2008 Woodie Awards
Close, yet so far away
Lakeland football hands with Whitewater but falls flat at end
Corey Kempf
Issue date: 9/23/04 Section: Sports
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So when the Lakeland football team traveled to UW-Whitewater to face the Warhawks, ranked just out of the national top 25 on d3football.com poll, there was a feeling that the Muskies could avenge last week's heartbreaking loss to Carthage, but eventually fell short to Whitewater with a 48-28 loss.
For a while the Muskies seemed poised for what would have been an even bigger upset than the one they nearly pulled off last season against UW-Oshkosh.
The game seemed out of reach at the beginning of the second quarter, when the Warhawks jumped ahead 28-7.
On the ensuing drive, the Muskies slammed the ball down the field. Rushing the ball 12 times out of a total 16 plays on the drive and converting two crucial fourth downs, Lakeland pulled back within 15 points after the kick attempt failed.
A big defensive stand on Whitewater's next drive gave the Muskies excellent field position at their own 48 yard line. Eight plays later, Kenneth Grundy capped off the drive with a 1 yard plunge to pull within 8, which is where it would stand at the end of the first half.
Lakeland received the ball to start the second half, and drove down the field to the Whitewater 18 yard line, but came up empty after a missed field goal.
Whitewater wouldn't have the ball long, as the Muskie defense came up big again, forcing a fumble and putting the offense on the Warhawk 32 yard line.
The Muskies got a 15 yard pass on third and eight and keep the drive alive for another huge fourth down conversion, this one a 10 yard touchdown pass from Ryan Maiuri to Matt Martin. Lakeland pulled even at 28 after Maiuri hooked up with Rodney Ellison for the two-point conversion.