The UW-Platteville football team suffered a hard loss against Augustana College on Sept. 22 in Rock Island, Ill., as the Vikings walked away with a 34-24 victory.

Augustana started the scoring early with a 38-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, but their lead did not last long as Mike Genslinger closed in on the Vikings with a 15-yard run to the end zone.

Tony Smidl’s kick for the extra point was blocked, but he would later go on to make a 19-yard field goal with 1:21 remaining in the first quarter, giving the Pioneers a 9-7 lead.

The Vikings, however, would answer back and regain the lead with a field goal in the second.

With 1:21 left in the second quarter, the Pioneers took full advantage of a Vikings’ fumble, which was recovered by David Akey.

Michael Schmidt’s touchdown pass to Craig Patterson gave UW-P the lead with seconds remaining in the first half.

Nick Grosso’s two-point conversion pass to Patterson was good, and the Pioneers went to the locker room with a 17-10 advantage.

However, UW-P’s lead was short-lived as the Vikings returned a four-yard run for a touchdown in the third quarter, tying the game 17-17.

Scoring his second touchdown of the game off of a 28-yard pass from Schmidt in the third quarter, Patterson regained the lead for the Pioneers.

It was Augustana’s game from that point on as their offense went to work and their defense stifled the Pioneers, forcing two punts.

Although the Pioneer defense dominated the Vikings in the first half, allowing 81 yards rushing on 27 attempts, Augustana’s offense came alive in the second half, scoring 24 of their 34 points.

“I think that the team performed well, but at times we were not doing the little things right,” Grosso said. “Going into the game, the team was confident because we know we have all the right tools to be a good team. For us, it just comes down to executing on the field.”

“I think we’re really close to coming out on top,” Akey said. “We just need to stop some of the big plays from happening.”

Matt Eastlick led the Pioneers on defense with 13 tackles, 12 of which were solo. Joe Tinucci came through in the clutch with some big hits on defense as well, with eight stops including five solo.

Schmidt completed 28 of 41 passes for 210 yards with one interception, and Genslinger had 21 carries, rushing for 96 yards.

Grosso caught 11 passes for 73 yards, and Patterson had three receptions for 59 yards.

“We did not play our best game as a team,” Patterson said. “There were times in the game when offensively and defensively we could not create the big play that was needed.”

Augustana was the third ranked team the Pioneers have played this season.

“It’s nice playing three ranked teams before conference because they are as good as every team in our conference, but it is also discouraging because we should have won all three of those games against ranked opponents,” Patterson said.

The Pioneers currently hold a record of 1-2 while Augustana improved their record to 2-1.

“At this point in the season, we are somewhat disappointed with ourselves because we know we have not played up to our potential,” Grosso said. “Starting conference, now, is a good way for us to start again and begin to show who we really are.”

The game against the Vikings was the Pioneer’s final non-conference game of the season,
and the team will start Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, against UW-Stout.

“We definitely have things to work on, but after a good week of practice, we will be ready for WIAC play,” Patterson said. “We know how good we can be and how close we are to becoming a good team, but we also know that we are going to have to work hard for it, and it is going to take all 100 of us.”