UW-Whitewater will host Lakeland College Saturday, November 21 in a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III playoff game. The game will kick off at 12:00 in Perkins Stadium on the UW-W campus. For more information about the playoffs see UW-W's Playoff Central site.
Won-Loss: UW-Whitewater is 10-0 overall and Lakeland College is 6-4 overall. UW-W earned its NCAA berth by winning the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a 7-0 record. Lakeland College won the Northern Athletics Conference with a 6-1 record.
This Season: UW-W defeated Dickinson State 38-3 (currently 7-3), Midland Lutheran 58-0 (6-5), Puget Sound 42-7 (0-9), UW-Platteville 35-3 (3-7), UW-Eau Claire 38-14 (6-4), UW-Stout 38-3 (8-2), UW-River Falls 38-14 (3-7), UW-Stevens Point 41-12 (7-3), UW-Oshkosh 40-7 (4-6), and UW-La Crosse 58-21 (5-5). Whitewater is 6-0 at home and 4-0 on the road. Whitewater's opponents compiled a 49-51 mark. Lakeland College lost to Central College 40-17 (10-0), Mount St. Joseph 42-19 (9-1), Carthage 50-34 (7-3), defeated Rockford College 40-0 (1-9), defeated Wisconsin Lutheran 14-9 (5-5), defeated Concordia Chicago 41-32 (8-2), defeated Benedictine 30-14 (6-4), defeated Maranatha 19-0 (0-10), defeated Concordia Wisconsin 32-16 (5-5), and defeated Aurora 28-0 (4-6). Lakeland was 3-2 at home and on the road. Lakeland's opponents compiled a 55-45 record.
By the Numbers: UW-W's offensive line averages 281 pounds. It matches up with the Muskie's defensive line that averages 230 pounds. On the other side of the ball, the UW-W defensive front averages 266 pounds versus a Lakeland College offensive line that averages 288. UW-W starts three seniors and no freshmen on offense, and seven seniors and no freshmen on defense. Lakeland College starts three seniors and one freshman on offense, and five seniors and no freshman on defense.
The Series: Whitewater is 6-0 against Lakeland. UW-W won 21-0 in 1975, 57-0 in 1980, 48-28 in 2004, 73-12 in 2005, 75-14 in 2006, and 41-7 in 2007. Four of the games were played in Whitewater, two in Howards Grove. UW-W offensive coordinator Jim Zebrowski was the head coach at Lakeland for the 2004, 2005 and 2006 games.
The Coaches: Whitewater's Lance Leipold, in his third season, is 37-3 overall and 19-1 in WIAC play. Lakeland's Kevin Doherty, in his third season, is 17-13 overall and 16-4 in the IBFC. Leipold is 1-0 against Lakeland.
Not in My House, or the WIAC, or: UW-Whitewater is 35-1 in Perkins Stadium since the start of the 2005 season. The Warhawks have also won 39 of their last 40 WIAC games, and are 65-5 since the 2005 kicked off.
Whitewater Last Week: The Warhawks made sure they didn't share the WIAC title by defeating UW-La Crosse 58-21 on the road. Jeff Donovan (Wauwatosa/East) connected with Jordan Wells (Elgin, IL/Elgin) for two first quarter touchdowns to forge a lead they never gave up. Levell Coppage (Oak Park, IL/Oak Park) carried the ball just 15 times, for 144 yards and backup Antwan Anderson (Madison/Madison Memorial) added two more TD's on the ground. The 21 points is the most given up by UW-W this season, with Whitewater's 58 equaling the season high also accomplished in a 58-0 win over Midland Lutheran in the second game of the season. UW-W won its fifth straight WIAC football title, second longest in league history and the second longest reign by any sport at UW-Whitewater.
UW-W in the NCAA III Stats: The Warhawks are fourth in total offense (500.6), sixth in scoring (42.6), third in pass efficiency and third in sacks allowed (3). On the other side of the ball UW-W is sixth in total defense (238.6), and third in scoring defense (8.4). TB Levell Coppage (Oak Park, IL/Oak Park) is fourth in rushing (143.4) and leads D3 in scoring (14.4/game), and Jeff Donovan (Wauwatosa/East) is third in pass efficiency.
