No. 18 UW-La Cross falls to third-ranked St. John’s in Division III playoffs

The UW-La Crosse football team’s season came to an end Saturday in the second round of the Division 3 playoffs.

The 18th-ranked Eagles were unable to complete the comeback at No. 3 St. John’s, losing 24-13.

While it was just a 3-0 Johnnies’ lead at halftime, the Eagles (8-4) got down 10-0 early in the third quarter and played catchup the rest of the way.

A 25-yard touchdown by Braedon Ott pulled UW-L within 10-7 midway through the third, only to see St. John’s answer with a touchdown of their own later in the quarter.

UW-L pulled, again, within 17-13 with 4:17 left in the fourth when Jack Studer caught a 17-yard pass from Kyle Haas, but the Johnnies would answer with the dagger on the ensuing drive a 69-yard touchdown pass from Colorado State transfer quarterback Aaron Syverson to Corey Bohmert.

This was the Eagles’ fourth consecutive trip to the playoffs.

That hasn’t happened since UW-L went six straight times from 198 to 1993. The Eagles are 20-13 all-time in NCAA Division III playoff history, winning two national titles in 1992 and 1995.

Studer’s touchdown grab was the 35th in his career, setting a UW-L career record.

This season, early on, UW-L had been ranked as high as third in the country, but three consecutive losses dropped the Eagles down in the rankings.

Those losses, however, were all close and to highly-ranked teams, including the No. 2 team in Division II at the time.