Weir throws 3 TDs, 2 incompletions, as No. 6 UW-La Crosse opens season with shutout win
Taking over for last season’s WIAC player of the year, UW-La Crosse quarterback Zach Weir looked ready for the job.
Weir’s and the Eagles’ first play of the season, out of the shotgun in a no huddle offense, was a 64-yard completion to Jack Studer.
Weir, a senior, finished 12-for-14 for 279 yards with three touchdowns passes — including an 80-yarder — another rushing and no interceptions, as the sixth-ranked Eagles blew out Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) on the road in New York, 35-0.
Weir, who did show flashes last season when the Eagles ran with two QBs, is taking over for Keyser Helterbrand, who accumulated over 3,800 yards and 49 total touchdowns at the helm for UW-L. But the Eagles look to utilize two quarterbacks again this season, as they did Thursday.
UW-L scored on its opening drive when Weir ran one in from 7 yards out, capping off a three-play, 72-yard drive.
After a punt and a lost fumble on RPI’s 1 yard line, the Eagles then saw quarterback Kyle Haas get involved, throwing a 22-yard TD to Wyatt LeMoine to go up 14-0 after the first.
That’s how things stayed until the third quarter, when Weir and LeMoine hooked up for an 80-yard score. Weir threw two more touchdowns — a 23-yarder to Studer, who made a one-handed catch, and a 6-yard score to Jack Janke — to cap things off.
UW-L (1-0) outgained RPI 530 yards to 252.
The Eagles home-opener at 1 p.m. next Saturday will be against Northern Michigan, and WKTY will have the coverage.
TOP PHOTO: UW-La Crosse quarterback Zack Weir rolls out of the pocket during the first game of the season, on the road in New York against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, (PHOTO: James Garvey, UWLAthletics.com)