Anna Nelson
With the day’s rain having turned most of the playing surface to mud before kickoff, Saturday’s football game between UW-Eau Claire and UW-Stout looked like it would be a game decided by the defense.
Eau Claire’s defense responded to the challenge, forcing five turnovers in a 33-0 rout of the defending WIAC champions.
Like it had done in four of its first five games of the season, the Blugolds scored first on Saturday. After sophomore cornerback Mike LaBarbera returned the opening kickoff to the Stout 47-yard line, the Blugolds looked to pass.
Senior quarterback Brian Rasmussen faked to senior running back Darrell Souhrada, rolled left, looked back to his right and found senior wideout Jeremy Bergeron all alone at the 20-yard line. Bergeron scored easily, giving the Blugolds a 7-0 lead after only one play.
Bergeron said he didn’t even run the route that he was supposed to on the touchdown.
“I don’t know if (the defensive back) fell or if I pushed off,” he said. “I just ran to the opening.”
After the teams traded punts, Stout started to move the ball towards Eau Claire’s side of the field. On third and nine from the Stout 40-yard line, Eau Claire sophomore linebacker Mike Lansing intercepted a pass at the Stout 47-yard line, giving the Blugolds another short field to work with.
Eau Claire took five plays to get in the end zone on that possession, with Souhrada scoring from four yards out. The drive was helped by a 24-yard completion from Rasmussen to junior tight end Brad Newton, which got the ball down to the Stout eight-yard line.
The first quarter ended with Eau Claire leading 14-0, and the Blugolds knew that the Blue Devils would have a hard time making up that deficit while playing on what coach Todd Hoffner called “Eau Claire’s mud.”
In the second quarter, the Blugolds’ defense stepped up and put the game away.
With the Blue Devils driving into the red zone, Stout’s sophomore running back Luke Bundgaard ran into a wall of Blugold defenders, lead by junior defensive end Nick Goeser. The ball squirted out of Bundgaard’s hands as he hit the turf, and Eau Claire senior defensive back Jay Hoyord picked it up and returned it 78 yards for Eau Claire’s third touchdown of the game.
Hoyord said Eau Claire played well in a game where the Blugolds didn’t seem to have respect from the Stout players.
“The defense played excellent, causing a lot of turnovers,” he said. “We would just run around and hope to get to the ball. It was on the ground a lot.”
Eau Claire forced a turnover on Stout’s next possession as well, with Hoyord intercepting a pass at midfield and returning it to the Stout 22-yard line.
The Blugolds took advantage of that turnover quickly, with Souhrada carrying the ball four times and scoring from seven yards out.
The extra point failed after the Blugolds could not convert the snap in the muddy conditions.
Even though Eau Claire had a 27-0 lead at halftime, Stout outgained the Blugolds in the half, 124-118.
The muddy conditions took over in the second half and neither team was able to move the ball with much success.
Eau Claire got an interception from junior linebacker Brad Gawronski in the third quarter, and Souhrada scored his third touchdown of the game on the resulting possession. The extra point failed again, but the Blugolds had more than enough points. Both teams emptied its benches in the fourth quarter, and the game ended 33-0.
Souhrada finished with 75 yards rushing to go along with his three touchdowns, and Rasmussen was six for 16 passing for only 99 yards and two picks.
The 33-point margin of victory was the largest for Eau Claire in the 79-game history of the series. The game was Eau Claire’s first shutout of Stout since 1986, and it was also the first victory over Stout for Eau Claire’s senior class.
“I’ll tell you what, it’s really great,” Hoffner said after the game. “Nobody on this team has had the luxury of beating Stout.”
Eau Claire’s record is now 5-1, and it is in a four-way tie for first in the WIAC with a 2-1 conference mark. Stout falls to 3-2 overall and 1-2 in the conference.
