The UW-La Crosse football team lost at home last Saturday, Oct. 15 against the UW-Eau Claire Blugolds, 21-31. The Eagles received to begin the game and quickly marched down the field, picking up three first downs in a row only to end the drive with a missed 30 yard field goal. Next drive UW-L ended with a blocked punt. UW-Eau Claire started the game strong, getting two touchdowns on their first two drives. Both touchdowns were passes from quarterback Austin Neu to wide receiver Mike O'Connell. The Eagles responded with a quick five-yard drive for a touchdown, ended by a 57-yard rush from sophomore Ben Hertrampf to bring the score to 14-7. Before the end of the half, the Eagles were able to tie the game with a two yard rush, again from Hertrampf.

UW-Eau Claire started the second half with a touchdown run from Matt Olson. Next drive, UW-L's Justin Huiker missed a second field goal, this one 49 yards out. The Blugolds were able to increase their lead before the end of the third quarter with a field goal from Josh Albrecht, 24-14. The Eagles were able to shorten their deficit in the beginning of the fourth quarter with a quick eight-yard drive for a touchdown with a 12-yard touchdown run from Hertrampf bringing the score to 24-21. UW-Eau Claire came back with an 80 yard drive for a touchdown kept alive with a successful nine-yard punt fake pass on a fourth down from Austin Neu to David Goodman to bring the game to the final score of 31-21.

UW-L's running back Ben Hertrampf had a great game with 22 rushes for 207 yards, a huge 9.4 yards per carry average, and two receptions for another 37. Hertrampf also got all three of the Eagles' touchdowns. Quarterback Mike Butterfield threw for 132 yards, 11 completions with 23 attempts and one interception. Nate Ward led the team in receptions, posting 29 yards for 3 catches.

UW-L ended the game with 333 total yards, outdoing the Blugolds narrowly with 320. UW-Eau Claire dominated the ball with a total time of possession of 39:50 to UW'L's 20:10. This victory was Eau Claire's seventh win of the last nine games versus UW-La Crosse. UW-L's record is now 2-4, 1-2 conference. The Eagles take on 3-3 UW-Stout on the road Saturday, Oct. 22 at 6 p.m.