2002 UW-Platteville Football Review
For most of the 2002 season, the UW-Platteville Pioneers felt like the Bill Murray character in the movie, "Groundhog Day." In the movie, Murray's character wakes up to the same day (Feb. 2) over and over. Nothing he does seems to change the course of events on that fateful day. The Pioneers felt like the last six weeks of the 2002 campaign were all on Groundhog Day.
After opening the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference season with a thrilling 34-31 overtime win over league favorite UW-Stout, the Pioneers suffered six straight losses, all in similar fashion. Twice the Pioneers lost in overtime on the road (at UW-La Crosse and UW-Stevens Point). They also saw UW-Eau Claire score with 1:10 remaining and UW-Oshkosh with 25 seconds left to beat UWP. The other two losses were by three points to UW-Whitewater and five points to UW-River Falls.
Although the final record of 2-7 overall and 1-6 in league play is nothing to celebrate, the Pioneers had plenty of highlights during the year, including:
*Six players made the all-WIAC team. Wide receiver Matt Kent was a first team selection, while junior quarterback Tom Stetzer and senior linemen Andy Paulsen and Stu Herbst earned second team honors, while junior linebacker Mitch Repka and sophomore kicker Jason Borchardt were honorable mention selection.
*Mitch Repka earned Verizon Academic All-District 5 honors. Repka led the team in tackles for the second consecutive season. He registered 82 tackles, with highs of 18 vs. UW-Eau Claire and 12 vs. UW-Whitewater.
*Matt Kent was named to the D3Football.com team not once but twice. Kent became the first Pioneer to surpass 1,000 receiving yards. He gained 1,139 yards on 65 catches, despite playing in just eight full games and a few plays of an ninth. Kent also broke a Pioneer record with 288 yards against UW-Whitewater, which also included four receiving touchdowns. He led the WIAC in receptions, receiving yards and scoring (13 touchdowns and 82 points). Kent finished third in the nation in receiving yards, 19th in catches and 31st in scoring.
*Stetzer led the league and finished second in NCAA Division III in total offense at 348.4 yards per game. He threw for 2,925 yards and 19 touchdowns. The Pioneer leader holds almost every school passing and total offense records. He has thrown for 7,634 yards in his three years and gained more than 8,000 total yards.
*Borchardt led the conference in field goals by making 10 of 11. He also connected on 23 of 24 extra-point attempts. The only two kicks he missed all year were blocked. Borchardt was 7-8 on field goals from 20-29 yards and 3-3 on attempts from 30-39 yards.
*As a team, the Pioneers led the league in total offense at 398.1 yards per game and finished second in scoring offense at 28.3 points per contest. The offensive line allowed just 17 sacks in 479 passing plays, an average of one sack for every 28 times a pass play was called.
The most notable achievement for UW-Platteville, however, may have been the knowledge gained that the Pioneers can play even-up with every single WIAC team, and with a solid core of key players returning, the Pioneers look to write a better script for 2003.