It was the defense for the Falcons that delivered the final blow in their 35-20 victory against Southwestern University with one of their nine sacks of the day.
 
UW – River Falls (1-2, 0-0 WIAC) traveled over 1000 miles to take on Southwestern University. The Falcons defense scored once and suffocated the Pirate's running attack to negative 63 yards rushing, thanks to the Falcon's nine sacks.
 
Junior linebacker Albert Itula led the team with three sacks for the team with defensive lineman Nick Jacobsen having two and a half sacks. Senior linebacker Derek Tarter had one sack and four tackles for losses in the game.
 
The Falcons started out the scoring in the second quarter when Michael Diggins caught a seven yard pass from Ryan Kusilek for a touchdown.
 
Southwestern responded on the very next drive with a 12 play, 87 yard touchdown drive with running back Dylan Wilburn capping the drive with a three yard touchdown run making the score 7-7 going into the half.
 
Out of the second half, the Falcons turned the ball over for the first time in the game when Kusilek threw a pass over the middle that was intercepted by the Pirates and returned to the one yard line in Falcon's territory.
 
The UWRF defense stood tall and stopped the Pirates on three straight plays and forced a field goal making the score 10-7.
 
The Falcon's offense struggled in the third quarter; the Pirates took advantage and proceeded to take a 10-point lead when wide receiver Matt Gillen caught a 19 yard touchdown from quarterback Bryan Hicks. Gillen caught 14 passes for 167 yards in the game.
 
The Falcon's offense being faced with a 10 point deficit, responded with an eight play 60 yard drive that was capped off by a 32 yard Rance Ashley touchdown reception from Kusilek making the score 17-14 going into the fourth quarter.
 
The Falcon's defense then forced a fumble on the next Southwestern drive and started their drive inside the Pirate's territory.
 
On a fourth down, the Falcons elected to go for a first down and instead found freshman Nicholas Studer in the end zone for a 21 yard touchdown putting the Falcons ahead 21-17.
 
Southwestern University, facing a deficit for the first time since early in the second quarter, came back and went 60 yards in 11 plays that was finished with a field goal making the score 21-20 with 9:42 to go.
 
Clinging to a one point lead, the Falcons went three and out and were forced to punt back to the Pirates.
 
The Pirate's offensive line had their hands full all day, but no more than when Nick Jacobsen batted a pass at the line of scrimmage and sophomore Kyle Semann intercepted the pass and took it back for a touchdown putting the score at 28-20 with 7:26 to go in the game.
 
Two and half minutes later, UWRF forced Southwestern to punt and blocked the punt and fell on the ball at the 14 yard line.
 
UWRF took over and scored in four plays when Diggins fell into the end zone on a five yard touchdown run, his second of the day.
 
In the Falcon's first victory of the season, totaled 264 yards of offense led by Kusilek who finished 14-25 with 182 yards and three touchdowns. Kusilek was protected well only being sacked once on the day.
 
Ashley finished with 67 yards on 19 carries to lead the Falcon's running attack.
 
Senior wide receiver Matt Woller led the Falcons with three catches for 63 yards. Diggins had five catches for 33 yards and a touchdown. Studer finished with 29 yards on three catches and a touchdown.
 
The Falcons travel back to Wisconsin to face UW- La Crosse in the annual homecoming game. The Falcons won the matchup between the two teams last season by a score of 16-13 in a overtime thriller.