UW-Platteville 21, UW-La Crosse 6

La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team fell 21-6 to UW-Platteville Saturday afternoon at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. The Eagles drop to 1-5 overall and 1-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Pioneers improve to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the conference.

It is UW-Platteville's first win in La Crosse since a 13-10 victory during the 1980 season. The loss was also UW-L's third in the last 25 Family, Friends & Alumni Weekend (formerly Homecoming) games.

UW-L took the opening kickoff and led 3-0 as Justin Huinker hit a 21-yard field goal with 11:44 remaining in the first quarter. The Eagles went 74 yards on seven plays in 3:23.

UW-Platteville took a 7-3 lead with 3:09 remaining in the second quarter as Jeff Bracken caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from Nick Anderson. The Pioneers went 62 yards on six plays in 2:43 after they recovered a Nick Anker fumble. UW-Platteville led 7-3 at halftime.

On UW-L's first possession of the third quarter, Anker was intercepted by Jesse Lindemulder. Two plays later, Lee Vlasak went 45-yards for a rushing touchdown and 14-3 Pioneers' lead with 11:01 left in the third.

Huinker cut the lead to 14-6 with his second 21-yard field goal with 7:01 left in the third quarter for UW-L. The Eagles went 61 yards on nine plays in 4:02. UW-L had a first-and-goal at UW-Platteville's two-yard line, but were held to the field goal.

After a Courtney Alexander interception for UW-Platteville at its own 47-yard line, the Pioneers went 53 yards on 11 plays and 6:24 with Vlasak scoring on a four-yard run with 7:01 left and 21-6 lead.

UW-L drove to the UW-Platteville three-yard line, but Anker was intercepted by Brian Snyder at the Pioneers' goal-line with 1:45 left.

UW-L finished with 335 yards of offense, including 50 rushing (24 attempts) and 285 passing. Brock Larson had 70 yards rushing on 16 carries while Anker finished 25-of-38 for 285 yards. He threw four interceptions and was sacked four times. Travis Bordeau (64 yards), Ross Slovensky (58 yards) and Alex Maxinoski (49 yards) each had six catches.

UW-P totaled 292 yards, including 168 rushing and 124 passing. Vlasak led the Pioneers with 31 carries for 158 yards and two touchdowns while Anderson finished 15-of-21 for 124 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Darin Blaser had seven receptions for 65 yards.

The Pioneers won the time of possession, 33:41 to 26:19. The teams combined to finish seven-of-23 on third-down with UW-Platteville finishing four-of-13 and UW-L three-of-10.

Matt McGilliard and Jim Litscher led UW-L with nine tackles each and one tackle for loss. Jared Shouts had a quarterback sack and Jake Meckstroth an interception for the Eagles.

Eric Leander led UW-Platteville with 11 tackles, including nine solo. Nick Snyder had eight solo tackles, including four tackles for loss and three quarterback sacks. Kevin Ybarra also recorded an interception.

UW-L returns to action Saturday, Oct. 23 at UW-Stevens Point starting at 1 p.m.