UW-L Defeats Azusa Pacific in Overtime; Hall Scores Three Touchdowns

For Immediate Release: Saturday, September 15, 2007

La Crosse, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team improved to 2-0 on the season with a 27-20 victory over Azusa Pacific University (Calif.) Saturday afternoon at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field. Azusa Pacific falls to 1-3 on the season with the loss.

In the Eagles home opener, UW-L took a 7-0 lead on Eric Donoval's three-yard run with 8:46 remaining in the first quarter. The touchdown was set-up by Drew Kiefer who recovered a Cougars' fumble at the Azusa Pacific 14-yard line. The Eagles' Joe Troia forced the fumble.

Azusa, ranked 34th in the NAIA, came back to cut the deficit to 7-3 on Ben Hansen's 26-yard field with 8:49 left in the second. UW-L, ranked sixth on D3football.com, took a 13-3 lead on a double pass as wide receiver Garrett Mueller hit tailback Dan Hall on a 40-yard touchdown pass with 4:42 remaining in the half. Kyle Wojcik's extra-point attempt was missed as UW-L led 13-3 at halftime.

Hall gave UW-L a 20-3 lead as he scored on a 10-yard run with 5:44 remaining in the third period. The Cougars cut the lead to 20-6 on Hansen's second field goal of the game, this time from 30-yards out with 2:55 left in the third.

The Cougars then scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to tie the contest. Alex Peltier scored from 14-yards out on an option run to make it 20-13 with 14:28 left. After holding Azusa on downs with 1:08 remaining, UW-L could not get a first down and were forced to punt with :44 remaining. The Cougars wasted no time as Rudy Carlton hit Jon Davis for a 41-yard touchdown pass on the first play with :38 left. Hansen's extra-point tied the game.

In overtime, Hall gave UW-L a 27-20 lead as he scored from nine-yards out. He had 20 rushing yards on the drive and Dylan Rude's extra-point made it 27-20. Carlton then threw two incompletions to end the game for Azusa, including the last one on fourth-and-seven from the UW-L 22-yard line.

UW-L finished with 312 yards of offense, including 172 rushing and 207 passing. Hall finished the day with 137 yards rushing on 25 attempts with two touchdowns while Donoval had 46 yards rushing on eight attempts. Moe was 15-of-28 passing for 100 yards with two interceptions. Ted Everson led the Eagles' with five catches for 35 yards.

Azusa Pacific finished with 344 yards, including 131 rushing and 213 passing. Peltier had 86 yards rushing and a touchdown while Carlton was 14-of-35 for 208 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Davis finished with four receptions for 70 yards.

The teams combined to go seven-of-30 on third down, including UW-L at three-of-14.

Troia and Dane Cordes each recorded eight tackles for UW-L while Dan Sellers and Derek Dreher had interceptions. Jay York led Azusa with 10 tackles. Jayson Sanchez and Beau Leaman each had an interception for the Cougars.

UW-L returns to action Saturday, September 29 hosting UW-Whitewater at 4 p.m.