EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - The UW-Stout Blue Devils won their eighth straight "War on 94" battle with a 38-13 win over UW-Eau Claire Saturday at Carson Park.
The Blue Devils (4-5, 2-4) never trailed and racked up nearly 500 total yards of offense to put the Blugolds (2-7, 1-5) away for the rivalry win.
Mitch Waechter threw for 343 yards and four scores on 28-37 passing.
Arthur Cox caught 10 passes for 122 yards and two scores and
Will Knutson caught nine passes for 94 yards and two scores.
The Blue Devils started quick, taking the opening drive 72 yards in seven plays to strike paydirt first. Waechter found Cox for a 22 yard score and Stout took a 7-0 lead just over three minutes into the game.
The Blue Devils forced a three and out on the Blugolds first possession and looked primed to take control of the game. However the drive stalled just outside the redzone and Stout wasn't able to convert the fake field goal and turned the ball over on downs. UWEC then marched down the field and scored but missed the 2-pt conversion to trail 7-6.
Stout responded with a seven-play 75 yard drive that culminated with Cox's second touchdown of the half, this time for 23 yards out.
The teams traded punts, and Stout took over at the own 10 with a 1:19 to play before halftime. Three plays later Stout had moved across midfield, a couple of plays later Waechter connected with Knutson in the front corner of the endzone for a 30-yard score to take a 21-6 lead with 15 seconds left to play.
Eau Claire opened the second half with a nine play 74-yard touchdown drive to cut the lead to 21-13.
The teams again traded punts. A bad snap by the Blugolds resulted in a net nine yard punt and Stout took over at their own 45 yard line with 48 seconds left in the third quarter.
Will Knutson took the ball on an end around and fired deep down the right side where he found
Tucker Haakonson who hauled in teh pass surrounded by three defenders to set Stout up at the three yard line.
Adam Moen then plowed in from three out on the next play to extend Stout lead to 28-13.
Stout forced a three and out and took over at midfield. Waechter connected with Moen for 17 yards and then two plays later Waechter found Knutson down the sideline for his second 30 yard touchdown catch of the game to put Stout up 35-13 with 11:36 to play.
UWEC moved the ball to midfield, but turned the ball over on downs. Stout took over and
Luke Cool split the uprights from 43 yards out to extend the Blue Devil lead to 38-13.
Stout finished with 498 total yards on offense, 381 through the air and 117 on the ground. Eau Claire had 279 total yards, 56 rushing and 223 passing.
Mason Priebe had seven tackles and an TFL.
Gervase Thompson and
Richie Murphy each had six tackles.
Walker Beyerl had two tackles for loss
UP NEXT
The Blue Devils will wrap up the season in Platteville, Wis. next Saturday, Nov. 11 when they face the Pioneers at Pioneer Stadium at 2 p.m.
