Aaron Vehling

UW-Eau Claire junior Justin Greenwood’s number 42 was evident everywhere during Saturday’s Homecoming game.

Each of the Blugold players wore arm bands with Greenwood’s number stitched on them, and Greenwood’s mother Glenda wore his jersey as she joined the captains at midfield for the pregame coin toss.

It even appeared on the scoreboard, as the Blugolds scored 42 points for the second game in a row. This week, though, Eau Claire needed to score a few more.

Paul Tschetter’s 22-yard field goal with three minutes, 44 seconds left in the game capped a 24-point fourth quarter and gave No. 22 Bethel College (Minn.) a 45-42 victory over Eau Claire in front of nearly 5,000 fans at Carson Park.

The Royals (5-0) scored the final 17 points of the game after Eau Claire (2-2) took a 42-28 lead at the 12:03 mark of the fourth quarter.

After tying the game at 42, the Royals got the ball back when Eau Claire sophomore receiver Matt Evensen fumbled at the Eau Claire 30. After the fumble, it took the Royals just under two minutes to take the lead.

The loss was the first for Eau Claire at Carson Park since a 65-44 loss to UW-River Falls in the 2000 Homecoming game. However, the Blugolds were a little relieved that this game wasn’t a WIAC conference game.

“In the big picture, this game doesn’t make a whole hill of beans,” coach Todd Hoffner said. “Our pride was hurt more by losing our 12-game (home) winning streak.”

Despite scoring six touchdowns, the theme for Eau Claire Saturday was turnovers and missed opportunities.

On the Blugolds’ first possession, sophomore running back Brian Mitchell had a fumble recovered by Bethel’s Sam Lacy, who returned it 40 yards for a touchdown.

The fumble started a trend of big plays in the game. Eau Claire scored its first points when senior cornerback Mike LaBarbera fielded a bad Bethel punt on the bounce, then weaved his way upfield for a 30-yard touchdown.

Eau Claire’s next two touchdowns came from long range as well. Later in the second, senior receiver Erik Ferguson caught a five-yard screen pass and, with the help of downfield blocking by junior tight end Don Kahl, got into the end zone for a 47-yard touchdown.

With 1:12 left in the half, sophomore Jeremy Darnell found Evensen alone in the middle of the field on third-and-20. Evensen caught the pass, made one defender miss, then won the race to the end zone to put Eau Claire up 21-7.

Then came what Hoffner described as the turning point of the game. Bethel scored a touchdown with 14 seconds left in the first half, then tied the game on the first possession of the second half.

“That really fueled their confidence,” Hoffner said of the Royals scoring on either end of halftime. “That opened the floodgates.”

The Royal tide was led by quarterback Scott Kirchoff, who bounced back from an inconsistent first half to go 22-for-29 for 274 yards in the second half.

“He’s a tremendous quarterback,” Hoffner said. “He had all day to throw. Now we know why Bethel is nationally ranked.”

The Blugolds also know they have some work to do if they want to challenge for the WIAC title. Eau Claire has allowed an average of 29 points a game this year.

Junior linebacker Mike Lansing pointed out the 42 points Eau Claire scored, saying it was disappointing to lose after scoring that many points.

“The 42 points up there, that’s Greeny’s number,” he said. “That should be enough to win the game. We shouldn’t have lost this game.”