Box Score River Falls, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team fell 21-20 in overtime at UW-River Falls Saturday afternoon at Ramer Field.  The Eagles drop to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Falcons improve to 2-2 overall and 1-0 in the conference.  UWL and UW-River Falls played its fifth overtime game in the last seven meetings, including second straight.  The Falcons earned a 16-13 victory last season in River Falls and 28-21 in La Crosse in 2011.  The Eagles earned double overtime victories over the Falcons in 2009 (49-47) and 2013 (24-21).  UWL is now 8-8 all-time in overtime games. 

UWL took a 7-0 lead with 3:04 left in the first quarter as Trent Cummings threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Tommy Young.  Matt Van Druten converted the extra-point attempt as the Eagles went 75 yards on three plays and 1:11.  Cummings was three-of-three on the drive for all 75 yards.   UWL led 7-0 after the first quarter.

UW-River Falls tied the game at 7-7 with 7:54 remaining in the second quarter after Ryan Kusilek's six-yard touchdown pass to Evan Verhota.  Kusilek converted the extra-point attempt.  The Falcons went 46 yards on eight plays and 3:59.

The Eagles regained the lead after a mishandled Falcons' punt with 2:09 left in the first half.  Three plays later, UWL went 14 yards and :17 as Cummings connected on a 14-yard touchdown pass to Joel Oxton.  Van Druten's extra-point made it 14-7 with 1:52 remaining.  UWL led 14-7 at halftime.

On the opening drive of the second half, UW-River Falls drove to UWL's 17-yard line, but Kusilek's pass was incomplete on fourth-and-five.   The Eagles led 14-7 after three quarters, but the Falcons tied the contest with 8:52 remaining on a Michael Diggins three-yard touchdown run.  Kusilek's extra-point tied the game as UW-River Falls went 28 yards on five plays and 2:18. 

The teams traded interceptions on the next two drives of the game as Cummings was intercepted by the Falcons' Nick Jacobsen at the Eagles' 40-yard line.  Three plays later, Kusilek was intercepted by UWL's Nick Seibert at the Eagles' 24-yard line.   UWL drove to the UW-River Falls' 10-yard line, but Van Druten's 27-yard field goal missed wide left. 

After the teams traded punts, UW-River Falls moved the ball to UWL's 28-yard line, but Kusilek's 45-yard field goal was short with :06 left in the game.

The Falcons went on offense to start overtime and Diggins rushed all seven plays on the drive, cumulating in a two-yard touchdown run.  Kusilek made it 21-14 with the extra-point.  On UWL's possession, Cummings threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Day on the second play of the drive to cut the lead to 21-20, but Van Druten's extra-point was blocked to give UW-River Falls the one-point victory.

UWL finished with 233 yards of offense, including negative 26 yards rushing.  The Eagles had 259 yards passing.  UWL finished with 14 first downs while going four-of-12 on third-down.  Tyler Jenkins led the team with 10 yards rushing on two carries.  UWL finished with 11 rushing attempts in the game.  Cummings was 24-of-42 for 259 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.  Oxton caught 10 passes for 104 yards and one touchdown while Mike Santucci had five catches for 10 yards. 

UW-River Falls totaled 360 yards Saturday, including 178 rushing and 182 passing.  The Falcons finished with 27 first downs, were 15-of-26 on third-down and won the time of possession, 41:21 to 18:39.   Diggins had 105 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 34 attempts while Kusilek was 23-of-37 passing for 182 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.  Nicholas Studer had five catches for 44 yards.

Ryan Weber led UWL with 18 tackles, including 15 unassisted.  Nicholas Peters recorded 14 tackles (12 unassisted) and Jon Becker 11 (nine unassisted).  Seibert and Matt Dobson recorded interceptions.   Matthew Salerno averaged 34.2 yards on six punts with three inside the 20-yard line.

AJ Sandford and Gene Demike led UW-River Falls with seven tackles.  Sandford recorded seven unassisted tackles while Demike had six and finished with 4.0 tackles for loss.  Charlie Pennings averaged 31.5 yards on four punts.

UWL returns to action Saturday, October 10 hosting UW-Stout at 1 p.m. at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex.  It will be Varsity Homecoming/Wall of Fame Day.