Falcons football on verge of national contention

If there were ever a situation in which a team could gain confidence in a loss, Saturday afternoon’s game on the road against St. John’s University was it.

The University of Wisconsin-River Falls Falcons football team went into the week two contest ranked as the No. 19 team in the nation, while St. John’s University (SJU) entered as the No. 4 ranked team, according to D3Football.com Despite trailing 37-17 with less than five minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Falcons continued to battle and scored 10 unanswered points before failing to recover an onside kick which solidified SJU’s 37-34 win over River Falls.

For River Falls head coach Matt Walker, Saturday afternoon’s loss against one of the five best teams in the country was confirmation that his program is not only ready to compete against the teams in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic conference (WIA ), but they’re ready to compete for a national championship for the first time in nearly four decades. “In a loss, you can grow a lot,” Walker said after the game at Clemens Stadium. “I think it’s confirmation to us that we can play with anybody in this league (WIAC). We could have won that ballgame today. We need to walk out of here with our chest high, as hard as it is because we’re a contender nationally.”

Shortly after kickoff, the Falcons and Johnnies quickly made it apparent to the announced attendance of approximately 9,000 college football fans that it was going to be an old-fashioned shootout on Saturday afternoon in Collegeville, Minn.

The Falcons got on the scoreboard first when sophomore running back Michael Krueger scored on a one-yard touchdown run to take a 7-0 lead with under eight minutes remaining in the first quarter.

The Johnnies responded with a six-play, 66-yard touchdown drive that knotted the game up 7-7 less than two minutes later. SJU took its first lead of the game on the first play of the second quarter when senior running back Henry Trost found the endzone on a one-yard touchdown run to make it 14-7 Johnnies.

River Falls responded with 14 unanswered points which came via sophomore quarter – back Kaleb Blaha. The first was a nine-yard touchdown run and then three minutes later he connected with sophomore wide receiver Luke Kush on a 17-yard touchdown pass to take a 19-14 lead with less than two minutes remaining in the half.

That’s when the Johnnies put together a game-changing drive that stole all of the Falcons’ momentum. SJU found itself in a critical fourth and 10 situation at the River Falls 30-yard line with less than a minute remain- ing in the first half.

SJU junior quarterback Aaron Syverson dropped back to pass and rifled a ball over the middle of the field that senior wide receiver Nick Vanerp hauled in for a 30-yard touchdown to take a 20-19 lead going into the intermission.

“We had a couple of chances to get off the field in some big moments and didn’t,” Walker said. “Obviously at the end of the half, you’re a play away from going in with a lead at the half.”

SJU scored 17 unanswered points in the third and early fourth quarters to take that commanding 37-19 lead which ultimately proved to be too much for River Falls to overcome. Despite trailing big in the fourth quarter, River Falls made it a ballgame late.

“I give credit to (SJU), they made some big plays when they needed it,” Walker said.

“We didn’t do it as much, but I’m proud of our fight. We’re a play away. It’s a three-point game and we’re a play away. That’s loser talk, but with a team as quality as that team is, we can learn a lot in a loss.”

Coach Walker stated that although his team wanted to win that game badly, it hasn’t made his roster or the coaching staff discouraged and it hasn’t changed the larger goals for the season. River Falls is still intent on competing for a WIAC championship and unseating the longtime powerhouse UW-Whitewater Warhawks.

“I think this is a confident group that (loss) won’t shake our belief,” Walker said. “We want to win our league, we want to go to the playoffs, we want to win a national title – this doesn’t change it. Nothing changes, we’d just love to beat a team like that.”

Although the loss dropped River Falls’ record to 1-1 for the season, the Falcons moved up in the D3 football poll because they pushed SJU to the brink in a hostile crowd environment at Clemens Stadium. As of Monday, Sept. 12, River Falls is ranked No. 17 nationally.

With the win, SJU improved to 2-0 for the season with victories against then-No. 4 UW-Whitewater in week one and then-No.19 UW-River Falls in week two. As of Monday night, SJU is ranked No. 2 in the country.

Coach Walker made it clear how dangerous his team is on a national level.

“I wouldn’t want to play us,” Walker said.

“But I told our guys, you better handle this right. We don’t play in a normal league. If we don’t handle this right and we relax or don’t get fully ready, in our league, you get beat.

We have to move on and get ready to go.”

The next game on the schedule for River Falls is on Saturday, Sept. 17, at home against Northwestern. That game is slated to begin at 6 p.m. at David Smith Stadium.

UW-River Falls sophomore wide receiver Luke Kush breaks one final SJU tackle as he dives into the endzone to give the Falcons a 19-14 lead late in the first half against the Johnnies. Kush finished the game with five receptions for 40 yards and a touchdown. Photo by Reagan Hoverman