No. 4 UWL looks to remain undefeated in conference; travels to No. 7 River Falls in massive matchup

Last week, the UW-La Crosse football team got a break from the tough one-score, heart-stoppers it had the previous month, beating UW-Eau Claire 59-14.

A similar result is unlikely Saturday, as the fourth-ranked Eagles (7-1, 5-0) travel to No. 7 UW-River Falls (7-1, 4-1) with a chance to clinch at least a share of the WIAC championship for the second consecutive year.

LISTEN: UW-L at UW-RF on WKTY begins with pregame at 12:45 p.m. Tune in on 96.7 FM / 580 AM or wktysports.com and the WKTY app. Drew Kelly and Tyler Bailke are on the call.

If the Eagles are to keep their undefeated conference season alive, they might look back to game tape of last year’s matchup. 

UW-L grinded out a 24-17 win at Roger Harring Stadium in Week 9 last season. The Eagles forced sophomore quarterback Kaleb Blaha to throw three interceptions and held him to 264 yards with no touchdowns. 

Blaha has lit up the stat sheet and scoreboard this season to the tune of 2,284 passing yards, 895 rushing yards and 38 total touchdowns. 

UW-L coach Matt Janus says the defense will need a short memory.

“It’ll have to be series by series,” Janus said, almost expecting a shootout. “Who cares what happened the previous series, just find a way to make a stop right then. They’re going to score once or twice.”

And while Blaha has been something to see this season, UW-L quarterback Keyeser Helterbrand is no slouch.

The senior is coming off a career game against UW-Eau Claire, going 24-for-26 for 360 yards with 5 touchdowns. This season, the 6-foot-2 QB has 1,783 yards passing, 570 rushing and 25 total touchdowns.