“You play everyday from when you’re eight years old on and then all of a sudden, it’s done.  It’s a weird feeling,” senior wide receiver David Goodman said

Goodman played his final game for the UW-Eau Claire football team last Saturday in a 27-21 win against the UW-River Falls Falcons.

Goodman had seven catches for 93 yards, giving him 2,348 yards for his career.  That total puts him first on Eau Claire’s all-time receiving yards list.

Goodman said he didn’t think he would accomplish something like that when he was a freshman.  “It’s a cool feeling knowing how long Blugold football’s been around and all the great players that have been here,” Goodman said.  “To say I’m with those guys is pretty cool.”

Goodman said he’d rather people remember him as a good teammate and not for his statistical accomplishment.  “It’s a cliché but statistics are made to be broken,” Goodman said.  “Everyone’s going to have their statistics broken, so the big thing is people remember you as a person.”

Senior tailback Matt Olson scored a rushing touchdown on a seven yard run shortly before half to give the Blugolds a 17-14 lead.  Olson said the offensive line was making large holes for running lanes on the drive.  “We were getting some good chunks of yards so I knew it was a matter of time before one kind of popped for a few more yards,” Olson said.

Olson said the priority was getting the win, but it was a good feeling to score a rushing touchdown in his last game as a Blugold.  “Just getting in the end zone one last time before I decide to hang up the cleats, so it was a good feeling,” Olson said.

Olson is set to graduate in December, and wants to use his criminal justice degree to find a job as a probation officer.

Junior quarterback Austin Neu completed 24 of 39 passes on the day for 239 yards and two touchdowns.

The first touchdown came on a fourth down, and Neu said he changed the play call once he noticed the way the defense was playing.  “Me and my tight end Austin [Goetsch] saw something open in the defense and I checked to that,” Neu said.  “It worked pretty well, he broke a tackle and scored.”

Neu said his off season goal is to simply get better everyday.  “Have the younger receivers come work out with me and hopefully we can get in good timing with them,” Neu said. The team’s expectations for next year, according to Neu, are to win conference and win a national championship.
Neu said the team wasn’t happy with their 5-5 record for the year.  “We were all pretty disappointed to be honest,” Neu said.  “We knew we could have done a lot better.”