VanderVelden's Big Day Leads Win Over Blugolds
Box Score
Senior Jason VanderVelden rushed for 204 yards on
a school-record 43 carries as UW-Stevens Point held off a furious UW-Eau
Claire rally for a 31-28 victory Saturday at Goerke Field.
The Pointers led 31-0 in the third quarter and
appeared to be cruising to an easy victory before the Blugolds came to life
and battled back. UW-Stevens Point, however, stopped UW-Eau Claire on downs
twice inside the Pointers� 10-yard line and recovered three on-side kicks in
the fourth quarter to hold on for the win.
UW-Stevens Point was ranked 23rd in the
D3football.com rankings and improved to 4-2 overall, while picking up its
first conference win. UW-Eau Claire, ranked 25th in the country, fell to 2-1
in WIAC play.
VanderVelden rushed for 137 yards on 21 carries in
the first half as the Pointers outgained the Blugolds 269-49 before
halftime. He had a total of only 42 carries for 115 yards in the Pointers�
first five games of the season before totaling the sixth-highest single game
rushing total in school history. His 43 carries surpassed the previous
school record of 41 held by Steve Groeschel against UW-River Falls on Oct.
30, 1971. VanderVelden gained extra work on Saturday due to an injury to
regular tailback Cory Flisakowski.
UW-Stevens Point opened the second half with an
80-yard drive in eight plays as VanderVelden caught a 24-yard touchdown pass
from Scott Krause to build the lead to 31-0.
At that point, UW-Stevens Point was outgaining the
Blugolds 349-49 and held a 16-2 advantage in first downs. However, the stats
completely flipped sides in the final 25 minutes as the Blugolds outgained
the Pointers 310-39 and had a 16-1 margin in first downs the remainder of
the game.
Nels Fredrickson threw an 11-yard touchdown pass
to Matt Evensen with 8:39 left in the third quarter and then the Blugolds�
Brent Weber blocked a punt that Dan Rogney scooped up and ran 31 yards for a
score on the final play of the third quarter to close to within 31-14.
UW-Eau Claire drove from its own six-yard line to
the Pointers� seven-yard line, but was stopped on downs early in the fourth
quarter. On the next possession, Fredrickson hit Don Kahl for a 20-yard
touchdown to make it 31-21 with 7:13 left. After another Pointer punt, the
Blugolds drove to the one-yard line and had a third and goal before the
Pointers stopped them on three consecutive plays, overcoming an off-sides
penalty on one of the attempts, to take over with 3:24 left.
After holding the Pointers again, UW-Eau Claire
went 44-yards in four plays and just 21 seconds, scoring on a pass from
Fredrickson to Evensen from 14 yards to cut the lead to 31-28. LaRon
Ragsdale recovered the on-side kick for the Pointers and VanderVelden rushed
three times to run out the clock.
The Pointers opened the game with a 12-play drive
that ended with a 29-yard field goal by Dan Heldmann. VanderVelden rushed
for a 50-yard touchdown on the first play of their next drive for an early
10-0 lead. Krause threw two touchdowns in the second quarter � a nine-yard
pass to Adam Spoehr and a 26-yard toss to Tony Romano � to make it 24-0 at
halftime and give him 23 touchdown passes for the season.
UW-Stevens Point controlled the ball for 39:30 of
the game and outgained the Blugolds 388-359 for the game. Fredrickson was
21-for-49 passing for 311 yards, while Krause was 11-for-20 for 164 yards. |
