STEVENS POINT, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire football team opened Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) play on Saturday with a road test against UW-Stevens Point. After being down 17-7 at halftime, the Blugolds flipped the script and outscored the Pointers 17-0 in the second half to earn their first conference win of the year.
As anyone familiar with WIAC Football knows, anything can happen during conference play and that was the exact case for UW-Eau Claire in the first 30 minutes of play. After a failed fourth down conversion by the Blugolds on the opening drive, Ryan Kuechle (Sr. – Mankato, Minn./East) shutdown the Pointer offense early with an interception at the Eau Claire 23, giving UWEC the ball back in the hands of their offense.
Harry Roubidoux (Jr. – Winneconne, Wis.) had a career day behind the line of scrimmage with 363 yards in the air on 23 completions and two touchdown passes. Roubidoux and the offense capitalized on the turnover early as Nolan Stans (Jr. – Spring Valley, Minn.) caught a short pass in the middle of the field and ran it all the way into the end zone for the game's first tally. Stans' 19-yard touchdown reception was his second of the season and fourth all-time.
The Pointers wasted no time answering the Blugolds' initial strike as they tied the game at 7-7 just three minutes later to turn the tides against UWEC. The remainder of the first half for the Blugold offense included an interception, a punt, a turnover on downs, and a missed field goal as they went into halftime with only 7 points. Stevens Point controlled the ball for the majority of the first half as they tacked on a touchdown and a field goal after the initial tie to hold Eau Claire to a 17-7 deficit at half.
As both teams hit the field after the opening half, a shift in momentum came early for Eau Claire as they rode the wave of confidence throughout the final two quarters. UW-Stevens Point's opening drive of the third quarter ended with a blocked field goal by Noah Nephew (Jr. – Lakeville, Minn./North) and a recovery by Peyton Eriksen (So. – Rhinelander, Wis.) to begin a stellar half of defensive football.
After the first of two straight three-and-outs by UWSP, the Blugolds found their rhythm on offense and capitalized once again. At 7:35 of the third quarter, a 56 -yard reception by Landon Tonsager (Fr. – Eagan, Minn.) started the drive for UWEC on the doorstep of the red zone. Two plays later, Isaac Garside (Jr. – Bonduel, Wis.) weaved his way through traffic with an 18-yard reception and got UWEC to the UWSP 7-yard line. After a pass break up and a sack, Garside got the Blugolds back within seven yards with a 10-yard reception to the UWSP 6 to set up Dan Zeuli (Jr. – Hudson, Wis.) for a 23-yard field goal attempt. Zeuli nailed the chip shot kick to bring the Stevens Point lead down to 17-10.
With under five minutes to go in the third quarter, the Blugold defense held strong once again forcing a three-and-out put for the Pointers, that would ultimately tie the game. Harry Roubidoux and company marched 65 yards down the field over 6 minutes of game clock to even things at 17-17. After a 29-yard completion to Trey Fitzgerald (Jr. – Mosinee, Wis.) to start the drive, UW-Eau Claire paired small increments of passes with rushes by Landon Tonsager and Ivan Ruble (Jr. – Clear Lake, Wis.) to get down to the UWSP 8-yard line. The Pointer defense stuffed the initial attack forcing the Blugolds to kick a field goal with just under 12 minutes left in the game. Despite the field goal attempt going wide, UW-Stevens Point was assessed a penalty for running into the kicker, giving UW-Eau Claire 5 yards and a fresh set of downs. After a gain of one on the first play, Harry Roubidoux punched home his first rushing touchdown of the year from the one-yard line to cut the deficit to 16-17.
A missed extra point on the quarterback sneak did not fluster the Blugold defense as they forced their second turnover of the day as Caden Tonsager (Fr. – Eagan, Minn.) intercepted an underthrown heave by the UWSP quarterback to prevent any advancement by the home team.
Both teams then traded field position twice with punts with just under five minutes left in the contest. As Eau Claire started on their own 27, Roubidoux began to find the holes in the Pointer defense. A quick pass to David Antoine (Jr. – Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg) for 13 yards was followed by an 11-yard short pass to Ben Redington (Sr. – Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle Township) to enter Pointer territory. On the very next play, Roubidoux was patient and found Redington up the middle seam for a 39-yard touchdown and the lead. The offense wasn't done there as Roubidoux found Landon Tonsager in the back corner of the end zone to convert the two-point attempt, making it 24-17.
With just over two minutes left in the game, the Blugold defense once again showed out as Jake Cochnauer (Jr. – Farmington, Minn.) intercepted a 4th and 21 attempt by UWSP, giving the Blugolds time to eat the clock. The Blugolds brought the clock down to less than a minute on the scoreboard, turned the ball over on downs after an illegal forward pass negated a 4th down attempt.
With just seconds remaining, UWSP found themselves inside UWEC territory after a pair of quick passes. With just five seconds left on the clock, the UWSP quarterback gave one last effort on a hail mary to the end zone. The ball was tipped twice before landing incomplete and sealing the 24-17 victory for the Blugolds.
Leading the Blugold offense alongside Harry Roubidoux was Isaac Garside who recorded seven catches for 139 yards and 54 YAC. Four other Blugolds found themselves with 30+ receiving yards on multiple receptions. Ivan Ruble and Raef Radcliffe (So. – Melrose, Wis./Melrose-Mindoro) combined for 56 touches from the backfield and recorded 50 yards on the ground. Evan Rettkowski (So. – McFarland, Wis.) was the main return target on the day with three kick returns and one punt return. Rettkowski gathered 71 yards on returns and had a long of 33 off the opening kickoff.
On the defensive side, Ryan Kuechle led the team with nine total tackles (7 solo, 2 assists), one tackle for a loss and one interception. Noah Nephew, Jake Cochnauer, Brady Underwood (Sr. – St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Technical), and Malik Johnson (Sr. – Lomira, Wis.) all had seven total tackles a piece.
The Blugolds (2-2, WIAC 1-0) will be home next Saturday, October 7th as they join the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in celebrating Homecoming. UWEC will host #6 ranked UW-River Falls at Carson Park. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:10 p.m.
