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Home > The Swing > No. 13 UW-La Crosse opens playoffs with win, set to face defending national champs, top-ranked North Central
Podcast: The Swing
Episode:

No. 13 UW-La Crosse opens playoffs with win, set to face defending national champs, top-ranked North Central
Category: Sports & Recreation
Duration: 00:00:00
Publish Date: 2025-11-30 02:26:01
Description:

The defending national champions await the UW-La Crosse football team, which grinded to a playoff-opening win Saturday in front of 1,003 fans.

The 13th-ranked Eagles — in their fifth consecutive playoff appearance — beat No. 18 Hope 9-3 in the snow on the road Saturday in Michigan in Round 2 of the Division III playoffs.

Next, at noon Saturday in Naperville, Ill., UW-L faces No. 1-ranked North Central (11-0), which has been to the championship five consecutive seasons, winning three titles — including two of the past three.

The Cardinals have knocked the Eagles (8-2) out of the playoffs twice in the past four seasons. They won 55-42 over UW-L in 2023 and 34-21 back in 2021.

ABOVE: Gabe Lynch busts through a big hole for UW-L against Hope in the second round of the Division III playoffs on Nov. 29, 2025 (PHOTO: Jim Garvey, UW-L Athletics); TOP PHOTO: The UW-L defense makes a tackle against Hope in the second round of the Division III playoffs on Nov. 29, 2025 (PHOTO: Jim Garvey, UW-L Athletics)

UW-L’s only touchdown Saturday came on a 4-yard Gabe Lynch run, that capped off a nine-play, 65-yard, 4:57 drive midway through the third.

Quarterback Kyle Haas, who had missed the past two games and most of the game before that due to a throwing-shoulder injury, converted a 4th-and-2 on the drive with a 9-yard pass to Keaton Arndt.

Stack’s extra-point was blocked — the first miss of his career after going 131-for-131 — but he did put the Eagles up 9-0 with a 25-yard field goal near the end of the third quarter.

Haas finished 18 of 25 for 109 yards while Lynch rushed 16 times for 93 yards.

UW-L finished with 210 yards, including 101 rushing and 109 passing, while Hope (9-2) had 250 yards — 65 rushing and 185 passing.
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