WSUC Football: Fake punt ignites Eagles

By Dan Manoyan
of the Journal Sentinel staff

Nov. 9, 1996

Whitewater -- It's a play the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse punting team has practiced for two years, but every time the play's trigger man, Mike Maslowski, has asked to call it in a game, coach Roger Harring's answer has been the same.

"Not yet."

On Saturday, with the Wisconsin State University Conference title on the line against UW-Whitewater, Maslowski never had to ask Harring if it was time to run the fake punt. Harring told him it was time.

The play worked to perfection, but then so did most everything else the Eagles tried on their way to a 28-16 victory. The victory not only wrapped up La Crosse's second consecutive perfect WSUC season and extended the defending NCAA Division III national champion's winning streak to 23 games, it made the Eagles a virtual lock for a playoff berth.

It isn't often that a first-quarter play has such a dramatic impact in a game, but Maslowski's 19-yard run out of punt formation on a fourth-and-2 play at the Whitewater 47 was clearly such a play. Whitewater had dominated the game to that point, although all it had to show for it was Bryan Mader's missed field-goal attempts of 43 and 42 yards.

"We've been practicing that play for two years in practice and every week I beg Coach Harring to let me do it in a game," said Maslowski, a 6-foot-3, 255-pound senior outside linebacker for the Eagles who played the game of his life with nine tackles and two interceptions.

"He has turned me down every time. Today I didn't even have to ask him."

Five plays after Maslowski picked up his first down, running back Mike Bechtel crashed into the end zone from 5 yards out for the first points of the game, and La Crosse had a lead it would never relinquish.

"That's not the type of play you want to run that often," Harring said after wrapping up his 14th WSUC title and 10th in the last 12 years. "The timing has to be right and we felt this was the right time."

Harring might not have been ready to throw caution to the wind so early had it not been for the sorry status of his running backs. He had hoped to regain the services of Beau Coulter and John Barrett, his top two running backs when the season began, but neither had recovered from their injuries to play Saturday.

Bechtel had played well in recent weeks, but he was limited to just 16 yards in 10 carries with a pair of fumbles Saturday. With back-up fullback Ryan Shaver leading the way with 39 yards in nine carries, the Eagles were held to 128 rushing yards.

"When a team is as deep in talent as La Crosse is, it almost doesn't matter when they have a few injuries," said Whitewater coach Bob Berezowitz, whose season ended with a respectable record of 7-2. "La Crosse is a great team and they deserve to be champions, but you can't expect to beat a team like that when you turn the ball over five times like we did today."

Perhaps the most costly turnover came late in the second quarter when Whitewater quarterback Ty Grovesteen and running back John Damato missed connections on a handoff and defensive tackle Dan Kloepping recovered at the Warhawks' 24. On a third-and-14 play, La Crosse quarterback Jeff Baker scrambled out of trouble and passed to a wide-open Toby Krause for a 28-yard touchdown.

"We're banged up at running back, but I didn't feel any extra pressure on me to make plays," said Baker, who completed 12 of 28 passes for 204 yards and two touchdowns. "I have a lot of confidence in the (running backs) we have left."

Harring wasn't sure how this WSUC championship ranked with the others.

"I don't know where I'd rank this one," Harring said. "It's always satisfying when you play well."

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