MENOMONIE (September 16, 2023) - The Blue Devils held the Gusties to a scoreless first half and capitalized on offense to upend Gustavus 24-7.
On Gustavus Adolphus (1-1) first drive of the game, UW-Stout (2-1) stopped the Gusties on three downs and the Blue Devils got the ball after the three and out.
Stout had good field position for their first possession and started on the Gusties 47 yard line. After two quick first downs, the Blue Devils had to settle for a 33 yard field goal attempt. But Gustavus' rush was too much to handle as they blocked the field goal to keep the score at 0-0.
Gustavus took over the ball and went down the field to try a 47 yard field goal. But the Gustie's kicker went wide right.
After the missed field goal, Stout took the ball all the way down to the endzone to score the first points of the game.
Mitch Waechter faked the hand off and ran it into the endzone for a seven yard touchdown play. A
Luke Cool extra point made the game 7-0.
After a few first downs for the Gusties, they had to settle for another field goal attempt, this one from 32 yards. But another missed field goal would keep the game at 7-0.
In the second quarter, Stout was the only team to score as
Luke Cool made a 43 yard field goal to make the game at 10-0 going into halftime.
The Blue Devils made two big fourth down stops in the first half to keep the Gusties scoreless.
Stout started with the football in the second half and after two big
Arthur Cox receptions, scored to make the game 17-0. Cox ran into the end zone on a 6 yard rush.
Gustavus' first possession ended with another three and out. But on their next possession, capped off a six play, 79 yard drive with a 47 yard touchdown catch and run by Jake Breitbach from George Sandven to make the game 17-7.
With 14 minutes left in the game, Gustavus was on Stout's 14 yard line and was looking to get a first down on a fourth and one. But Stout's defense stopped the Gusties and Gustavus turned over on downs for the third time.
Three plays later,
Mitch Waechter took a run for a 80 yard touchdown to make the game 24-7. Waechter's touchdown run is the second longest rushing touchdown by a quarterback in UW-Stout Football history. Last Season Waechter had an 87 yard scoring run.
With 7:37 left in the game, Gustavus tried a 36 yard field goal, but Stout's
Carter Johnson got a hand on the ball and the field goal was blocked.
Time was running down as the Gusties tried to get into the endzone, but
Gabe Kramer intercepted a pass in the endzone to end the game.
In the air, Stout's
Mitch Waechter completed 18 passes for 219 yards. Waechter also led the rushing attack with 107 yards including two touchdowns. Gustie's George Sandven finished the game with 352 yards in the air including a touchdown.
Blue Devil's
Matt Pomietlo finished the game with seven attempts for 54 yards rushing.
Patrick Corcoran had 29 yards on three carries. Gustavus' Rohee Konde had 50 yards rushing on 19 attempts.
Stout's
Arthur Cox had 77 yards receiving on five catches, including 10 yards rushing and a touchdown on the ground. Gustie's Jake Breitbach led the game with 224 receiving yards on 15 catches and also had a touchdown.
Blue Devil's
Cannon Griner led the team with 11 tackles on defense.
Blaine Seidl had seven tackles including one sack.
The Blue Devils will be on a bye week next weekend and will face UW-La Crosse on September 30. The game will be played in La Crosse, WI with a kickoff time of 2:00 p.m.
