DELAWARE, Ohio. – The No. 9-ranked UW-River Falls football team defeated Ohio Wesleyan University 37-10 Saturday afternoon during the Falcons' first road matchup of the season.
The Falcons, now 2-0 overall, scored 17 points in the first quarter alone and compiled over 400 yards of total offense in the first half to lead 24-10 at the break, enough cushion to cruise to victory. Quarterback Kaleb Blaha accounted for four of UWRF's five touchdowns while accumulating a career-high 420 passing yards and 146 rushing yards for a UWRF single-game record 566 yards of total offense. Ben Beckman held the previous record, totaling 547 yards versus UW-La Crosse in 2019.
In the first half alone, Blaha compiled over 400 yards of total offense, including 302 passing yards and three touchdowns passes to Michael Krueger, AJ Morrison, and Ethan Chromy's first as a Falcon. Justin Scheberl also added a 33-yard field goal in the first quarter which gave UWRF a 17-point advantage in the first quarter.
OWU got on the board late in the first quarter with a field goal before the two teams traded scores in the second frame and the Falcons led by 14 at the break.
The Falcon defense held the home team scoreless in the second half and limited the Battling Bishops to 66 rushing yards and a 5-for-18 conversion rate on third downs.
Blaha ran in a touchdown in the third quarter and Konnor Aufenthie completed his first passing touchdown of the season in the fourth quarter to Falcon freshman Jake Hilton, the first of his career.
Chromy led the UWRF receiving core with six catches for 113 yards while the defense was led by a career-high eight tackles and 2.5 sacks for Jack Olson. Brayden Wolf added a team-high three pass breakups, along with two PBUs and an interception from Andrew Schumacher.
Additionally, Dylan Brown had one pass breakup to tie the UWRF all-time PBU record with the 27th of his career, tying Kyle Narges (2015-17) and Alex Wood (2015-18).