By Justin Dade - Sports Information
NEWBERG, Oreg. (Blugolds.com) - The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire football team was defeated by the George Fox University Bruins 44-0 on Saturday at Stoffer Family Stadium.
In the first-ever meeting between the two programs, the Blugolds struggled to get anything going all day finishing with just 228 total yards of offense. While the offense was able to move the ball, they struggled to conclude drives with points finishing 5-16 on third down, and 1-4 on fourth down.
After UW-Eau Claire went three-and-out on the opening possession of the game, the Bruins capitalized on their first drive with a 23-yard touchdown pass on third down from Gran Schroeder to Brad Lander to quickly make it 7-0 not even four minutes into the game.
George Fox would strike again on their next possession to make it 14-0 on a one-yard touchdown run by Jacob Swilley with 3:13 left in the first quarter.
Both teams had success moving the ball on a few drives for the rest of the half, but the score would stay at 14-0 after one half of play. George Fox held a 176-117 edge in total yards of offense. Despite not getting much going in the passing game, quarterback JT DenHartog (Jr. – Hopkins, MN) produced 43 yards on the ground on nine carries.
The Bruins would add to their lead on their first drive of the second half on a 12-play, 65-yard drive capped off by a six-yard touchdown pass from Schroeder to Lane Hadley. Schroeder's second touchdown pass of the game made it 21-0 with 10:04 left in the third quarter. Schroeder and Hadley would connect again for a 66-yard touchdown strike to make it 28-0 on the last play of the third quarter.
George Fox would add 16 more points before the end of regulation to roll to the 44-0 victory.
UW Eau-Claire outgained the Bruins on the ground but couldn't get anything going in the passing game finishing with just an average of 3.4 yards per pass attempt. Inside linebacker Kaeleb Stangler (Sr. - Rochester, MN/John Marshall) led the way on defense with seven total tackles (two for loss).
The Blugolds (1-2) will try and get back to .500 next week at Carson Park as they prepare for their Homecoming tilt with UW-River Falls at 1:10 p.m. on September 30.
Follow all the action on Blugold Game Day.
