LA CROSSE, Wis. – The UW-Stevens Point football team (5-3, 2-3) rallied from a halftime deficit to earn a road WIAC victory, 38-22, and spoil UW-La Crosse's Homecoming on Saturday.  The Pointers scored 28 second half points and held the host Eagles to just one score over the final 30 minutes of play.
 
Senior quarterback Kyle Larson (Clayton, WI/Clayton) threw for 387 yards against one of the league's best passing defenses.  He connected with junior wide receiver Jerry Williams (Milwaukee, WI/Watertown) for an 82-yard touchdown, one of five TD passes in the game for Larson, tying a career-high.

Williams and sophomore Steve Herra (Rockford, IL/Boylan) each had more than 100 yards receiving for the Pointers on the day and accounted for three of UWSP's touchdowns.  Senior Jared Pankow (Mosinee, WI/D.C. Everest) had 93 receiving yards to surpass the 600-yard mark for the season.

Defensively, the Pointers had six players with six or more tackles in the game, led by sophomore Juleyan Givens (Bolingbrook, IL/Plainfield East), who had nine on the day.  Junior Levi Singler (Shiocton, WI/Shiocton) had one of UWSP's two sacks and totaled a team-best 2.5 tackles for loss.

The Pointers defense put up a couple of early stands. On the first possession of the game, the UWSP defense thwarted a UWL fourth down attempt in the red zone.  On the next Eagles' possession, the Pointers' defense held UWL to a three-and-out and forced a missed field goal attempt.

UWSP followed the missed field goal with a 13-play, 67-yard drive and Kyle Hendzel (Lisle, IL/Lisle) kicked a 30-yard field goal to put the Pointers in front 3-0.

The home team responded on the next drive converted on a fourth down en route to a 75-yard touchdown drive.  On the first drive of the second quarter, the Eagles used 10 plays to go 55 yards for another touchdown to put UWSP behind 14-3.

Senior Britton Vernon (Stillman Valley, IL/Stillman Valley) ran the ball on the first three plays of the next UWSP drive and Larson completed all four pass attempts to pull the Pointers within 14-10, the score at the break.

On the second drive of the third quarter, Larson caught fire.  He completed passes for eight, 10, 17 and 27 yards as UWSP scored the go-ahead touchdown on the four-play drive.

Larson hit Williams for an 82-yard strike on the next possession to put the Pointers ahead by two scores.  It was the seventh play of the season that UWSP scored a touchdown on a play of 50 yards or longer.

The Pointers' offense continued to click on the opening possession of the fourth quarter. Pankow caught a 39-yard pass as part of a nine-play, 68-yard touchdown drive as UWSP increased the lead to 31-14.

Larson continued his hot hand on the next UWSP drive completing four of five passes including an 18-yard completion to Williams for his fifth TD pass.

UW-La Crosse scored on the next possession and converted to two-point attempt, but the Pointers held the remainder of the game for the 38-22 win.

The Pointers return to Goerke Park next Saturday (Nov. 5) for Senior Day with a 1:00 p.m. kickoff against UW-Stout.