Falcons crush Alma in Homecoming game

The UW-River Falls football team celebrated their Homecoming with a 40-27 win against the Alma Scots at Ramer Field Saturday.

A crowd of roughly 1,500 students, staff, faculty, parents and alumni was upbeat and energetic throughout the game.

The win was highlighted with an effective running game and big plays on defense. Defensively, the Falcons had fi ve interceptions, and running back Taylor Edwards rushed for 251 yards.

“It feels good to come back from injury and have a career game,” Edwards said.

Overall, the Scots had much more total yards with 630, compared to the 389 yards the Falcons accumulated.

Alma gained almost all of its offense passing the ball, ringing up 567 yards passing with only 84 yards rushing.

Scots quarterback Mackenzie McGrady completed 52 of his NCAA Division III record 84 passes. His 84 passing attempts broke a 17-year-old record set in 1992 by Jordan Poznick of Principia College. McGrady also threw five interceptions, which was a contributing factor in the loss.

McGrady completed passes to nine different receivers; two Alma receivers had more receiving yards than the entire Falcon team. Andrew Schaar had 155 yards receiving and Tyler Wise had 123 yards receiving for the Scots.

Falcon quarterback Ryan Luessenheide attempted 19 passes for nine completions and one interception. The Falcons had 122 total yards passing.

Individually, receivers Michael Woodward had 33 yards receiving on three attempts and Wade Schlichting had 32 yards on one attempt to lead the Falcons passing game.

The Falcons offensive totals were largely produced on the ground, with 227 total yards rushing. Most of the rushing yardage was produced by Edwards, who also had two touchdowns. Ahmad Palmer also rushed for 22 total yards.

Matt Gajewski, Matt Guertin, Ross Potter, Steve Marich and Ben Arata all had interceptions for the Falcon defense. Marich and Arata both ran the interceptions back for touchdowns. Nolan Fick had the lone Scot interception.

Falcons Head Coach John O’Grady said there were some disappointments, stating that too many three and outs, or not achieving a fi rst down, was one of them.

The Falcon football team will use this game to prepare for the upcoming conference schedule.

“The real games begin [soon],” O’Grady said. “We have never won at Stout since they built the new stadium.”