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But Saturday was simply excruciating.
The No. 2-ranked Warhawks flexed their muscles in a 31-0 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over the Eagles in front of a Perkins Stadium record crowd of 11,028. Whitewater controlled the game from start to finish, holding the ball for 12 minutes of the first quarter, then using a blocked return for a touchdown in the second quarter to pull away for good.
The Eagles fell to 0-4 (0-1 WIAC), and they’re off to the program’s worst start since going 0-8-1 in 1963.
“I’m not very good at making predictions, but I thought we’d match up well with them today,” UW-L coach Larry Terry said. “Are they 31 points better? I guess they are today, but it’s hard to believe that could be the case.”
Terry said it wasn’t just the lopsided score that surprised him. It was the way Whitewater dominated the game with brute force.
“They were more physical than we were,” Terry said. “I feel we’re making strides in that direction, but for a La Crosse team to get out-physicaled is very disappointing. We found a true measuring stick in that regard today.”
Warhawks running back Levell Coppage continued his breakout freshman season. Coppage, anointed as the replacement for Gagliardi Trophy winner Justin Beaver, rushed for 176 yards and three touchdowns before getting the fourth quarter off.
The Eagles’ defensive game plan was to slow down Coppage and force quarterback Jeff Donovan to throw. Instead, Coppage, much like Beaver over the previous three years, was his team’s driving force.
“All I’ve been hearing about is that it’s La Crosse week,” Coppage said. “It was crazy. So it’s definitely great to get the win.”
UW-L’s defensive game plan didn’t go as planned, either. The Eagles wanted quarterback Alex Seguin to work on the Warhawks’ undersized corners, Troney Shumpert (5-foot-7) and Jeremy Deibert (5-7), with 6-3 wideouts Tyler Keeney and Kyle Steffen.
Whitewater’s strong pass rush negated that plan, rarely allowing Seguin to work comfortably in the pocket. When Seguin did get passes off, the Warhawks’ defensive backs stood tall.
Seguin completed 10 of 26 passes for 113 yards and was sacked twice.
“They outplayed us in every part of the game,” Seguin said. “Little mistakes here and there will kill you. We’ve been doing it every week and we did it again. We’ve got to get a lot better.”
Jeff Schebler’s 45-yard field goal gave Whitewater (4-0, 2-0) a 3-0 lead on the game’s first drive. The Eagles ran five plays, gave the ball back, and the Warhawks held the ball for the rest of the first quarter.
Coppage scored on a 4-yard run on the first play of the second quarter to make it 10-0.
“We wanted to play fast and physical early, and I think we did that,” Whitewater coach Lance Leipold said. “The first drive, we had to settle for a field goal, but we put points on the board. We knew it was a situation where they needed a win today and they were going to have good energy early, and we wanted to get out of the gate and play well on both sides of the ball.”
After UW-L lost a fumble at its own 22, Eagles cornerback Matt Winney got the ball back with an interception in the end zone. The Eagles drove to midfield and stalled, but had a chance to pin the Warhawks deep with a punt.
Instead, Whitewater broke the game open with a big play. Lane Olson blocked Brett Nagan’s punt, and Antwan Anderson returned it 40 yards for a touchdown to make it 17-0 at the 10 minute, 10 second of the second quarter.
Coppage scored on a 1-yard run later in the second. Whitewater converted a fumble on an exchange between Seguin and Eric Donoval on the first drive of the third quarter into Coppage’s 3-yard touchdown.
The Warhawks defense put an exclamation point on their shutout by stopping Donoval on fourth-and-goal from the 3 later in the third.
“We just have not performed offensively yet,” Terry said. “I thought we’d take some strides today, and unfortunately we didn’t.”
