UW-Eau Claire football lost to conference rival UW-La Crosse
Blugolds couldn’t complete comeback against the Eagles; players set personal, team records
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Quarterback JT DenHartog rushed for a career-best 145 yards including a 42-yard fourth quarter run against UW-La Crosse last Saturday. (Blugolds.com)
Despite possessing the ball nearly twice as long as UW-La Crosse, Blugold football fell three points short of a victory Saturday.
The UW-Eau Claire football team played one of its more competitive games of the season that included career-highs in rushing totals for two Blugolds and a new record for number of field goals in one game.
Freshman running back Toure Wallace had the best game yet of his collegiate career as he rushed for 238 yards on 33 carries and scored two touchdowns before going down with a leg injury in the fourth quarter.
He said he was happy with how he played but his focus each week is to simply do his job.
“I did what I was supposed to have been doing all season,” Wallace said. “Reading the (offensive) line, breaking tackles. I tried helping my team as much as I could.”
Since the start of the conference season, Wallace has increased his collegiate single-game rushing total game by game. Wallace’s 17 rushes for 90 yards against UW-Stevens Point first set that mark, then he rushed 25 times for 93 yards against UW-Stout to improve upon it. The 238 yards from last week towers above his previous totals.
He is questionable to play this weekend.
Since the Homecoming game against UW-River Falls, freshman quarterback JT DenHartog’s rushing stats have improved. After recording 16 rushes for 84 yards against Stout, he ran 24 times and picked up 145 yards against La Crosse while completing 15 of 23 pass attempts for 123 yards. That rushing total is his career single-game rushing record.
DenHartog’s passing total was his second lowest of the season behind the season-opening performance of 88 yards on six completions against University of St. Thomas (Minn.). Senior quarterback Joel Newman split playing time with DenHartog against the Tommies and combined for 19 pass attempts.
Freshman kicker Liam O’Malley helped the Blugolds make marks in the redzone by kicking four field goals that broke Eau Claire’s single-game record for number of field goals.
Eau Claire will travel for a 1 p.m. game Saturday against reigning national champion No. 7, UW-Whitewater.