The UW-Whitewater football team took down No. 21 UW-River Falls 13-7 in their annual Homecoming game Nov. 2. The Warhawks held the Falcons to their lowest point total of the season, holding a team that averages 40.5 points per game to just one touchdown.
The team’s front seven was a huge factor in their defensive performance. They held the Falcons to six rushing yards in the first half, and 50 rushing yards total, the Falcons’ lowest single-game mark since these two teams matched up in 2022 (35 yards).
“That’s a strength of ours,” head coach Jace Rindahl said. “We got to be able to make them one dimension, so we hang our hat on shutting the run down. No surprise that we were able to have those stats at the end of the game.”
The first half also saw several first-time occurrences. After a scoreless first quarter, senior kicker Jackson Fox kicked off the game’s scoring with a 48-yard field goal, the longest field goal of his short one-year football career. Later in the second quarter, Fox hit another field goal to extend the Warhawks’ lead to six points.
Following a diving interception by junior linebacker Ethan Gallagher, the Warhawks went 90 yards in under four minutes to get senior quarterback Jackson Chryst his first-career rushing touchdown. The 12-yard score put an end to the first half’s scoring, a 13-0 lead in favor of the Warhawks.
“I was in a slight trail position, and [sophomore linebacker] Karsten Libby put some pressure on the quarterback and forced an errant pass,” Gallagher said. “Instincts took over – being a football player. Opportunity presented itself, so I stepped up and made a play.”
In the third quarter, Falcons’ quarterback Cade Fitzgerald capitalized off a Chryst interception by scoring a six-yard rushing touchdown. Holding those quarterback runs to a minimum was crucial in this game, and the Warhawks did just that by holding Fitzgerald, who leads the team in rushing yards, to just 39 yards on the ground.
“Our coach told us to keep talking, keep calling transitions and stunts,” senior defensive lineman Nehemiah Lomax said. “All that movement confused them. It’s our technique… just the basics we hammer home every day.”
Both teams traded punts for the next 14 minutes of game time before the Falcons failed to convert on fourth down for the fourth time. Overall, the team finished 2/6 on fourth-down conversions.
After getting the ball back, the Warhawks did exactly what they did against UW-Oshkosh: run the clock out by pounding the rock. They ran the ball seven times in the eight plays leading up to a 4th and 5 at the Falcons’ 35-yard line. Fox made what would have been another career-long 52-yard field goal, but after the Falcons jumped offside, Rindahl accepted the penalty to keep the drive going instead of taking the points.
With that decision, the Warhawks opted for three more run plays and got the game-winning first down.
“I forgot about the two-minute warning,” Rindahl said. “I thought we were able to milk it down to a few seconds left. Wrong decision, but players made plays and we won the game.”
Freshman running back Ty Schultz commanded the run game today, running the ball 23 times for 137 rushing yards, both career high totals for him. With senior Tamir Thomas and freshman Noah Battle out for this game, along with sophomore Brian Stanton missing games due to injury this season, Schultz’s performance solidifies the great backfield depth that the Warhawks possess.
“Obviously with those numbers, it’s going to be a good day any day,” Schultz said. “I’m not going to take all the credit. The offensive line did great. Jackson, the great receivers, the offense as a whole was running well toward the end of the game.”
This win over the Falcons makes next week’s matchup against UW-La Crosse even more of a must-win situation for the Warhawks. The Eagles, ranked No. 20 going into their Nov. 2 win over UW-Stout, are a tough matchup as reigning WIAC champions.
“We need to be locked in,” Lomax said. “Have our mind right for each play. What happened last play? Move onto the next. I think we did a good job of that, we just need to keep doing that.”
