It was a historic football weekend in River Falls.
On Friday, the Wildcats high school team beat Oshkosh North 52-38 to secure the program’s first 11-win season and sectional title. River Falls will meet Notre Dame Academy in the Division-2 state semifinals Friday at 7 p.m. at D.C. Everest High School.
Wildcats quarterback Tino Massa threw for 323 yards and four scores in the win over Oshkosh North, while Joseph Tarasewicz ran for 213 yards and two touchdowns as River Falls jumped out to a 28-0 lead and fended off numerous Oshkosh North comeback attempts.
River Falls accumulated 548 yards of total offense.
University of Indiana commit Sam Simpson added a pair of sacks for the Wildcats (11-1).
On the same field a day later, Wisconsin-River Falls made history of its own, securing at least a share of the program’s first WIAC conference title with a 41-7 thrashing of Wisconsin-La Crosse in a matchup of top-10 ranked teams in Division-III football. The win snapped a string of eight-straight losses to Wisconsin-La Crosse.
It’s the program’s first conference title since 1998. River Falls can win the championship outright with a win next Saturday over Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie, but the Falcons are already assured of the conference’s automatic postseason bid, which will mark the Falcons’ first NCAA playoff appearance since 1996.
The Falcons recorded 534 yards of total offense, with quarterback Kaleb Blaha throwing for 307 yards and a touchdown while adding 90 yards on the ground. Trevor Asher ran for 128 yards and two scores.
Noah Nusbaum had two sacks for River Falls (8-1), and Taylor Sussner intercepted a pair of passes.
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