Pioneers Second Half Rally Falls Short at No. 5 UW-River Falls

RIVER FALLS, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville football team suffered a 27-16 defeat at UW-River Falls in its Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener at Smith Stadium at Ramer Field. Trailing 21-3 in the third quarter, the Pioneers combined consecutive touchdown passes along with an interception to cut the Falcons' lead to 21-16 going into the fourth quarter.

The Falcons (4-0, 1-0), which are ranked No. 5 in the AFCA and No. 6 in the D3football.com rankings, entered the game averaging 52.3 points a game and allowing 202.7 total yards per game, with a staggering 16.7 yards rushing. The Pioneers (2-2, 0-1) posted 385 yards total offense on Saturday while UW-River falls totaled 489.

Offensively, the Pioneers bypassed the Falcons defense by posting 360 yards, a season-high of any team. UW-River Falls entered the day allowing 186 yards per game in the air. Staying true, the Falcons held the Pioneers run game to a net 25 yards.

On defense, the Pioneers held the Falcons to less than 100 net rushing yards with 98. Averaging 93 plays a game, UW-Platteville worked to slow UW-River Falls offense's infamous pace-of-play and forced them to seek more opportunities in the air. All four of the Falcons' touchdowns came off Kaleb Blaha passes.    

After a scoreless first quarter, the Pioneers were first on the board with a 44-yard Andrew Schweigert field goal.

UW-River Falls answered quickly with a seven-play, 75-yard drive in two minutes that concluded with a 14-yard pass from Blaha to Mason Van Zeeland.

The Pioneers went for a 38-yard field goal on the ensuing drive, but were unsuccessful.

The Falcons scored once more with a 10-yard pass from Blaha to Jake Hilton to extend the lead to 14-3.

At the end of the first half, the Pioneers had seven chances inside UW-River Falls' four-yard line because of pass interference, but were unable to break the plane to cut the deficit.

The Falcons scored on a 44-yard pass in the second half's opening drive to extend the lead to 21-3.

UW-Platteville answered with a 75-yard, eight-play drive. Michael Priami went 6-of-8 in the drive and finished with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Brandt Stare.

Controlling the momentum, Colton Ingram intercepted Blaha in the following drive at the Pioneers' 20-yard line.

The Pioneers used the turnover to march 71-yards in nine plays for another touchdown. Priami was 6-of-7 in the drive and hit Ryan Doherty for a two-yard touchdown pass. A failed two-point conversion attempt left the score at 21-16 with 3:41 left in the third frame.

Blaha connected with Hilton again for a 12-yard pass to extend the Falcons' lead to 27-16 with 8:30 left in the game.

Not slowing down, the Pioneers made it to the redzone once again with Priami going 5-of-5 along with a five-yard carry, but Michael Brown stopped UW-Platteville's hopes of a comeback when the Falcon intercepted Priami at UW-River Falls five-yard line.

The Falcons ate up the remaining six minutes to hold on to the lead and their perfect season record.

Priami was 35-of-53 for a career-high 360 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.

Blaha completed 26-of-39 passes for 377 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. Blaha added a game-high 88 yards off 32 carries.

Brandt Stare finished the day with 106 receiving yards off eight catches with one touchdown. Zackary Bothun had a team-high 21 yards off five carries.

Riley Christensen had a team-high nine tackles. Justin Blazek tallied seven tackles including one sack for a loss of seven yards. Samuel Tausz also registered seven tackles and one sack for a loss of 12 yards.

Cade Schmidt led the Falcons defense with nine tackles, including one tackle for loss.

Notably, the Pioneers offensive line did not allow a single sack in the game.

UW-Platteville will return to action and Ralph E. Davis Pioneer Stadium next Saturday, Oct. 7 when they take on UW-Stevens Point at 1 p.m. in the 2023 homecoming game.