UW-L Opens Conference Season with Third Straight Loss

For Immediate Release: Saturday, October 13, 2007

Platteville, Wis. – The UW-La Crosse football team dropped its third straight Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) game to start the season with a 37-34 loss at UW-Platteville Saturday afternoon at Ralph E. Davis Pioneer Stadium. It marks the first time since 1963 the Eagles have started 0-3 in conference play. UW-L, now 2-3 overall, have lost its three league games by 12 points. UW-Platteville improved to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in the WIAC.

UW-Platteville's Tony Smidl hit a 17-yard field goal with :03 remaining for final margin as UW-L suffered its second straight loss on a late field goal. The Eagles fell 31-29 at UW-Eau Claire October 6 on a 46-yard field goal with :24 left.

UW-L, ranked 18th on D3football.com, tied Saturday's game at 34-34 with 6:39 remaining as the Eagles went 56 yards in three plays with Dan Hall scoring his third touchdown of the game, on a one-yard run. Dylan Rude converted the extra-point. After the teams traded punts, UW-Platteville took over on its own 21-yard line with 2:52 remaining. The Pioneers were third-and-11 on their own 20-yard line when quarterback Joe Burkeland rushed for 20 yards and a first down. Burkeland then had a 29-yard run on third-and-11 at his own 39-yard line and Mike Genslinger added a 19-yard run to put UW-Platteville in field goal position, setting up Smidl's game-winning field goal.

After forcing a UW-L punt on the first possession of the game, UW-Platteville went 66 yards on 11 plays with Burkeland scoring on a six-yard run. The Eagles came right back, driving 60 yards in four plays as Hall scored on a four-yard run. Rude's extra-point attempt was blocked. Burkeland scored his second touchdown of the quarter on the Pioneers' next possession, scoring on a seven-yard run to make it 14-6. Burkeland scored for the third time in the opening quarter, this time on a three-yard run, to give UW-Platteville a 21-6 lead.

The scoring wasn't done in the quarter as UW-L went 86 yards on seven plays with Griffin Moe hitting Ted Everson with a nine-yard touchdown pass with 1:36 remaining. Moe hit Garrett Mueller with the two-point conversion to make it 21-14 at the end of the first period.

The Eagles' cut the margin to 21-20 early in the second as Eric Donoval scored on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Moe. Rude's extra-pont was missed. UW-Platteville's Smidl converted a 25-yard field goal with 7:13 remaining in the second quarter to give the Pioneers a 24-20 lead, but Hall gave the Eagles a 27-24 lead with :44 left in the half as he scored on a one-yard run. Brett Nagan's extra-point was good.

Smidl tied the contest with 9:58 left in the third as he made a 31-yard field goal. After the teams traded several possessions, Moe was intercepted by the Pioneers' Brandon Willger with 12:40 remaining in the fourth quarter at the UW-L 34-yard line. Genslinger scored on a 10-yard run four plays later and UW-Platteville led 34-27 with 11:16 left.

UW-L finished with 446 yards of offense, including 154 rushing and 292 passing. Hall had 24 carries for 123 yards and three touchdowns for the Eagles while Moe was 19-of-32 passing for 292 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Everson finished with nine catches for a school record 237 yards and one touchdown. Everson's 237 yards breaks the single-game school record of 229 yards by Craig Crest set November 1, 1980 against UW-Whitewater. Alex Seguin was 0-of-2 passing for UW-L.

UW-Platteville totaled 553 yards of offense, including 320 yards rushing and 233 passing. The Pioneers averaged 6.0 yards per rushing attempt. Burkeland had 19 rushes for 151 yards and three touchdowns while Genslinger finished with 149 yards rushing on 27 attempts and one touchdown. John Akim was 13-of-26 passing for 206 yards.

The Pioneers finished with 29 first downs to the Eagles' 19 and held a 34:44-25:16 time of possession advantage. UW-L was three-of-14 on third-down and five-of-six in red-zone opportunities while UW-Platteville finished eight-of-17 on third-down and converted on all seven of its red-zone chances.

Eric Filter and Joe Troia each had 10 tackles for UW-L.

UW-L returns to action Saturday, October 20 hosting UW-Oshkosh at 1 p.m. on Family, Friends & Alumni Weekend.