With a 16-game losing streak to UW-Stevens Point weighing heavily on both players’ and fans’ minds, UW-Platteville’s football team focused its complete and total attention on one thing Oct. 6, winning.

“We went into the game really fired up,” Joey Martin, sophomore wide receiver, said. “Everyone knew the losing streak we have with them, so that was the main focus, breaking that record. There was a lot of emotion all week going into this game.”

With 3,284 Homecoming fans in the stands of Ralph E. Davis Pioneer Stadium dressed to “White Out Point,” the Pioneers were unsuccessful in erasing the long-standing losing streak from their memories as the Pointers narrowly edged UW-P, 34-31.

“The atmosphere was definitely different than a regular game,” Joe Burkeland, freshman backup quarterback, said. “It definitely cranked everything up a notch when we saw the stands packed with students and fans supporting us as well.”

The Pioneers jumped out to an early 10-0 lead on a 38-yard field goal by Tony Smidl. A costly Stevens Point turnover on a fumble recovery led to a touchdown by junior outside linebacker Brandon Willger with 6:38 left in the first quarter.

A fumbled Pioneer punt return eventually led to the Pointers’ first points of the game, ending the first quarter 10-7.

Pointer quarterback Jake Swank connected with Brad Kalsow for their second touchdown of the game four minutes into the second quarter. However, junior wide receiver Nick Grosso’s first career touchdown off of an 11-yard pass from Burkeland regained the lead for the Pioneers.

Swank hit Kalsow again for the Pointers’ third touchdown of the game with 1:33 remaining in the quarter.

The Pioneers took a 24-21 lead into the second half, as quarterback Michael Schmidt connected with Joey Martin on a 12-yard pass for his first career touchdown.

“During half, we all knew that we had a great chance to finish the game,” Willger said. “We were a little disappointed about giving up so many points, but that was behind us. We had to look at the game being 0-0 and go out and win the second half.”

UW-SP went on to score two more touchdowns; however, Pioneer running back Mike Genslinger narrowed the lead with a 3-yard run into the end zone with 8:52 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The score remained 34-31 in favor of the Pointers as Platteville’s last scoring opportunity was foiled on fourth down at the 39-yard line of UW-SP when senior backup quarterback John Akim’s pass missed Tyson Droessler in the final minute of play.

Akim, who had never thrown a collegiate pass before the game against UW-SP, was in charge of the Pioneer offense as Schmidt and Burkeland were forced out of the game. He completed 11 of 20 passes for 98 yards.

“I feel that I was prepared to go into the game,” Akim said. “I had a good week of practice, and I knew that I had the support of the team behind me.

“We all fully support one another no matter who is in there. All I could think was that I needed to go into the game and do my job. I needed to execute my assignments and be a leader on the field.”

Matt Eastlick led the Pioneers on defense with 11 tackles, while Chris Booze and Chris Genslinger had seven stops each.

“Our weakness has been, and continues to be, our lack of ability to perform in pressure situations,” Akim said. “In the last few games, we have been shooting ourselves in the foot and finding a way to beat ourselves.”

According to the Office of Sports Information, the victory over the Pioneers extended the Pointers’ win streak to nine games, making it the second-longest in NCAA Division III.

“We weren’t really worried about their eight-game winning streak; in fact, it was never mentioned throughout the week,” Grosso said. “It was definitely heart breaking knowing that we had a very good chance to break the [16-game] losing streak because it starts to get old hearing about it all the time.”

The Pioneers currently hold a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference record of 0-2 and an overall record of 1-4, while the Pointers improved their WIAC record to 2-0 and 5-0 overall.

“It obviously hurts that we lost the game,” Burkeland said. “Sometimes the ball just doesn’t bounce your way. It’s tough to swallow, knowing that we were one or two plays, in certain times of the game, away from coming out on top. That’s football though.”

The Pioneers will host UW-La Crosse (2-2, 0-2) at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 13, where both teams will look to earn their highly sought after first WIAC win of the season.

“I would hate to be the team to play us when we put it altogether in the same week; we have been beating ourselves to this point,” Willger said. “The potential is there; we just have to execute and make plays now.”

“We’re going to keep working hard to get better and never give up,” Akim said. “We need to stick together as a team and keep working towards our goals. Anything can happen in this conference, and we’re going do the best we can to get a win this Saturday.”