In a season marred by unexpected losses, the UW-Platteville football team suffered another disappointing defeat on Oct. 27 at UW-River Falls. The Pioneers lost to the Falcons 42-36 in overtime.

“We knew it was going to be a fight until the end,” Matt Janus, junior outside linebacker, said. “River Falls is a tough, tough team to beat, especially at home.

“We knew going into the game we had to play almost perfect in order to win, and unfortunately, we lost to a very good football team.”

Scoring one minute into the first quarter, the Falcons jumped out to an early lead on the Pioneers.

However, with less than four minutes left in the first quarter, Quincy Hudson put the first points of the game on the board for the Pioneers off of a 63-yard interception return for a touchdown.

Mike Genslinger, who rushed for a total of 171 yards on the day, scored the next two touchdowns for the Pioneers, giving the UW-P a 22-14 lead.

A 29-yard touchdown run from Joe Burkeland ended the half, enabling the Pioneers to take a 29-14 lead into the locker room.

UW-RF scored the only points of the third quarter off of a one-yard touchdown run from Nathan Anderson.

As the fourth quarter rolled around, all was quiet on both scoring fronts until just before the two-minute warning when the Falcons scored their fourth touchdown of the game at the 2:11 mark.

UW-P recovered the ball at the Falcons’ 37 after an on-side kick for 7 yards. Tyson Droessler rushed the ball into the end zone off of a 15-yard run 36 seconds later, giving the Pioneers a 36-28 lead.

With 15 seconds left, UW-RF scored a touchdown off of a one-yard pass, and successfully completed a two-point conversion pass, tying the score 36-36 with seconds to spare.

As the clock ran out in the fourth quarter, it was off to overtime for the Pioneers, who were already in Falcons’ territory at the 25-yard line.

After a couple of incomplete passes and a rush for five yards, the coaching staff turned the ball over to the kicking game.

However, Smidl’s 37-yard field goal attempt was blocked by Anderson and recovered by UW-RF.

Anderson’s four-yard run for a touchdown hammered the final nail in the Pioneers’ coffin, ending the game 42-36 in favor of the Falcons.

“Obviously, it was really hard and disappointing to lose a game like that,” Janus said. “We felt like we put ourselves in a position to win, and we just didn’t make plays when we had to.”

“It was a heartbreaker of a game,” Justin Athey, senior outside linebacker, said. “I really felt we deserved to win. It was a hard fought battle between both teams and someone had to lose;
it was just unfortunate that it had to be us.”

The Pioneers’ record fell to 2-6 overall and 1-4 in the WIAC while the Falcons improved to 3-5 overall and 2-3 in the conference.

“It was a really tough loss to swallow, especially being it seemed like we had them beat in the fourth quarter, but we have learned from our mistakes and are looking ahead to Oshkosh,” Scott Schwartz, senior nose guard, said.

At 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 3, 23 seniors will play their final home game at Ralph E. Davis Pioneer Stadium versus the Titans of UW-Oshkosh.

“There is going to be some emotion because this is the senior’s last home game,” Janus said. “These seniors have been here since I’ve been here, and they really have provided great
leadership, so it is going to be hard to watch these seniors leave this program.”

“I think I speak for my senior teammates when I say, ‘We would like to go out with a bang and play real Pioneer football,’” Athey said.