La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team, ranked third on this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll, opened its Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) season with a 30-27 overtime loss to 24th-ranked UW-Platteville Saturday afternoon at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. The Eagles drop to 2-2 overall while the Pioneers improve to 4-0 overall. 

The loss snaps UWL's 13-game conference winning streak. The Eagles went 7-0 in 2023 and 6-1 in 2022 with their last league defeat coming to start the 2022 season with a 34-31 loss to UW-Whitewater on October 1.

Each team punted on its first possession. UWL drove to the UW-Platteville 30-yard line, but Zach Weir was sacked on fourth-down. After a pair of punts, the Pioneers' Zackary Bothun fumbled at the Eagles' 42-yard line on a force by Tanner Newlin and Brennan Goralski returned it 49-yards to UW-Platteville's 10-yard line. On the second play of the drive, Kyle Haas' was intercepted by Ollie Hughes in the Pioneers' end-zone. The game remained scoreless after the opening quarter.

UW-Platteville took a 3-0 lead with 3:17 left in the second quarter on Trevor Schulz' 24-yard field goal. The Pioneers went 69 yards in 13 plays and 6:47. The Eagles took their first lead of the game with :15 remaining as Haas scored on a nine-yard touchdown run. Michael Stack converted the extra-point as the drive went 44 yards in seven plays and 2:55. 

UWL led, 7-3, at halftime. 

Ryan Daines intercepted Michael Priami on UW-Platteville's opening drive of the third quarter, returning it 22-yards to the Pioneers' 10-yard line. Gabe Lynch scored on the next play to give the Eagles a 14-3 lead with 13:33 left in the third quarter. UW-Platteville punted on its next possession, but UWL turned the ball over on downs after an incomplete pass on fourth-and-three. 

On the next play from scrimmage, Priami connected with Brandt Stare on a 78-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 14-9 with 4:36 left. The extra-point was blocked. The game remained, 14-9, after three quarters. 

Stack's 26-yard field goal with 13:18 remaining in th game extended UWL's lead to 17-9. The Eagles went 13 plays and 67 yards in 6:18. UW-Platteville punted and UWL needed three plays to take a 24-9 lead after Lynch scored on a 47-yard run with 9:58 left. Priami was intercepted by Adam Quam on the Pioneers' next drive with the Eagles taking over at their own 43-yard line. UWL was forced to punt and UW-Platteville cut the deficit to 24-16 with 6:20 remaining as Priami and Brandt Stare connected on a 42-yard touchdown pass. The Pioneers used five plays and 1:40 go 85 yards. 

After another UWL punt, UW-Platteville took over at its own 15-yard line with 3:13 left. The Pioneers used nine plays to go 85 yards in 1:55 to the game. UWL was called for pass interference on fourth-and-six to extend the drive to the Pioneers' 46-yard line. Two plays later, Priami and Carter Olson combined a 40-yard touchdown pass with 1:18 left to make it 24-22. Priami hit Brandt Stare on the two-point conversion.

Stack's 58-yard field goal attempt on the final play of the game was short and the game headed into overtime. 

UWL had the first drive of overtime, but after not converting a third-and-four, Stack gave the Eagles a 27-24 lead on a 37-yard field goal. On the first play of UW-Platteville's possession, Brandt Stare threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Doherty off a double pass to give the Pioneers the 30-27 victory. 

UWL finished with 340 yards of offense, including 168 rushing and 172 passing. The Eagles had 23 first downs and finished six-of-16 on third-down. UWL won the time of possession, 37:33 to 22:27. 
 

Hass went 12-of-18 for 87 yards with one interception while rushing for 28 yards on four carries and one touchdown. Weir finished nine-of-14 for 85 yards. Lynch totaled 120 yards rushing on 24 attempts and two touchdowns. Jack Studer (74 yards) and Keaton Arendt (33) each had four catches. Wyatt LeMoine (31), Braedon Ott (16) and Jack Janke (14) finished with three receptions. 

Daines led UWL with nine tackles, including 3.0 for loss and an interception. Tate Pitcher finished with five tackles. 

UW-Platteville totaled 421 yards with 38 rushing and 383 passing. The Pioneers finished with 16 first downs and went three-of-12 on third-down. 

Priami finished 28-of-43 for 358 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. Bothun had a team-high 26 yards rushing on 11 carries while Brandt Stare totaled seven catches for 189 yards and two touchdowns. Olson also grabbed seven passes for 65 yards and one touchdown while Garrett Stare finished with six receptions for 72 yards. 

Will Straka and Logan Drone led the Pioneers with 11 tackles each. Straka, Riley Christensen and Aidan Sproule each had 2.0 tackles for loss. 

UWL drops to 11-9 all-time in overtime contests after Saturday's loss. The Eagles last played in overtime in 2019, earning back-to-back victories over Concordia-Moorhead, Minn. (21-14) and Illinois Wesleyan University (33-27 in double overtime). 

UWL returns to action Saturday, October 12 at UW-Oshkosh at 1 p.m.