Platteville, Wis. - The University o Wisconsin-La Crosse football team, ranked 11th this week on D3football.com Top-25 Poll, earned a 24-23 victory at UW-Platteville Saturday afternoon at Ralph E. Davis Pioneer Stadium. The Eagles improve to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Pioneers drop to 1-5 overall and 0-3 in the conference.
UWL is 3-0 in the WIAC for the first time since 2002.
UW-Platteville took a 7-0 lead on the second play from scrimmage with Colin Schuetz throwing a 71-yard touchdown pass to Austin Guy with 14:35 remaining in the first quarter. The Pioneers went 71 yards in two plays and :22. UWL drove to UW-Platteville's six-yard line on first drive, but a tackle for loss and quarterback sack forced the Eagles back to the 28-yard line where Ryan Beirne's 43-yard field goal went wide left.
The Pioneers punted on its next possession and the Eagles went 61 yards in seven plays and 3:05 to force a 7-7 tie on Jakob Parks' 31-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Sorenson. Beirne's extra-point tied the game with 4:39 remaining in the opening quarter. The teams later traded turnovers in the quarter. Michael Griffin intercepted Parks at the Pioneers' 28-yard line, but three plays later Schuetz fumbled with Trevar Helland recovering at UW-Platteville's 23-yard line. Two plays later, Joey Stutzmanscored on a 15-yard run with :38 remaining in the first quarter. The drive went 23 yards in two plays and :46. UWL led, 14-7, after the opening quarter.
UWL took a 17-7 lead with 10:59 left in the first half on a 48-yard field goal from Beirne. The Eagles went 44 yards in eight plays and 3:23 with Stutzman having a 25-yard run on the drive. UW-Platteville cut the deficit to 17-14 with 5:48 remaining in the second quarter on a one-yard touchdown run from Evan Gates. The Pioneers used 3:49 in going 80 yards in 11 plays. UWL maintained the 17-14 lead at halftime as UW-Platteville turned the ball over twice in the final 3:17. Elijah Alt intercepted Schuetz with 2:35 left in the second quarter, but UWL was forced to punt on its next drive. The Pioneers drove to the Eagles' 32-yard line with :34 left, but Rusty Murphy recovered a fumble.
UW-Platteville tied the game at 17-17 with 10:56 remaining in the third quarter on a Andrew Schweigert 37-yard field goal. The Pioneers went 47 yards in seven plays and 3:11. On the ensuing kickoff, UWL's Jake Simuncak returned it 100-yards for the go-ahead touchdown with 10:39 left. It was UWL's first kickoff return for a touchdown since Mike Santucci's 88-yard return versus UW-Eau Claire on October 24, 2015. Beirne's extra-point gave UWL a 24-17 lead. It kept the seven-point lead after three quarters.
Schuetz was intercepted by Alt with 9:27 remaining in the game. After forcing a UWL punt, UW-Platteville cut the lead to 24-23 with 3:49 left on Scheutz' six-yard touchdown pass to Guy. Schweigert's potential game-tying extra-point was missed. The drive went 90 yards in nine plays and 4:09. UWL was forced to punt on its next drive with UW-Platteville taking over at its own 25-yard line with 1:10 left. The Pioneers, facing third-and-five at the Eagles' 33-yard line, converted for a first down as Schuetz hit Wilson for 19-yards to the UWL 14-yard line. Without any timeouts, Schuetz kneeled the ball at the 15-yard line as the clock ran out.
UWL finished with 276 yards on Saturday, including 171 rushing and 105 passing. The Eagles totaled 17 first downs while going five-of-15 on third-down. UWL was one-of-two in the red-zone. Parks went 8-of-20 passing for 105 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Stutzman finished with 153 yards rushing and one touchdown on 30 carries (5.1 average) while Sorenson caught three passes for 62 yards and a touchdown.
UW-Platteville totaled 467 yards with 14 rushing and 453 passing. The Pioneers had 24 first downs and went six-of-13 on third-down while finishing three-of-four in the red-zone. Schuetz finished 36-of-58 for 453 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. Tyler Lamer led the Pioneers with 18 yards rushing on nine attempts. Guy had 10 catches for 190 yards and two touchdowns while Wilson had eight receptions for 99 yards.
Alt led UWL's defense with seven tackles with Helland and Cade Osborneach finishing with five. Alt had a pair of interceptions and two pass break-ups. He is the first player for the Eagles to have two interceptions since Joey Roth finished with three against Illinois Wesleyan University September 14, 2019. Helland finished with one interception, one fumble recovery and one pass break-up on Saturday. Rusty Murphy also recorded a fumble recovery as the Eagles forced five Pioneers' turnovers. Milkaso Dedefo had 2.0 tackles for loss.
Sam Smith led UW-Platteville with eight tackles. Tyler Bacon had 5.0 tackles for loss, including 3.0 quarterback sacks.
UWL returns to action Saturday, October 23 hosting UW-Stout at 1 p.m.