Warhawks roll 45-0 over Franklin

(Editor's Note: The following is the UWW at Franklin College game recap story courtesy of Tom Fick/UW-Whitewater Sports Information)

UW-Whitewater, ranked number one in Division III, used five consecutive possessions to score 35 points in seventeen minutes to roll over #21 Franklin College 45-0 Saturday afternoon at Faught Stadium in Franklin, Indiana.

The win ups UW-Whitewater's win streak to 32 consecutive games, longest in any Division of NCAA football. That string includes 18 straight non-conference wins.

The game started slowly, each team trying to establish identity, the Warhawks methodically running the ball, Franklin throwing the ball out of a no huddle attack. Neither team put any points up early, but the groundwork (no pun intended) laid by the offensive line paid off later as Franklin wore down.

Whitewater's final possession of the first quarter began at 5:21 on their own 32. Six plays later, five of them Levell Coppage (Oak Park, IL/Oak Park) rushes, senior quarterback Matt Blanchard (Lake Zurich, IL/Lake Zurich) caught the Franklin defense biting on a play action pass to Steve Morris for a 25 yard touchdown with 2:03 left in the quarter.

The Warhawk defense ended Franklin's next drive prematurely when cornerback Jesse Hamilton (Racine/Park) forced FC back Craig Reece to fumble, and safety Ryan Wenkman (Wisconsin Dells/Wisconsin Dells) recovered it at the Franklin 29. UW-W used five straight runs to punch the ball in, the last two yards supplied by Desmin Ward (Milwaukee/Hamilton) on the first play of the second quarter to make it 14-0.

Franklin faced a third and ten on their 28 when UW-W linebacker Ryan Cortez (Palatine, IL/Palatine, IL) picked off a West pass and returned it to the 15. On the next play Coppage went 15 yards to up Whitewater's margin to 21-0.

After a Jake Keeser (Fort Atkinson/Fort Atkinson) sack, Shane Covington (Milwaukee/Riverside)'s 20 yard punt return set up Whitewater's next possession on the Franklin side of the field at the 47. It took just five plays, ending with Coppage's five yard scoring run, to up the lead to 28-0 with 9:42 left in the half.

Whitewater went for the block of Franklin's punt, and junior Jaren Borland (Fort Atkinson/Fort Atkinson) got a piece of the kick, causing the ball to roll dead at the Franklin 34. Seven plays later, with 4:44 left in the quarter, Ward powered over for his second touchdown of the day to increase the lead to 35-0, ending the one quarter blitz that also trapped the Grizzlies last year when the teams met in the first round of the NCAA playoffs at Perkins Stadium. In that game UW-W used 21 fourth quarter points on the way to a 52-21 win.

Coppage was already over 100 yards by intermission, with 119 on 18 carries. Blanchard complimented the run with 9-14 passing for 91 yards. UW-W piled up 269 yards in the half while limiting Franklin to 103. Grizzlie QB Jonny West went 6-20 in the half. Although Franklin considers a fast paced game to its advantage, the fact they had the ball 11:18 in the first half, to 18:42 for Whitewater demonstrated control of the line of scrimmage by the offensive line and Whitewater's defense forcing the Grizzlies off the field.

Whitewater received the kickoff in the second half and covered 61 yards in nine plays to make it 42-0. Blanchard hit fullback Bernie Tamsett (Waterford/Waterford Union) with a two yard swing pass at 10:46.

Warhawk defensive back Jared Kiesow (Horicon/Horicon) ended Franklin's next drive, forcing a fumble that Jesse Hamilton (Racine/Park) picked up at the UW-W 46.

An Eric Kindler (Germantown/Germantown) 31 yard field goal with 10:51 left in the game ended the scoring.

After gaining 669 yards in the season opening win at Valparaiso, the UW-W defense held the Grizzlies to 198 yards, just 40 on 27 attempts coming rushing the ball. UW-W averaged 5.5 yards per rush and totaled 465 yards. Blanchard went 13-18 for 128 yards and two TD's, with five of those receptions going to Tyler Huber (Mukwonago/North Prairie). Coppage wound up as the game's leading rusher even though he did not carry the ball in the second half. Ward contributed 71 yards on 14 rushes. West wound up 18-36 for 158 yards and two interceptions. Wideout Logan Worley had five catches for FC.

Hamilton led Whitewater with six tackles and one for a loss, with Keeser chipping in with five tackles, two for a loss, and the sack. Franklin linebacker David O'Rourke was one of three Grizzlie defenders with double figure tackles, credited with 14 and a tackle for a loss.