La Crosse loses: 26-point barrage eliminates Eagles

By Dan Manoyan
of the Journal Sentinel staff

Dec. 7, 1996

Madison -- The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse faithful waited patiently through four quarters, ignoring the fact that their feet were buried in snow on the concrete recesses of Camp Randall Stadium and that their team was on the wrong side of a four-touchdown deficit.

Not even the fact that Camp Randall had no toilet facilities in operation -- sorry, closed for the winter! -- could send them scurrying for the exits. They didn't want to miss the inevitable comeback that their Eagles were sure to mount.

Not this time. Not this year.

The defending NCAA Division III national champions, who have made a frightening habit of rallying in the fourth quarter this season, ran out of miracles Saturday before 2,131 fans.

Mount Union, with a little help from the home team, dug a third-quarter hole so deep that not even the Eagles could escape.

The undefeated Raiders (13-0) from Alliance, Ohio, scored 26 third-quarter points, more than enough cushion to hold off the Eagles, 39-21.

With the victory, the Raiders, who hadn't beaten La Crosse in two previous playoff encounters, advance to the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl on Saturday in Salem, Va. Mount Union, which fell to La Crosse at home in the semifinals last year, will meet Rowan (N.J.), a 31-14 winner over Lycoming in the other semifinal.

The Eagles, who finished their season at 11-2, can spend their off-season contemplating what went wrong Saturday, specifically what wrong in the third quarter. For some reason, inexplicable to even La Crosse coach Roger Harring, third quarters have been a problem all season.

Despite outscoring their opponents by a collective 401-197 coming into this contest, the Eagles had been outscored in third periods, 69-58. On Saturday, Mount Union outscored La Crosse, 26-6, turning a 7-7 defensive struggle at halftime into a 33-13 rout.

"I wish I knew what the reason was," Harring said when asked to explain his team's third-quarter shortcomings. "Last year it was just the opposite. Nobody scored on us in the third period."

La Crosse's unraveling actually began in the waning moments of the first half. Despite dominating the first two quarters, La Crosse led by just 7-0 when Mount Union quarterback Bill Borchert warmed up and hit Darrin Kershner on a 30-yard touchdown pass that tied the score 20 seconds before halftime.

"That was a huge play for us," Raiders coach Larry Kehres said. "They dominated us in the first half, and for us to get out of there with a tie gave us a big boost."

Harring saw it a bit differently.

"We had the opportunities, but we couldn't put them away in the first half," he said. "We could have been up two or three touchdowns at halftime."

Borchert, one of Division III's best all-time quarterbacks and a player who completed 69% of his passes this season, is not an opponent you want to give a second chance. After an uncharacteristic 10-of-21 performance for 109 yards in the first half, Borchert broke loose for 208 yards on 13-of-18 passing and three touchdowns in the second half.

Perhaps even more damaging was the fact that Borchert scrambled for 128 yards, with all but 23 coming in the second half, making him the game's leading rusher.

"I don't think they changed their blocking schemes in the second half," La Crosse senior defensive tackle Dan Kloepping said. "He pretty much stayed in the pocket in the first half, but he scrambled in the second half."

Borchert gave the Raiders their first lead in the game on a 7-yard touchdown off a rollout at the 11-minute 34-second mark of the third quarter. After a Mike Bechtel fumble, Borchert flipped a 6-yard touchdown pass to Mark Lantos, and the rout was on.

Borchert threw his third touchdown pass of the game, a 27-yarder to Reiko Gollate, at the 5:20 mark of the third quarter. Inside linebacker Jason Hall sealed the Eagles' fate when he intercepted a Jeff Baker pass and returned it 48 yards for a touchdown at 2:39 of the quarter. Bill Andrea's extra-point kick completed a blitz of 33 unanswered points by the visitors.

Rob Slavens, who replaced Baker after he injured his shoulder in the third quarter, got one of the touchdowns back on his first pass, an 81-yard scoring toss to Brandon Hall. Bechtel later redeemed himself with a 12-yard fourth-quarter touchdown that made the score a more respectable 39-21.

"I don't know if beating La Crosse means we're going to win the championship," Kehres said. "We've still got one more to go, but we feel we beat one of the best, if not the best team in the country."

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