Pioneers set to open season in Texas

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Pioneers set to open season in Texas
August 29, 2018
The game: The University of Wisconsin-Platteville opens the 2018 football season at East Texas Baptist University (ETBU) in Marshall, Texas on Thursday, Aug. 30 at 7:00 p.m. in Ornelas Stadium.
 
Click here for the live stream of UW-Platteville at ETBU.
 
The rankings: UW-Platteville is ranked 16th in the preseason d3football.com poll. ETBU is unranked, but received votes in the poll.
 
Last year: The Pioneers finished 7-3 and remained ranked in the Top 25 nationally for the majority of the season after narrow falls to UW-La Crosse, UW-Whitewater, and the 2017 National Runner-Up UW Oshkosh.
 
Last meeting:  This is the teams' first match up and the first time to Texas for the Pioneers since traveling to Kingsville in 1970 for the NAIA Semifinals against Texas A&I. Texas A&I advanced to the finals to win the national title that year.
 
Streaking: UW-Platteville has won all 19 of its season openers under Coach Mike Emendorfer. The last time the Pioneers dropped their first game came during the 1998 season, a 21-14 setback at Lakeland.
 
Season Openers Under Mike Emendorfer
 1999           W         20-17       Lakeland
2000           W         26-19       at Mount Senario
2001           W         64-0         Mount Senario
2002           W         17-6         at Olivet Nazarene
2003           W         27-24       Olivet Nazarene
2004           W         40-14       at Thiel
2005           W         26-0         Dubuque
2006           W         34-20       at Dubuque
2007           W         16-6         St. Ambrose
2008           W         21-14       at Buena Vista
2009           W         15-10       Buena Vista
2010           W         31-2         at Buena Vista
2011           W         38-3         Buena Vista
2012           W         56-13       at Buena Vista
2013           W         42-17       Buena Vista
2014           W         63-3         at Buena Vista
2015           W         49-13       Buena Vista
2016           W         35-0         at George Fox
2017           W         30-28       George Fox
 
The Pioneers: The Pioneers return eight starters on offense and nine on defense.  This also includes a First Team All-WIAC, senior punter, Connor Foley as well as two Second Team Offense/Special-Teams selections in receiver Mark Johnson, and a Second Team selection with defensive back Luke Johnson. In addition, Foley and Johnson received d3football.com All-West Region selections for the 2017 season as well as earned Preseason All- American accolades.
 
Mark Johnson totaled 93 receptions and 1,218 receiving yards, both UW-Platteville single season highs. Averaging 13.1 yards per reception, Johnson was able to connect for 11 touchdowns in 2017.
 
Also expect to see a lot from senior receiver Tim Jansen (averaged 70.9 yards per game with eight touchdowns in 2017) and junior receiver Tyler Knigge (averaged 24.5 yards per game and scored his first college career touchdown in 2017).
 
Additional key players on offense include junior lineman, Nick Broadhurst with plans to see running backs sophomore Bo Babich (averaged 28.3 yards per game with three touchdowns last season), senior Sean Studer (rushed for a total 577 yards and six touchdowns in 2017), and senior Wyatt Thompson (averaged 37.2 yards per game with three rushed into the end zone).
 
The Pioneers' kicker and the punter return to lead the special teams. Mike Pratl made 34 PATs while Connor Foley averaged 41.3 yards per punt last season.
 
On defense, senior linebackers Ben Mogilevsky (54 tackles in 2017), and Clayton Becker (40 tackles in 2017), junior defensive back Luke Johnson who totaled 35 tackles and 4 interceptions returned for 45 yards last season,  and junior lineman Alex Rezny will lead the team with notables from defensive backs senior Josh Mackie and junior Tyler Reinhardt, senior lineman Donovan Nathaniel, and senior linebacker Cleveland Redd. In all, the Pioneers' defense held opponents to 2,715 total offense compared to their own 4,076 in the 2017 season. 
 
The Tigers: 
Last season, ETBU finished 7-3 for the third straight year. The Tigers averaged 49.6 points per game to their opponents' 31.0. Under new head coach Brian Mayper, ETBU has new coordinators in Jason Bachtel (offense) and Calvin Ruzicka (defense).
 
On offense, senior quarterback Brian Baca will lead the offense after averaging 186.7 yards per game and completing 132 of 201 attempts in the 2017 season with five interceptions in ten games. He was also the team's leading rusher with 94 carries for 286 yards and four touchdowns. Baca will look to senior receivers Richard Johnson (First Team All-ASC) and Tarek Beaugard (All-ASC HM). Johnson averaged 107 yards per game for a total of 15 touchdowns in 2017. Beaugard finished 2017 averaging 87.7 yards and nine touchdowns.
 
On defense, an experienced class of seniors include left end Zack Walker, middle linebacker Garret Gibson, and safeties Hardy Hill and Zack Biles. In all, ETBU's defense held its opponents to 31 points per game to its own 49.6 and forced 101 points off turnovers.
 
Odds and ends:
  • The Pioneers outscored their opponents by 100 points in their seven wins last year while their three losses came by a combined 22 points.
  • UW-Platteville was picked for third in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, behind defending league champion and defending national runner-up, UW Oshkosh (ranked fourth in d3football.com Top 25 poll) and UW-Whitewater, also ranked 12 in the D3football.com poll.
  • The ‪2018 UW-Platteville Football team took the pledge to #SetTheExpectation. A nationally recognized campaign and pledge taken by college athletes that is focused on combatting sexual and physical violence.  Founder Brenda Tracy visited campus in the spring and the team took the pledge in August.
  • Looking ahead, the Pioneers have a bye week and then hit the road again to play the second game of the season at Thomas Moore in Crestview Hills, Kentucky, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio on Sept. 15 at noon.
  • The Pioneers' first home game is Sept. 22 at 6 p.m. against Lakeland, and will once again host a Saturday night under the lights.
 
D3football.com poll:
Rank
School (No. 1 votes)
2017 record
Points
  
1
15-0
623
2
14-1
587
3
11-2
549
4
12-1
548
5
9-2
488
6
13-1
453
7
10-2
442
8
11-2
419
9
10-2
397
10
9-2
353
 
11
9-2
351
 
12
7-3
322
 
13
12-1
284
 
14
10-1
263
 
15
11-1
224
 
16
7-3
210
 
17
12-1
208
 
18
8-2
195
 
19
9-2
181
 
20
11-1
175
 
21
9-2
146
 
22
11-1
137
 
23
11-1
102
 
24
10-1
52
 
25
8-3
49
 
 
Others receiving votes: Springfield 41; John Carroll 41; Concordia-Moorhead 39; East Texas Baptist 27; UW-La Crosse 27; Alfred 23; Huntingdon 21; Franklin 20; Washington & Lee 16; Wabash 15; Ohio Northern 14; Centre 13; Ithaca 13; Framingham State 11; George Fox 11; Salisbury 8; Baldwin Wallace 8; DePauw 7; Millikin 3; Redlands 3; Whitworth 3; St. John Fisher 2; Thomas More 1