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Twenty-one yards. That's all defending national champion UW-River Falls could manage as UW-Platteville rolled to a 42-0 win on Saturday, Oct. 17, at Ralph E. Davis Pioneer Stadium in Platteville, Wisconsin.
The rout moved the Pioneers (6-0, 3-0 WIAC) up one spot to No. 2 in the AFCA Division III Coaches Poll, behind No. 1 Wheaton. UW-River Falls (4-2, 1-2 WIAC) fell from No. 8 to No. 17 in the AFCA poll.
It didn't take long for this one to tilt. River Falls got the ball first and went three-and-out after a third-down sack by Ashton Honore. Platteville's first drive reached the River Falls 45 before Zackary Bothun came up short on fourth-and-3, but that was about the only thing that went wrong for the Pioneers all afternoon.
The second drive went 77 yards in eight plays. Nathan Uselding hit Kristian Gavric for 37 yards on third down, then found him again for a 19-yard touchdown with 2:44 left in the first quarter. On River Falls' next possession, Rodney Gavins Jr. picked off Peter McDevitt near midfield and returned it 11 yards to the River Falls 39. Two plays later, Blake Bangtson ran 40 yards up the middle for a touchdown, and it was 14-0 after one quarter.
Platteville made it 21-0 with 4:46 left in the half when Uselding capped an eight-play, 80-yard drive with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Jaxson Garbisch. The Pioneers had a chance to add more before the break, driving to the River Falls 15, but a holding penalty backed them up and Jared Schultz intercepted Uselding in the end zone. Still, at 21-0 against an offense that had barely moved, the game felt decided at halftime.
River Falls got a break early in the third quarter when Joel Humphrey forced a fumble on a Platteville punt return and Jake Barnard recovered at the River Falls 35. The Falcons couldn't do anything with it. Platteville answered with a 12-play, 74-yard drive, sparked by a 14-yard Bothun run, and Bothun finished it with a 1-yard plunge at 4:21 for a 28-0 lead after three quarters.
The fourth quarter was all Pioneers. Garbisch caught a 30-yard pass to set up his second touchdown, an 11-yarder from Uselding with 10:22 left. Backup quarterback Caden Casimino then led a seven-play, 37-yard drive and hit Gavric for a 2-yard score with 3:42 to play.
The numbers were video game-level lopsided. Platteville outgained River Falls 471-21 and had 24 first downs to the Falcons' five. The Pioneers converted 11 of 16 third downs, while River Falls went 2 of 14, and Platteville held the ball for 40:42. River Falls finished with minus-7 rushing yards and 28 passing yards and punted 11 times. A crowd of 3,327 watched it.
Platteville sacked River Falls quarterbacks seven times for 58 yards. Junior Dominic Ohlinger had two of them for 26 yards, including a 13-yard takedown, and Honore had 1.5 sacks. Cormac Sammons had a half-sack, and Martin McDonald, Jake Kann and Carver Blietz-Bentien had one each.
McDevitt returned from an early-season injury but had little room to work. He completed 4 of 14 passes for 28 yards with an interception and was sacked six times. Gavins, a junior, also broke up a pass.
It was Platteville's third shutout of the season, and all three have come at home: 59-0 over Dubuque, 38-0 over UW-Eau Claire and now this one. The only points the Pioneers have allowed at home all season were seven in a 44-7 win over Aurora in the opener. Dubuque managed just 25 total yards in Platteville in September.
River Falls linebacker Noah Nusbaum did all he could on the other side, making 16 tackles, 3.5 for loss. Schultz added 10 tackles, a sack and the interception.
While the defense smothered River Falls, Uselding picked it apart. He completed 29 of 35 passes for 340 yards and three touchdowns, with one interception. Gavric caught seven passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns, and Garbisch matched him with seven catches for 101 yards and two scores. Brayden Knoll added six catches for 57 yards.
Bangtson ran for 65 yards on six carries. Bothun carried 19 times for 49 yards and a touchdown and caught five passes for 31 yards.
UW-Platteville and UW-Whitewater are both 6-0 and 3-0 in the WIAC, a game ahead of the next two teams. UW-Eau Claire (5-1) and UW-La Crosse (3-3) are 2-1, River Falls and UW-Stout Polytechnic (3-3) are 1-2, and UW-Oshkosh and UW-Stevens Point are both 2-4 and 0-3, according to the WIAC standings.
That sets up Nov. 7 as the likely title game. Whitewater, No. 4 in the AFCA poll, visits Platteville that day. The Pioneers first have to get through road games at Oshkosh and Stevens Point, and they close the regular season at La Crosse on Nov. 14.
For River Falls, the title defense just got a lot harder. The Falcons have two league losses, 24-16 at Whitewater on Oct. 3 and now this one, and they would need both unbeaten teams to stumble to have a shot at the WIAC crown.
The WIAC champion gets an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs. The 40-team field includes 28 automatic qualifiers and 12 at-large bids, the pool long known as Pool C, according to the NCAA Division III Football Committee. That means the loser of Platteville-Whitewater likely ends up in the at-large mix, and River Falls, with non-conference wins at Coe and Wartburg, probably needs to win out to join it. The WIAC sent four teams to the tournament last season, according to the league's preseason preview.
UW-Platteville plays at UW-Oshkosh on Saturday, Oct. 24, at 1 p.m. CT. UW-River Falls hosts UW-Eau Claire at 1 p.m. CT the same day.
The Falcons still have time to regroup. But for one Saturday in Platteville, the Pioneers looked every bit like a top-two team in Division III.
