Pioneers Drop 34-14 Decision to No. 1 UW-Whitewater

Despite missing nine injured starters, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville became the first WIAC team to play No. 1 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater even in the first half in four years before the two-time defending NCAA III national champion Warhawks pulled away for a 34-14 victory on Saturday afternoon.

A 35-yard halfback pass from Chad Roscoe to Paul Reit with 20 seconds left in the first half brought the Pioneers to a 14-14 tie and stunned the 10,622 Perkins Stadium fans that included a large crew wearing orange and blue.

The loss dropped the Pioneers to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the WIAC. Both losses have come against teams ranked in the top seven of the D3football.com poll. The Warhawks improved to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the WIAC with their 34th straight win, the longest in any NCAA division.

"We just ran out of gas," UW-Platteville head coach Mike Emendorfer said. "We are proud of our kids, we battled, but we just ran out of firepower."

Although the visitors could have been content with the tied halftime score, they went all out for the win in the second half. Four times the Pioneers tried to convert fourth-down plays, and although all four came up just short, their moxie impressed UW-Whitewater head coach Lance Leipold.

"They're pretty banged up coming into this thing, and they played very hard, good football game, and gave us everything we could handle for a very long time," Leipold told the Wisconsin State Journal.

UW-Platteville went ahead early when John Kelly, who earned the start due to injury to the top two quarterbacks for the Pioneers, who found an open Reit for his first of two touchdown receptions on the afternoon to put the Pioneers up by a 7-0 margin. To set up the Pioneer touchdown, Nate Breiby intercepted a UW-Whitewater pass in the endzone to end an early UW-Whitewater threat.

Next, the Warhawks scored on their next two possessions to take a 14-7 lead. Late in the first half, with just 59 seconds remaining, Kelly marched the Pioneers down the field. He started the drive with a 14-yard scamper to move into UW-Whitewater territory. Next, he found Reit for a 10-yard completion and first down. Following two UW-Platteville timeouts and two more rushes by the Pioneers, with 20 seconds left in the half, Kelly threw a backwards pass to running back Roscoe. Then, Roscoe moved to his right and fired a pass down field to Reit for a 35-yard score. A successful point-after attempt by Zach Litchfield tied the game at 14.

With the game tied at half, it was the first time since Sept. 29, 2007 that UW-Whitewater trailed or was tied at the halftime break in a WIAC contest. Furthermore, the tie marked the first time UW-W had not led at the intermission since a 7-7 tie at North Central College in the NCAA III playoff quarterfinals December 4, 2010. Through the first half, the Pioneers had held the Warhawks to 222 yards of total offense.

UW-Whitewater regained the lead when the Warhawks' Eric Kindler made a 47-yard field goal to start the third quarter. The Pioneer defense held UW-Whitewater to just 39 yards on 10 plays.

Next, Kelly led the Pioneers down the field but came up short on 4th down for the first time of the afternoon. UW-Whitewater added to its lead when Kindler made his second field goal of the afternoon.

Facing a 20-14 deficit, UW-Platteville came back and marched down the field in search of a go-ahead touchdown. Kelly ran for 11 yards to start the drive; next he found tight end Jake Wiederholt for a 23-yard completion. The two plays moved the ball into the Whitewater side of the ball at the 36-yard line. However, the Pioneers were unable to get any points on the drive.

UW-Whitewater added to its lead with a six play, 63-yard drive to stretch the lead to 27-14, later in the quarter.

Kelly, again, moved the Pioneers into Whitewater territory with a balance of running the ball and his arm. For the fourth time of the half, the Pioneers drive ended on fourth down.

The Pioneers bottled up UW-Whitewater running back Levell Coppedge for most of the contest, who minus three fourth quarters carries, was held to just 27 carries and 103 yards on the ground. He scored on a 41-yard touchdown run, late in the fourth quarter, to put the Warhawks ahead by a 34-14 margin and finished with 168 yards.

As per tradition, the contest between the two teams is the annual George Chryst Bowl in memory of the former UW-Platteville football coach (1979-1992). The teams play for a pick axe similar to the tradition between Wisconsin and Minnesota's football team's.

Paul Reit, who caught four passes for 81 yards and two touchdowns, was named the UW-Platteville Offensive MVP by the assembled media, and Jacob Zilbar, who in his first collegiate start made 10 stops, was named the UW-Platteville Defensive MVP of the game.

A replay of the game will air on Fox Sports North and Fox Sports Wisconsin on Tuesday, October 4th at 7 p.m.