Its inability to duplicate play-making performances of recent weeks and a halftime decision that backfired were enough for Wisconsin-Whitewater to turn out the lights on what the Crusaders had hoped would be their shining moment at home.
Fourth-ranked UMHB sputtered offensively and a disastrous third-quarter kickoff jump-started a 27-point second half for No. 5 Whitewater, which roared to a 39-13 victory Saturday afternoon in an NCAA Division III semifinal at windswept Tiger Field.
Hosting a semifinal for the first time and searching for their second trip to the national title game in five years, the Crusaders (12-2) were outplayed in all three phases in losing to the Warhawks (13-1) in D-III’s penultimate game for the second straight year.
“The last game we played last year boiled down to about three or four plays, and then I think the kicking phase of this game affected us monumentally,” said UMHB coach Pete Fredenburg, whose squad fell 16-7 in last season’s semifinal at frozen Perkins Stadium. “I think when we break down this film, we’ll see two pretty evenly matched teams. A little momentum here or there can swing a lot.”
A string of UMHB breakdowns in the closing minutes of the first half and the opening seconds of the third quarter swung the game in UW-W’s favor for good.
After Josh Saenz’s 1-yard touchdown sneak and a 38-yard Alan Munoz field goal put the Crusaders up 10-5 with 4:11 left before intermission, the Warhawks manufactured an 11-play, 80-yard drive into the wind to regain control.
The march featured six completions by angular UW-W quarterback Jeff Donovan, who took advantage of several lapses in coverage - the last of which resulted in an easy 3-yard touchdown toss to tight end Nick Slupski and a 12-10 halftime advantage.
“That was a huge drive,” said second-year Warhawks coach Lance Leipold, whose defending national championship squad earned its fourth straight trip to the Stagg Bowl. “Jeff has had the ability all year long to make plays.”
Added Donovan: “I credit (offensive coordinator Jim Zebrowski) with giving me the Nerf ball mentality because the harder you try to throw it in this wind, the worse things can get.”
Things got considerably worse for the Crusaders, who - after the Warhawks chose to take the ball to start the second half - opted to kick off into the teeth of a 25-mph wind.
The ball fluttered above the 50-yard line, then blew backward before finally hitting the ground at the UMHB 38. It was illegally touched by a Crusader near the 35 and finally pounced on by Munoz at the 24, where the Warhawks were given possession.
“(The kick) went clearly beyond 10 yards but it blew back,” explained referee Jim Crowley, head of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference crew. “The rule states that a member of the kicking team cannot touch the ball until it is touched by a member of the receiving team, breaks the 10-yard plane and remains beyond the plane or touches any player, the ground or an official beyond the plane.
“Where it was recovered was a more advantageous spot for the receiving team than where it was touched. So by rule, that is where the ball was placed.”
Donovan’s 24-yard TD pass to Danny Benson on the very next play further deflated the Crusaders and the partisan crowd.
“That was my decision. It was a horrible decision,” Fredenburg said of kicking into the wind. “I wish I could have had it back.
“Obviously, we wanted the wind in the fourth quarter. I sure didn’t think we would kick off and have it come back to us. But it was absolutely my decision, and it turned out to be a very bad decision.”
Without starting tailback Bryson Tucker - who didn’t return after an ankle injury in the game’s opening minutes - and with senior quarterback Saenz playing through a shoulder sprain, UMHB recorded only one first down in the third quarter and rarely threatened in the second half.
“You try not to think about it,” Saenz said of his injury that happened midway through the second quarter and caused him to miss the rest of the first half. “I did the best I could. We still stuck with our plan and tried to do the things that we do.”
Riding the wind, Donovan was 6-of-9 for 85 yards and two TDs in the third. And with Levell Coppage’s 1-yard scoring plunge on the first play of the fourth quarter, the Warhawks had all but sealed it by turning what had been a five-point deficit late in the first half into a 32-10 lead.
“We were kind of surprised that they decided to go into the wind for the third quarter,” Leipold said. “Once we knew we were going to have the wind, we knew we were going to be aggressive in the third quarter.”
Other than the second quarter - when Saenz capped an 11-play drive with his sneak and backup Kyle Noack directed the drive that netted Munoz’s 38-yard field goal - UMHB’s offense couldn’t get much going. The Crusaders ran for just 125 yards, about 150 below their average.
“We had to be sound against the option game and try to string things out again, and I think we did that,” Leipold said. “I’m also extremely pleased with the performance of our safeties in not giving up any big plays and making them drive the field.”
While UMHB never had a drive of more than 30 yards after Saenz’s second-quarter touchdown, UW-W had the Crusaders’ defense flummoxed all day and put together four drives of 55 yards or more.
“Their guys made some plays and we were out of position at times,” Fredenburg said of the Warhawks’ 395 yards, their highest total in four games against UMHB.
Fredenburg’s words were true from the opening kickoff, which Tucker muffed, chased into the end zone, then returned to the 2. He fumbled on the first play from scrimmage and Saenz fell on it in the end zone for a Whitewater safety.
With the Crusaders still rattled, the Warhawks drove 55 yards after the ensuing free kick before UMHB’s defense stiffened and forced a field goal for a 5-0 deficit.
“When you’re facing a good team like Whitewater, sometimes bad stuff happens,” senior defensive tackle Mark Balderas said. “You just have to keep your composure."
Added senior safety Derrick Williams: “They were able to make the big plays."
edrennan@temple-telegram.com
