Blugolds defeated at No. 6 UW-River Falls

RIVER FALLS, WISCONSIN — The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire football team came up short in a trip to No. 6 UW-River Falls on Saturday, falling to the Falcons 71-14 at Ramer Field at Smith Stadium.

The Blugolds scored a pair of second-half touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough to knock off their highly ranked foe in their Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) opener.

HOW IT HAPPENEDThe sixth-ranked Falcons got out to a 50-point lead at halftime, powered by a 35-point second quarter, and the Blugolds couldn’t recover. UW-River Falls scored five touchdowns in the second quarter to pull away. Four of their first-half scores came from the ground game and they gained just shy of 400 yards of offense before the break. Ultimately, the Falcons scored the first 64 points of the contest.

Christian Torgerson (Fr. — Turtle Lake, Wis.) got the Blugolds on the board with a five-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter. Jacob Donohue (So. — Grayslake, Ill./Grayslake North) added a nine-yard touchdown pass to Jayce Kolinski (Fr. — Dane, Wis./Lodi) in the final four minutes of the fourth quarter to complete the scoring.

The Blugolds gained 265 yards of offense compared to 605 for the Falcons.

Torgerson had a standout game, leading the Blugolds’ rushing attack with 103 yards on 15 carries. Demetrius Bergmann (Fr. — Pepin, Wis.) added nine rushes for 28 yards.

Harry Roubidoux (Sr. — Winneconne, Wis.) completed nine passes for 112 yards. Donohue completed one of two passes for nine yards and a touchdown.

Nolan Stans (Sr. — Spring Valley, Wis.) had 46 receiving yards on two receptions. Isaac Garside (Sr. — Bonduel, Wis.) and Franko Williams (So. — Waukesha, Wis./Waukesha North) had three catches each for 33 and 32 yards, respectively.

Defensively, Brady Puls (Fr. — Lodi, Wis.) led the team with 10 total tackles. Peyton Erikson (Jr. — Rhinelander, Wis.) had a team-high six solo tackles.

UP NEXT

The Blugolds will look to get back on track when they return home to host UW-Stevens Point for Homecoming on Saturday at Carson Park. UW-Eau Claire has won its last three meetings against the Pointers, including a 24-17 victory last season. Game time is 1 p.m.

See Wednesday’s print edition of the Leader-Telegram for a Homecoming sit down feature interview with one of the Blugolds’ leading players of the last few seasons.