hard for St. Ambrose runners all day
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| Justin Athey (97) and Morgan May (36) made life hard for St. Ambrose runners all day |
Posted 9/8/07
UW-Platteville won its season opener for the ninth straight year and in the process snapped St. Ambrose's 11-game regular-season winning streak with a 16-6 victory at Ralph E. Davis Pioneer Stadium Saturday.
Mike Genslinger scored touchdowns on runs of 3 and 2 yards, and Tony Smidl kicked a 32-yard field goal, all in the second quarter. The Fighting Bees took a 6-0 lead in the first period on Michael Hayward's 5-yard scoring reception from Jim DuPage.
The UWP defense held the visitors from Davenport, Iowa to 229 yards, including 147 over the final three quarters. Justin Athey led the defensive surge with 10 tackles, including three for losses. Eric Jensen and DeMarcus Mitchell each made interceptions on long bombs by DuPage.
Genslinger finished with 156 yards rushing, while Michael Schmidt completed 19 of 30 passes for 191 yards. Craig Patterson caught 5 passes for 110 yards, setting up Genslinger's second score with a 42-yard reception to the one-yard line. The Pioneers gained 390 yards, despite missing injured starting guards David Busch and Bryon Schneider. Two-time all-conference center Corey Darmody moved to left guard, and Ben Hermus started at center, joining Marcis Davidson, Kai Lahti and Joe Kinsella.
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| Craig Patterson hauls in this 42-yard pass |
Pioneer punter Tom Christiansen had a stellar day, planting three punts inside the 20, including a second-quarter punt inside the one. He had a fourth just make the end zone by inches.
Game Notes: The Pioneers used three quarterbacks: Schmidt, Joe Burkeland and John Akim; while the Fighting Bees lined up DuPage and Hayward under center ... one of Schmidt's completions came to himself, catching a batted ball ... Smidl's 32-yard field goal was his career-long ... Saturday marked the first-ever matchup of 1,000-yard rushers in the 35-year history of Pioneer Stadium. Genslinger gained 1,028 last year, while the Fighting Bees' Vernon Reed ran for 1,418. Reed gained 63 yards on 15 carries Saturday ... St. Ambrose, an NAIA school, was 10-0 in the 2006 regular season ... the game ended with the Pioneers on the SAU one-yard line.
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