It was all about the new and the old Saturday in the Wisconsin-Illinois-Iowa League (WIIL) men’s DII college conference as defending champs the UW-Whitewater Warhawks, and newcomers Lindenwood-Belleville Lynx both won.

While conference newcomers Northern Iowa will have to wait for their debut - their opener was called off - and with two games to be played on Sunday, it was a small start for the conference, but a meaningful one.

Whitewater defeated UW-Platteville 60-5 behind a nice influx of youth.

 

'“We have a lot of new players who have joined the team,” said the Warhawks’ Eric Pachowitz. “We had some pretty alpha-male guys in the pack who graduated, and we were concerned about replacing them. But we’ve got some good freshmen and guys moving up to take over and they did well.”

Freshman Levi Van Lanen scored two tries, and fellow center Robby Sindic also played well, while lock Conor Bell set the tone up front.

“Our defense was more developed than we expected,” added Tim Grams. “Our backs really did well.”

So it’s a good start for the 2014 national runners up, and for the brand-new varsity program, Lindenwood-Belleville, beating Goff Rugby Report #11 Illinois State on the road was the perfect start. 

The Lynx and ISU traded tries to stay deadlocked at 14-14, before L-B inched ahead and then iced it when Jacob Gilliam scored at the end of the game to garner not only the victory, 28-19, but the four-try bonus points.

Having warmed up with fast-paced teams from Arkansas State and Lindenwood (St. Charles, Mo.), Lindenwood-Belleville had to deal with a physical, power-running ISU squad.

“It was a change for us,” said Head Coach Pat Clifton. “ISU ran huge forwards right at us off the fringed. We struggled with the size all day, but stayed patient on defense and took our opportunities out wide when they were on offer.”

Clifton praised his pack for hanging in there and surviving the tough moments. The speedier Lynx forwards were able to steal some balls in the breakdown, and that was a factor in the victory.

“I’m thrilled the boys got the win after a few weeks of hard work, but we’re a long way from a finished product.”