WINONA, Minn. - Leading the No. 8 UW-Eau Claire football team to a 35-21 victory over UW-La Crosse, quarterback Kyle Paulson (Jr. -Amery, Wis.) finished with a career-high 307 passing yards and four touchdown passes tonight at Maxwell Field at Alltel Stadium.

Paulson's four touchdown passes this evening ties for third most touchdown passes in a game on the Blugolds' all-time list, while his 307 passing yards ties for 26th. His 25 completions also ties for 11th most all-time.

Blugold tight end Brett Schreiner (Jr.-Somerset, Wis.) also had a career night, leading Eau Claire with 129 yards on 10 receptions and two touchdowns. David Goodman (Fr.-Neenah, Wis.) completed the game with a career-high 90 receiving yards. He finished with three receptions, one of which was the game's opening touchdown less than five minutes in.

For the second touchdown of the game, Paulson connected with Schreiner on a 32-yard pass just over two minutes after the initial 40-yard touchdown pass. La Crosse then found the end zone before the end of the quarter with a 12-yard pass from Nick Anker to Travis Bordeau. Kyle Wojcik then missed the extra-point and the quarter ended with the Blugolds up 14-6.

In the second quarter, Schreiner scored his other touchdown on an 11-yard pass from Paulson at 11:32. La Crosse answered three minutes later with an Anker to Dan Sellers touchdown pass. The Eagles then converted a two-point conversion with a rush by Anker to make the score 21-14. On the next drive Cory Sartorelli (Jr.-Appleton, Wis./North), who led the Blugolds with 81 rushing yards tonight, capped off a 69-yard drive with a three-yard rushing touchdown, making the score 28-14.

The score remained unchanged through most of the third quarter. With just under three minutes remaining in the third, Paulson once again found the end zone with a 20-yard pass to Spencer Kehoe (Jr.-Clear Lake, Wis./Winona State).In the fourth quarter La Crosse added one more score with just over two minutes remaining to make the score 35-21.

For the game, the Blugolds finished with 402 yards of total offense while La Crosse had 262. Neither team had much of a ground-game, with La Crosse only accumulating 70 yards while Eau Claire had 95. The Blugolds completed the contest with 307 passing yards to the Eagles' 192.

Paul Bielmeier (Sr.-Edgar, Wis.) led the Blugolds on defense with eight tackles and two broken up passes. Bryant Dorsey (Jr.-De Pere, Wis.) and Andrew Evanoff (Jr.-Plover, Wis./SPASH) picked up two tackles this evening, with each sacking the quarterback once. Matt Ebner (Sr.-Mindoro, Wis./Melrose-Mindoro) and Andy Smisek (Sr.-Northfield, Minn.) both had partial sacks. Craig Polifka (Sr.-Kewaunee, Wis.) finished the game with three tackles, a forced fumble and an interception which ended a 57-yard drive by the Eagles in the fourth quarter.

The win improves Eau Claire's record to 4-1 on the season and 2-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). La Crosse has yet to win a game this year, dropping to 0-5 overall and 0-2 in the WIAC. The Blugolds have now won five out of their last six games against the Eagles, but La Crosse still holds the all-time series with a record of 51-23-2.

The Blugolds will be back at home next weekend to face UW-River Falls. The game is set for 1 p.m. at Carson Park.

Eau Claire-La Crosse Box Score

- KM -