production from Alijah Maher-Parr and Tamir Thomas who left the game after the first drive for the Warhawks and was not able to return. Thomas, who leads the conference in total rush yards, serves a key role in the Whitewater offense, but the Warhawks were able to succeed despite his absence. Maher-Parr ran for 71 yards to make up for the lack of Thomas.

“It is the same as any other week,” Maherr-Parr said. “I go to practice and prepare. In games I execute and do my job and when everyone does their job it makes my job easier.”

Ogden repeated a similar sentiment as Maher-Parr about executing a role and getting the job done.

“I am just one part of eleven,” Ogden said. “I know the quarterback gets a lot of credit for a lot of stuff, but I am just doing my part out of eleven.”

Whitewater will stay at home next week against UW-Platteville. The Pioneers are 4-3 on the season and 2-2 in conference play with losses to La Crosse and River Falls. Platteville is another high-octane WIAC offense that has posted 80 and 50 point performances this season and will be coming off of a 47-14 win over UW-Eau Claire. The Warhawk defense will have their work cut out for them.

“We work on the same things every week, week in and week out, coach Rindahl preaches one percent better everyday,” Harvey said. “We just gotta keep doing that as a defense. Keep getting one percent better and hone in on our skills every week.”

Whitewater will take on Platteville Saturday, Oct. 28 at 1 p.m. as the University celebrates Homecoming and the Warhawk Hall of Fame.