Platteville, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team earned a 27-20 win at ninth-ranked UW-Platteville Saturday afternoon at Ralph E. Davis Stadium. The Eagles improve to 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Pioneers drop to 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the conference.

The win snaps UWL's eight-game losing streak to UW-Platteville. The Eagles last earned a win over the Pioneers, 37-6 in 2008, in a game played at Winona State University (Minn.) due to the construction of Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. UWL last earned a victory in Platteville in 2005 by the score of of 45-27.

UWL, receiving votes on this week's D3football.com and American Football Coaches Association (

AFCA) Top-25 Polls, clinches a winning season with Saturday's victory. It is the Eagles' first winning season since 2007 (5-4) and the six victories are the most since 2006 (9-2), the last time UWL made the NCAA Division III Playoffs.

UW-Platteville entered the game ranked ninth on D3football.com and 12th in the AFCA.

After UWL was forced to punt on the first possession of the game, UW-Platteville drove to the Eagles' three-yard line, but Noah Risch forced and recovered a Jack Eddy fumble at the five-yard line. The game was scoreless after the first quarter. The Pioneers took a 3-0 lead with 12:20 left in the second quarter on Michael Pratl's 29-yard field goal. UW-Platteville went 77 yards in 13 plays and 5:22.  UWL punted on its next possession and UW-Platteville drove to UWL's 20-yard line, but Wyatt Thompson fumbled with Tate Miller recovering for the Eagles at the 18-yard line. Nicholas Peters forced the fumble.

UWL responded with an 82-yard drive in eight plays and 2:40 to take a 7-3 lead as Drew David threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Nick Holcomb. David went four-of-four on the drive for 66 yards with Holcomb catching three passes for 59 yards.

Eddy was later intercepted by UWL's Peter Kissling in the second quarter, who returned it 41-yards to the UW-Platteville 13-yard line with :30 left in the quarter. One play later, David connected with Tripp Soma for a 13-yard touchdown pass to give UWL a 14-3 halftime lead.

UW-Platteville was forced to punt on its first drive of the third quarter and UWL took a 17-3 advantage with Bryce Wesling hitting a 25-yard field goal with 9:40 left in the third quarter. The Eagles went 72 yards in 11 plays and 3:35. UWL forced another punt on the next possession of the game and David threw his third touchdown pass of the game, a 20-yard connection to Holcomb, to give the Eagles a 24-3 lead with 6:30 remaining in the third quarter. UWL went 75 yards in five plays and 1:33.

The Pioneers cut the lead to 24-10 with 14:03 remaining in the game as Sean Studer scored on a 14-yard run. UW-Platteville took eight plays to go 62 yards in 2:10.  The teams traded field goals on the game's next two drives. Wesling converted from 20-yards out with 9:08 left to give UWL a 27-10 lead while Pratl's 19-yard field goal with 6:21 remaining cut the lead to 27-13.

UWL was forced to punt on its next drive and UW-Platteville cut the lead to 27-20 as Cade Earl threw a 11-yard touchdown pass to Tim Jansen with 2:11 remaining.

UWL finished with 387 yards of offense Saturday, including 121 rushing and 266 passing. The Eagles had 22 first downs. David went 14-of-23 for 266 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for a team-high 71 yards on 16 attempts.
 

Holcomb caught seven passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns. With the two touchdown catches, Holcomb ties the single-season record of 14 with Paul Kling (1994) and Scott Burnoski (2004). Holcomb now ranks third in school history with 22 career touchdown catches. Burnoski (2001-04) holds the school record with 30 while Kling (1992-94) ranks second with 24. Holcomb now has 1,050 receiving yards this year, second in single-season school history. Burnoski had a school record 1,100 yards in 2003.

UW-Platteville totaled 504 yards of offense, including 154 rushing and 350 passing. The Pioneers finished with 31 first downs, but had four turnovers (two fumbles, two interceptions). Eddy went 17-of-26 for 157 yards with one interception while Earl finished 18-of-24 for 193 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Studer had 94 yards rushing and one touchdown on 14 attempts. Tim Jansen caught six passes for 90 yards and one touchdown while Zack Rappel had seven catches for 87 yards. Tyler Knigge finished with eight receptions for 86 yards and Mark Johnson caught nine for 57 yards.

Jacob Krueger led UWL with 10 tackles while Risch finished with seven tackles, including 2.0 for loss, 1.0 quarterback sack, one forced and one fumble recovery. Kissling had a pair of interceptions for the Eagles. 

Sean Parker averaged 39.4 yards on seven punts while finishing with four inside the 20-yard line. He had a long of 50-yards.

Chandler Crary led UW-Platteville with eight tackles.  Connor Foley averaged 40.8 yards on four punts with a long of 47.

UWL returns to action Saturday, November 4 hosting UW-Stout at 1 p.m. for Veterans' Day/Senior Day.