The Blugold football team falls to UW-Stout

    Head coach says the 20-26 loss will “motivate” the team

    Story by Katrina Erskine, Staff WriterOctober 1, 2018Leave a Comment

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    Brian Kulaga fights off the UW-Stout defense. Eau Claire will be hosting UW-Stevens Point on Oct. 6.

    The latest football game between UW-Eau Claire and UW-Stout ended in another loss for the Blugolds. The team traveled to UW-Stout last Saturday. The final score of the game was 20-26.

    The team had a great week at practice in preparation for the UW-Stout game, said Brian Kulaga, a fourth-year running back. Faced with defeat, Head Coach Dan Larson said the team will continue to work hard.

    “The biggest thing is our guys have to continue to believe,” Larson said. “These games can’t define you but they better motivate you.”

    The Blugolds started off strong in the first quarter, with a touchdown and a successful field goal. Stout responded but didn’t make any appearance on the scoreboard.

    Going into the second quarter, UW-Stout’s kicker made a field goal, making the score 7-3. Kulaga scored a touchdown, but kicker Brad Goetsch wasn’t able to follow through with another point on a field goal. Kulaga’s touchdown changed the team’s attitude.

    “The energy was great, everyone was lit,” Kulaga said. “Our sideline was great the whole game. That’s something we have to build off of going forward.”

    Then UW-Stout scored a touchdown, ending the half with the Blugolds up 13-10.

    Coming out of halftime, Charlie Brookshaw, a fourth-year operations and supply chain student, said the team was ready for the next half.

    “I thought our energy was very high throughout the whole game,” said Brookshaw. “We were confident going into half time that we were going to get it done in the half.”

    Reaching the third quarter, UW-Stout got on the scoreboard again. A touchdown by their own Levy Hamer and a field goal by Drew Pearson put them up 13-17.

    The Blugolds responded two minutes later with a touchdown and a successful field goal.

    UW-Stout wasn’t finished, though. The home team ran an eight-yard touchdown to make the score 20-23, edging the Blue Devils ahead.

    The final quarter was nearly scoreless for the both teams until Pearson from UW-Stout made a field goal. This ended the game with a score of 20-26, resulting in a Blugold loss.

    This week, the Blugolds will face UW-Stevens Point for the Homecoming game on Oct. 6.

    “Everybody is very excited for the game this Saturday,” Brookshaw said. “And we are looking forward to showing our fans what our team is all about.”

    Erskine can be reached at [email protected].