Don Richards

"We want to run on River Falls." Those were the words of Chris Janus, UW-La Crosse football coach, used in a pre-game interview Saturday, Oct. 26. And run they did. Running back Gabe Lynch knifed his way to 229 yards in a back and forth 28-24 win over the Falcons. As of Oct. 26, the loss leaves the Falcons tied for fourth in the WIAC with La Crosse and Whitewater at 2-2. Platteville, Oshkosh and Stout were in a three-way tie for first at 3-1. Eau Claire (1-3) and Stevens Point (0-4) follow.

In the NCAA D3 rankings after the Oct. 26 games, Platteville and Oshkosh were ranked 8 and 9 respectively; La Crosse and River Falls were 20 and 21, and surprisingly, Whitewater had dropped out of the top 25 into the "Also Receiving Votes" category along with Stout.

The Nov. 2 WIAC schedule had River Falls at Whitewater, Oshkosh at Eau Claire, Platteville at Stevens Point, and La Crosse at Stout. In order to make the D3 playoffs the Falcons need to win the rest of their games or, at most lose only one.  As long as they can remain in the top 25, they may get a playoff game because of the expanded format which allows 12 more teams to qualify.

As of Oct. 30, WIAC team statistics show UWRF leading the league in offense, averaging 36 points per game with Whitewater leading in defense allowing only 15 points per game. The Falcons’ poorest showing is in defense. They have allowed 27 points per game, better than only Eau Claire and Stevens Point. Perhaps a concern for Falcon coaches after the La Crosse game is that Whitewater is the best rushing team in the WIAC with a 205 yards per game average, slightly better than La Crosse.

The Falcons' Cade Fitzgerald (junior, Brooklyn Park, Minn.) is fourth best in rushing with an average of 61 yards per game. Whitewater's Tamir Thomas is number 2, averaging 84 yards a game. (Thomas did not play against RF on Nov. 2.) Fitzgerald also leads the conference in scoring with 6 rushing touchdowns.  

Aaron Borgerding (senior, Spring Valley) and Gage Timm (junior, Shawano) are third (38 tackles) and seventh (32 tackles) respectively in the WIAC.

"Road games are hard to win in this league," Falcon Coach Walker said recently in an online interview. He credited La Crosse for having a very talented team, but said the Falcons were only a couple of plays away from winning. He added that his team's two fumbles "were unusual mistakes, but key contributors to the loss."

"We are plus 8 or 9 on turnover margin this season so far, but we have to get better in a hurry because we're clearly in the picture for the playoffs. We're going into another hostile environment in Whitewater where we'll have 20,000 fans screaming against us, but I'll guarantee you we'll come out swinging,” he said.

To illustrate the difficulty of winning against Whitewater, the Warhawks have a 21-game win streak against the Falcons. It is Homecoming at Whitewater. The Falcons have played at Whitewater's Homecoming 13 times. The Warhawks have won 10 of those games.

Speaking of difficulty, I saw a woman in an online clip recently who joked that her husband has a very demanding job. He's not on any pay roll, she said, because from his couch he's a volunteer head coach of the New York Jets, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets. "I can't figure out how he has time for it all," she said.  Surely there are not any guys you ladies know who are like that.

The Whitewater win streak continued Saturday, Nov. 2 as the Warhawks beat RF 13-7. In other WIAC games; Oshkosh beat Eau Claire 42-31; Platteville topped-Stevens Point 42-14; and La Crosse sneaked pass Stout 33-31. So, in defeat the Falcons dramatically reduced their chances of a playoff game. As Bill Musselman, former Timberwolves coach put it: " Defeat is worse than death because you have to live with it."

I know you're disappointed, but that's it for now.