The Warhawk Record Book: WR Aaron Rusch (Hartford/Hartford) is in fourth place in the school career receiving yards category with with 2,359, with Jim Leszczynski (2002-2005) in third at 2,547. Rusch is Whitewater's all-time leader in receptions with 170. RB Levell Coppage (Oak Park, IL/Oak Park) has moved in to seventh with 3,094 career rushing yards, looking up at Eddie McKennie (1994-97) in sixth at 3,354. Coppage also has 45 career rushing TD's, breaking Justin Beaver's mark of 44 (2004-2007). Coppage has also moved into second place in the WIAC career book, with 51 by Greg Corning of UW-River Falls (1994-97) number one. Coppage's season total of 24 TD's equals Beaver's 24 in 2005 -- which is also the WIAC record. Also, with 1,434 yards this season Coppage has climbed into eighth place at UW-W, with his own mark of 1,461 last year in seventh and 1,474 by John Damato (1997) sixth, and 1,567 by George Rainey (1997) in fifth. QB Jeff Donovan (Wauwatosa/East) has thrown for 37 TD's for fifth place on the UW-W career list. Mike LaLoggia (1977-79) is fourth with 38. Donovan's 20 scoring tosses this season is tied for sixth with LaLoggia (1978). DE Anthony White (Milwaukee/Bay View) picked up a sack at La Crosse to move into a tie for fifth place on UW-W's career list, joining Marty Vosburg (1995-97), Jim Vogel (1977-78), and Nick Zolper (2001-2004) with 19. PK Jeff Schebler (Davenport, IA/Assumption), the leader kick scorer in UW-W, WIAC and NCAA III history, has accumulated 427 points. The all-time, all-division, NCAA record is 433 by Art Carmody of the University of Louisville (2004-2007). Schebler has been named a Fred Mitchell Award finalist, one of fifteen, for September and October. The Mitchell Award, new this year, will recognize the top placekicker in Division II/Division III (combined, not one each).
Lakeland Last Week: The Muskies also clinched sole possession of their conference title last week. LC's 28-0 win over Aurora gave them a 6-1 mark in Northern Athletics Conference action and the league's berth in the NCAA playoffs. Jake Dworak completed 13-20 passes for 231 yards of Lakeland's offensive total of 371. The LC defense limited Aurora to 202 yards.
Lakeland This Year: Lakeland fits the team concept to a “T”. Lakeland did not lead the NAC in any team statistical category, and the only two individual categories the Muskies led were punt returns (Jake Heinemeyer, 9.2 yards per attempt) and fumbles recovered (4 by Will Baldwin). The 6-4 record is also deceiving, because LC lost the season opener to Central College, which went 10-0 and is hosting a NCAA III first round game. Another loss came at the hands of Mount Saint Joseph, and the Gaels are taking a 9-1 record into the playoffs. A third loss was to Carthage College, which went 7-3. The Muskies are seventeenth in Division III in kickoff returns (23.12 per attempt), and their defense is tenth in tackles for a loss at almost nine (8.9) per game. Justin Laack (26.2) and Heinemeyer (24.7) are dangerous on kickoffs. DL Josh Gordon leads the team with 15 tackles for a loss, but twenty Muskies recorded at least one and seven had at least six for the season. Gordon's DL mate leads the team with five sacks and is second to Gordon with nine tackles for a loss. DB Tony Faller tops the team with 66 total tackles. The defense racked up three shutouts. The LC offense features the passing of Jake Dworak, who tossed 24 TD's and accumulated 2,323 yards. Roberto Flores caught 52 passes and Heinemeyer 48, with eye-popping 18.4 and 16.7 per catch averages, respectively. Jeremy Williams tops the team with 759 yards rushing, 3.7 per attempt.
National Polls: UW-Whitewater is ranked second in the D3football.com poll and second in the American Football Coaches Association Division III poll this week. Lakeland College is not ranked.
The Schedule/Tickets: The Whitewater-Lakeland winner will match up with the winner of Wabash and Illinois Wesleyan, the location is TBA. If UW-W advances information will be posted on the UW-W athletics web site, www.uwwsports.com, by noon Monday. The UW-W ticket office, located in the Connor University Center on the main campus mall, can be reached at 262-472-2222.
