Platteville, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team fell 38-20 at UW-Platteville Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Stadium in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) opener for both teams. UWL drops to 2-2 overall while UW-Platteville improves to 4-0. UWL entered the game ranked 16th on D3football.com and 20th in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) while UW-Platteville was receiving votes on D3football.com and ranked 24th in the AFCA. 

UWL took the opening kickoff and drove to UW-Platteville's 22-yard line, but a bad snap on an attempted field goal gave the Pioneers the ball at their own 25-yard line. After forcing a UW-Platteville punt, UWL took a 7-0 lead as it went 80 yards in 10 plays and 4:33 as Evan Lewandowski threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Joey Stutzman with 2:26 left in the first quarter.   

The Pioneers tied the game with 13:05 remaining in the second quarter with Colin Schuetz throwing a 35-yard touchdown pass to Bo Babich. UW-Platteville went 70 yards in eight plays and 4:21.  The Eagles regained the lead on the next play from scrimmage with Lewandowski connecting with Cameron Sorenson on a 46-yard touchdown pass with 12:49 remaining in the second quarter.  The extra-point was missed giving UWL a 13-7 lead.

UWL took a 20-7 advantage with 6:23 left in the first half when Lewandowski scored on a six-yard run. The drive went 70 yards in nine plays and 4:49.  Lewandowski was intercepted on the Eagles' next possession with the Pioneers taking over at UWL's 15-yard line on Caleb Hanson's 43-yard return.  Schuetz hit Tyler Knigge on a 15-yard touchdown pass with 4:48 remaining in the second quarter to cut the lead to 20-14. UW-Platteville drove to UWL's five-yard line in the final seconds of the first half, but failed to score as UWL took a 20-14 halftime advantage. 

The Pioneers took their first lead of the game on the first play from scrimmage to start the second half with Donald Allender scoring on a 90-yard touchdown pass from Schuetz.  Lewandowski was intercepted by Walter Ollie on UWL's first possession of the third quarter with Ollie returning it 39-yards for a touchdown and 28-20 lead. UW-Platteville took a 31-20 lead on Andrew Schweige's 33-ayrd field goal with :15 left in the third quarter. 

Lewandowski was intercepted by Luke Johnson early in the fourth quarter. One play later, Wyatt Thompson scored on a 50-yard run with 11:07 left to give UW-Platteville a 38-20 lead.  Lewandowski was intercepted on UWL's next three possessions.

UWL finished with 355 yards, including 97 rushing and 258 passing.  The Eagles totaled 23 first downs and won the time of possession, 34:09 to 25:51. UWL was four-of-14 on third-down and missed both of its fourth-down attempts.

Lewandowski finished 17-of-40 for 246 yards with two touchdowns and six interceptions. The six interceptions are the second-most in a game by a UWL quarterback. Mark Capstran finished with seven interceptions versus UW-Oshkosh on November 2, 1985. 

Stutzman led UWL with 55 yards rushing on 17 carries. while Cole Spieker had a team-high five catches for 73 yards. Dominic Labellarte (55 yards) and Jake Simuncak (54) each had four catches.  Simuncak had 237 all-purpose yards, totaling 54 receiving, 138 on kickoff returns and 45 on punt returns.

UW-Platteville totaled 379 yards of offense, including 58 rushing and 321 passing. The team finished with 15 first downs while going four-of-14 on third-down.  The Pioneers converted their only fourth-down attempt. 

Schuetz went 22-of-38 for 321 yards with three touchdowns Saturday. Knigge (81 yards) and Thompson (35) each had five catches with Knigge finishing with one touchdown cach.  Allender had three catches for 123 yards and one touchdown.  Thompson finished with 68 yards rushing and one touchdown on 14 carries.

Zach Pierce led UWL with seven tackles with Max Brower, Ryan Flathers and Noah Schober each having five. Flathers had a pair of quarterback sacks and forced a fumble. 

Tyler Reinhardt had nine tackles for UW-Platteville while also finishing with 2.0 tackles for loss, 1.0 quarterback sack and one interception.

UWL returns to action Saturday, October 12 hosting UW-Stout at 1:05 p.m. on Family Weekend.