By Kevin Cunningham
Sports Correspondent
A week ago, fresh off an undefeated, national championship-winning season, the UW-Whitewater football team travelled to Jackson, Miss. and took on Belhaven. Sixty minutes later, the Warhawks had won its 33rd-straight game, and began the 2015 season, 1-0, departing from the state of Mississippi with a 62-6 victory.
On Saturday, the Warhawks hosted the Finlandia Lions, a team who just started its football program this season. The game marked Hall of Fame Day for the ’Hawks, and for the team from Michigan, the Lions were coming off an 86-0 defeat at the hands of UW-Oshkosh just a week ago.
“First of all, especially after last week’s long trip, just being at home on a beautiful day with such a good crowd, I think there’s no doubt the players were pretty excited to get out there today,” Warhawks head coach Kevin Bullis said. “Probably the biggest challenge we had during the week was our players saw the Oshkosh score a week ago. That was a really big concern with the staff. I mean, we hit it straight on with honesty. We just said, ‘Hey guys, you have to concentrate on yourselves and what we need to improve on.’”
Saying the Warhawks got out to a fast start would ultimately be a disservice. After one quarter, the ’Hawks led, 28-0, and outgained the Lions, 236-27. Three running backs (Jordan Ratliffe, Jarrod Ware and Nick Patterson) ran for over 50 yards apiece in the first 15 minutes.
For the Lions, running back Jaavaid Love had five carries for three yards. Quarterback Ronald Brown completed four of his seven passes for 23 yards and two interceptions to start the game.
The beginning success on the ground for the Warhawks led to the team’s best rushing performance since 2010, gaining 392 yards on the day. Seven different backs got at least five carries, while eight different players scored rushing touchdowns, marking a UW-Whitewater record.
After the 28-0 first quarter, two more Warhawk touchdowns went on the board, making the score, 42-0. Then, history was made for the Lions, as for the first time in program history; the team scored its first points – a 20-yard field goal – on D3football’s No. 1-ranked, Warhawks.
By halftime, the ’Hawks were 4-of-4 on third-down conversions, while going 5-for-5 in the red-zone, all going for touchdown runs. Complete game statistics are hard to judge in terms of success, considering the score early on and number of players that played in the game for the defending champions.
“We knew if we played the way we can, we would be able to kind of shorten the reps for our first-team players, and we were able to today,” Bullis said. “We had our second-team offense and defense in there with five minutes left in the first quarter. (…) We felt it was an opportunity to help with our recovery time. In a typical game when your starters play an entire game, it takes them a couple days for their bodies to feel normal.”
Bullis also talked about Finalndia and the respect he has for them and their university for putting together and building a football program. The ’Hawks’ next game comes Thursday, against the No. 2-ranked NAIA team in the country, Morningside College.
The Morningside game is set for a 6 p.m. start in Sioux City, Iowa. Live statistics and video can be followed throughout the game on uwwsports.com.
Before the season began, Bullis said in a press conference that his three leading rushers coming back for 2015 were going to be the focal point of the team. By the game’s end against Finlandia, it was two freshmen running backs, Ware and Tyler Glass, who led the way in terms of yardage for the Warhawks.
“I’d like to think that down the road, you’ll be talking about [Ware and Glass] a lot,” Bullis said. “Those are two darn-good ball-players. And that’s not even to say what the offensive lines did in front of them. The offensive line groups, the first and the second, did a great job.”
Despite the eventual 66-3 victory, red-zone defense was something Bullis said he wasn’t particularly pleased with. The first-year head coach said his defense needs to get better down there, and that penalties gave Finlandia second chances, especially at the end of the second quarter.
Offensively, the ’Hawks went 8-for-8 in the red-zone, scoring seven rushing touchdowns in the process. The lone Warhawk scoring two touchdowns in the game was Patterson, and eight different players found the end-zone against the Lions.
Senior captain wide receiver, Joe Worth, scored the only touchdown through the air for the ’Hawks, and was the lone player to record more than one reception. The Lions finished the game punting 10 times, compared to the Warhawks’ one.
UW-Whitewater is now 2-0 this season and has won 34 straight games, leading all divisions of college football.
