MONTGOMERY, Ill. – In a battle of ranked opponents, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville football team, ranked No. 14 by the AFCA and No. 15 by D3Football.com, defeated No. 22 Aurora University 41-0 Saturday afternoon at the Spartan Athletic Park. The victory marks the second straight season-opening shutout for the Pioneers, following last year's 65-0 win over Lakeland.

In the highly anticipated meeting between the two ranked opponents, the Pioneers (1-0) pulled ahead 21-0 after the first quarter and went on to blank the Spartans (0-1) for the first time since a 2017 24-0 loss to Carthage.

An electric defense set the tone early and went on to intercept Tyler Adkins four times, while registering six sacks and 320 yards of total offense allowed, including one net yard rushed, which was a team low since the 2010 season. Last year, the Spartans averaged 464.3 yards offense per game, including nearly 170 on the ground.

Sophomore Ashton Honore's pick six from 10 yards out put the Pioneers on the board with 10:49 left in the first quarter. The interception would be the first of 28 points scored off turnovers.

UW-Platteville accumulated 547 yards total offense, sending 309 yards through the air and racking up 238 yards rushing. 

Making his first career start, sophomore Nathan Uselding ran in two touchdowns and went 20-of-24 for 260 yards on the day. Sophomore Jake Sullivan took over for Uselding right before the fourth quarter and went 6-of-8 for 49 yards while adding another 23 yards on five carries. 

Junior Zackary Bothun ran in the other three touchdowns, including a 75-yard haul for his first of two scores in the first quarter alone. Bothun finished with 173 yards on just 15 carries.

On the receiving end, junior Carter Olson had a career-best 90 yards on six receptions. Junior Blaine Perkins pulled in Uselding's game-long 51-yard toss which set the Pioneers four yards out from their fourth score of the day.

Junior punter Benjamin Younker had a day, averaging 45.5 yards across four punts, including two inside the 20 and a long of 55 yards. Freshman kicker Brady Mobley finished 5-of-5 on PATs.

Juniors Ollie Hughes and Elijah Krantz both stacked up six tackles apiece to pace the Pioneers.

Saturday was career day for Honore as he totaled four tackles including 2.5 sacks for a loss of 15 yards, joining the pick six from early in the day.

After the early interception and touchdown, it looked as if Aurora would even the score, but on a second and goal with inches to go, sophomore Donovan Nedelcoff forced the fumble and recovery for the second turnover. Seven plays later, Bothun took off for a 75-yard dash and touchdown, pushing UW-Platteville's lead to 14-0 less than seven minutes into the game.

Nedelcoff recorded his first career interception on the very next drive, giving the Pioneers possession once again for them to march 50 yards across four plays in less than a minute for Bothun's 10-yard gain and score.

Uselding fumbled on the next series, but a Spartans punt set the Pioneers up at their own 10-yard line with 5:19 left in the half. Four plays later, Uselding hit Perkins 51 yards down field and then ran for four-yards into the endzone on the very next snap to put UW-Platteville ahead 28-0 with 2:53 left on the clock.

The half wasn't over though, and a three-and-out for Aurora gave the Pioneers 1:51 to move 53 yards, and move they did. A six-yard carry by Bothun and two pass completions followed before Uselding took off for a 20-yard run, pushing the lead to 34-0.

After the break, the Pioneers picked up right where they left off, this time with sophomore Rob Francis picking off Tyler Adkins for a third time.

And once again, the Spartans could not find an answer for Bothun. Uselding handed off to Bothun four of the next three snaps, and on the fourth Bothun broke through once again and ran 35 yards for the final score of the game.

Adkins very next pass was intercepted, this time by sophomore Rodney Gavins Jr., but a bad snap pushed the Pioneers back field and they were forced to punt.

In addition to a number of career highs and firsts in the game, the Pioneers gave the Spartans little time to work with, holding over a 10 minute advantage in time of possession, 34:34-23:59. Most noticeable, holding possession for nearly 20 minutes in the second half.

Saturday marked the third consecutive 40-plus-point season opener victory for UW-Platteville.

Next up, the Pioneers will hit the road again, but this time to neighbor University of Dubuque on Saturday, Sept. 13 for a 6 p.m. kickoff.


*As with every UW-Platteville win this year, the Platteville A&W will be offering a free ice cream cone (with purchase) the day after the win and the Platteville Taco John's will be offering a free churro (with purchase) the day after each Pioneer win.