UW-La Crosse ended a two-game losing streak on Saturday afternoon, beating UW-River Falls 41-30 at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field. The Eagles improved to 4-5 overall and 3-3 in the WIAC, while the Falcons fell to 6-3 overall and 3-3 in the conference. River Falls came in ranked 14th in the D3football.com Top 25 and 18th in the AFCA poll.
The Eagles trailed 14-0 early after Austin Rush caught touchdown passes of 38 and 40 yards in the first quarter. UWL answered before halftime with field goals of 22 and 40 yards from Maddox Pratt and an eight-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Haas, cutting the deficit to 14-13 at the break.
Both teams scored 13 points in a back-and-forth third quarter. UWL briefly led 26-21 after a fumble recovery on a kickoff set up a seven-yard touchdown pass from Haas to Keaton Arendt, but River Falls went back in front 27-26 late in the quarter on a three-yard touchdown run by Trevor Asher.
Pratt's 46-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter put UWL ahead 29-27, and after River Falls retook the lead 30-29 on a field goal with 4:17 left, the Eagles drove for the go-ahead score. Runs of 14 and 57 yards by Najeh Mitchell set up a nine-yard touchdown run by Brady Kuhn with 2:39 remaining. Sal Balistrieri then intercepted a River Falls pass, and Ben Ott returned a fumble 27 yards for a touchdown on the game's final play, after a series of laterals by the Falcons.
Haas finished 31-of-53 passing for 287 yards and three touchdowns. Mitchell led UWL with 76 rushing yards, Pratt went three-for-three on field goals, and the Eagles totaled 441 yards of offense. UWL closes its regular season at home against UW-Platteville on Saturday, Nov. 14.
