PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – Quarterback
Nathan Uselding threw four touchdown passes as the sixth-ranked University of Wisconsin-Platteville football team (1-0) opened the season with a 44-7 Senior Day win over Aurora (0-1) on Saturday evening inside Ralph E. Davis Pioneer Stadium.
The Pioneers finished with 520 total yards of offense in the win, with over 400 coming from the passing attack. Uselding put together an efficient night, going 18-of-23 passing for 287 yards and the four scores. Junior
Caden Casimino added another 114 yards on 8-of-11 passing, while tossing a second quarter touchdown.
On the ground, UW-Platteville recorded 119 yards on 39 carries, with senior
Zackary Bothun pacing the team with 47 yards. Junior
Jack Egan pitched in with 33 yards.
Freshman
Charles Snoreck made a big impact in his UW-Platteville debut, recording a team-high 112 receiving yards and scoring a touchdown across five receptions. Senior
Jaxson Garbisch found the end zone on all three of his receptions, while sophomore
Carson Lage (83 yards) and senior
Shane Crandall (67 yards) each had strong nights. Senior
Kristian Gavric also scored in the contest and totaled 46 yards.
The defense had a fantastic season opener, holding Aurora scoreless until the final minute of the fourth quarter. The Spartans were limited to just 183 total yards, with just nine yards coming via the run game. Juniors
Carver Blietz-Bentien and
Dominic Ohlinger tied for the team lead in tackles with four, while junior
Sean Lynch made a pair of tackles for loss. The secondary made plays on the ball throughout the game, finishing with 10 pass breakups and a pair of interceptions. Junior
Rob Francis broke up a team-high six passes, while junior
Ashton Honore and sophomore
Kaleb Burkel created the turnovers.
Sophomore
Brady Mobley was perfect kicking on the night, knocking down a trio of short field goals in addition to five extra points. Senior
Benjamin Younker was called on to punt just once, and it went for 46 yards.
A 39-yard kickoff return by sophomore
Blake Bangtson put the Pioneers near midfield to begin the game and later led to the first points on a 22-yard field goal by Mobley. Snoreck made a pair of big catches on the drive, first converting a 3rd-and-10 before recording a 21-yard grab to get UW-Platteville in the red zone.
Aurora went three-and-out on its opening drive but got second life after recovering a muffed punt. The Spartans drove inside the Pioneers 20-yard line but turned the ball over on downs after junior
Drew Gallagher broke up a fourth-down pass attempt.
UW-Platteville executed a trick play to begin the next drive, as Uselding pitched to Casimino on a reverse who found Snoreck downfield for a 38-yard gain. Snoreck came in clutch again on the drive to help the Pioneers convert a 3rd-and-20 with a 29-yard reception before Uselding hit Garbisch two plays later for a 16-yard touchdown.
Aurora turned the ball over on its next drive, as quarterback Jackson Alcorn throw away try ended up in the hands of Honore who put the Pioneers at the Spartans 14-yard line following a 10-yard return. UW-Platteville turned the Mobley later in the drive to convert a 19-yard field goal.
After another three-and-out, the Pioneers needed just five plays to extend the lead to 20-0 early in the second quarter. Uselding hit Crandall over the middle for 50 yards before some more trickery led to a 13-yard touchdown pass from Casimino to Snoreck.
UW-Platteville scored two more touchdowns before halftime to take a 34-0 lead into the break. Uselding first capped an 8-play, 78-yard drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Gavric on a 3rd-and-10 before adding a five-yard score to Garbisch in the final minute of the half.
The Spartans punted away their first drive of the second half and Uselding went to work again with 20-yard completions to Lage and Gavric. His final pass of the evening went for a score on a screen pass to Garbisch as the Pioneers beat an Aurora blitz.
Following a Spartans turnover on downs, Casmino led a field goal drive that made it 44-0 in favor of the Pioneers. The longest play of the drive was a 39-yard completion to Lage and Mobley punched a 21-yard try through the uprights to cap the possession.
The scoring stalled over the next several drives until Aurora marched down the field in the closing minutes and scored its lone points on a one-yard touchdown plunge with 40 seconds remaining.
Over the course of the game, the Pioneers averaged 7.1 yards per play against just 3.0 for Aurora. Possession time heavily favored UW-Platteville (38:20 versus 21:31), and the home team scored on all eight of its trips to the red zone. Third downs proved to be an important distinction as well, as the Pioneers went 8-of-14 against just 2-of-15 for the Spartans.
UW-Platteville remains at home to face Dubuque next Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
