Platteville, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team dropped its first game of the season Saturday afternoon with a 38-21 loss to UW-Platteville at Pioneer Stadium. The Eagles, ranked fourth on this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll, falls to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC).

The Pioneers, ranked 13th in the country, improve to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the conference. It is UW-Platteville's 10th win in the last 15 meetings with UWL.

UWL scored on the first possession of the game with Kyle Haas throwing a 60-yard touchdown pass to Jack Janke with 12:59 left in the first quarter. Michael Stack converted the extra-point. The drive went 77 yards in six plays and 1:56.

UW-Platteville also scored on its first drive, going 77 yards and 4:05 in eight plays as Nathan Uselding scored on a nine-yard run with 8:51 remaining in the quarter. Brady Mobley made the extra point. After a UWL punt, UW-Platteville took a 14-7 lead with 3:12 left in the first quarter on Uselding's 30-yard touchdown pass to Trevor Syse on fourth-and-10. The Pioneers went 65 yards in eight plays and 4:03.

After three punts in the game, the Pioneers extended their lead to 21-7 with 2:19 remaining in the second quarter as Uselding threw a one-yard touchdown pass to Kristian Gavric. UW-Platteville used 13 plays to 90 yards in 7:02.

The Eagles cut their halftime deficit to 21-14 with :24 left after Haas scored on a nine-yard touchdown run. UWL went 75 yards in nine plays and 1:55.

Uselding opened the second half with a 31-yard touchdown to Syse with 11:44 left in the third quarter, converting a fourth-and-11 play to make it 28-14. The Pioneers went six plays and 74 yards in 3:14.

The game remained 28-14 until Mobley's 39-yard field goal with 13:41 remaining in the fourth quarter to make it 31-14. The scoring drive went 19 yards in five plays and 1:28. UWL cut the deficit to 31-21 with 10:10 left on a Janke four-yard touchdown pass from Haas. The Eagles went 75 yards in nine plays and 3:31.

Sam Baumgard intercepted Uselding on UW-Platteville's ensuing drive, but UWL turned the ball over as Haas fumbled on a sack with Logan Drone recovering. On the next play from scrimmage, Blake Bangston scored on a 16-yard run with 7:09 left in the game for a 38-21 lead.

UWL finished with 348 yards, including 49 rushing and 299 passing. The Eagles had 16 first downs and were nine-of-16 on third-down.

Haas went 31-of-41 for 299 yards with two touchdowns while Janke caught nine passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns. Tyler Bowman had six receptions for 44 yards and Brodie Mickschl finished with five catches for 62 yards. Owen Leitel had 21 yards rushing on six carries while Braedon Ott finished with 20 yards on nine attempts.

Tyler Burkley led UWL's defense with seven tackles.

UW-Platteville totaled 455 yards of offense with 284 rushing and 171 passing. The Pioneers finished with 24 first downs while going three-of-nine on third-down. The team was two-of-two on fourth-down. UW-Platteville won the time of possession, 34:31 to 25:29.

Uselding went 12-of-16 passing for 171 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. He also had a team-high 113 rushing yards on nine carries with one touchdown. Bangston  had 105 yards rushing on 19 attempts with one touchdown. Syse caught five passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns. 

Rodney Gavins Jr., Ollie Hughes and Ethan Bode led UW-Platteville with six tackles each.

UWL returns to action Saturday, October 25 hosting 18^th-ranked UW-Oshkosh at 2 p.m.