Platteville improves to 3-1 at Pioneer stadium this year as they knock off River Falls 38-17 on Saturday. The win puts Platteville at 5-3 overall and guarantees them their first .500 finish since 2006.
On paper, the game was even but it was the big play capability of the Pioneers that made the difference. Platteville scored three touchdowns of over 45 yards and opened up scoring by returning a blocked punt for a touchdown. The Falcons were nearly even in total yardage, dominated time of possession, and won the turnover battle but just could not stop Platteville from executing the big plays.
The Falcons fell behind 24-0 at the half but kept battling and cut the lead to 31-17 in the fourth quarter. With the clock ticking away, the Falcons were hoping to get one final chance to complete the comeback as the Pioneers faced a third-and-11 at the 47. Then, in one instance, the momentum was gone as Nick Anderson found Lee Vlasak in the end zone for the second time of the afternoon on a 47 yard touchdown pass. Vlasak created headaches all day for the Falcons as he also added a 68 yard touchdown run in the first quarter. In all, Vlasak put up 205 all-purpose yards and three scores.
Greg Klingelhutz (Chanhassen, MN, Holy Family) set another pair of WIAC kick return records in the loss. On the first return of the day, Klingelhutz went for 13 yards which made him the WIAC All-Time leader in kick return yards. He finished with 105 yards in returns which also gives him the most return yards in a single season in the history of the league.
Offensively, Taylor Edwards (Janesville, Parker) rushed for over 100 yards for the sixth time in 2010 bringing him within 150 yards of the 1,000 yard mark for the second consecutive season. Sophomore running back, John Schimenz (Brown Deer, Brown Deer) took the ball eight times for 60 yards and added his third score of the year. Ryan Luessenheide (New Hope, MN, Cooper) added the final score for the Falcons on his sixth rushing touchdown of his career.
Nate Smits (Hudson, Hudson) has a huge day for the defense making eight solo tackles, three for a loss, grabbed his first sack of the season, and forced a fumble which was recovered by Ryan Bartsch (Cameron, Cameron). As a unit, the defense had seven tackles for a loss including two by Keith Lofgren (Esko, MN, Fond du Lac CC).
The Falcons played well enough to win but the big play kept getting to them all afternoon as they fall to 0-8 on the season and 0-5 in the conference. Up next, the Falcons host Stevens Point in John O' Grady's final home game of his 22nd year as head coach of River Falls. O'Grady has been involved with Falcon football for 37 years and will make his final appearance on the sidelines of Ramer Field on Saturday at 1:00 P.M.
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