STEVENS POINT – The Pointers and Pioneers kick off in the second annual Pink Game and 25th annual Spud Bowl game Saturday, Sept. 10 at 1 p.m. The first of two meetings this season between the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) foes will not count as a conference contest.

PDF Game Notes

Game Outlook
The Pointers look to improve on their impressive defensive showing last week as they square off with the Pioneers of UW-Platteville in their home opener. While the Pointers pulled out a hard fought victory last week against Willamette, 8-6, UW-Platteville routed Buena Vista 38-3 in their home opener last Saturday.

In the Rankings
Stevens Point showed up in the d3football.com poll for the second consecutive week as they come in once again ranked 23rd. UW-Whitewater also shows up in the top-25 at number one while UW-Oshkosh and UW-Stout also received votes.

Second Annual Pink Game
This marks the second straight season the Pointers will feature a “Pink Game” in order to support cancer awareness. The Pointers defeated Albion College in last year's game 59-14 as they racked up 465 yards in the contest. They also raised $20,400 for the Susan G. Komen and Circle of Friends foundations.

25th Annual Spud Bowl
Combined with the Pink game this year will be the 25th annual Spud Bowl. The event, which partners with local potato and vegetable growers to raise awareness for the farming community, will offer fans a taste of Portage County potatoes at Saturday's game, with a baked potato tent. The Pointers are 21-2 all-time in the Spud Bowl. The 2001 Spud Bowl was cancelled due to the events of September 11.

Series History
The Pointers hold the edge in the all-time series against the Pioneers with a career 47-30-3 record. The Pointers continue to dominate the series as of late coming out victorious in every game since 1991 and have now tallied 20 consecutive wins. In the season finale last year, Anthony Aker (Milwaukee/Brown Deer) brought back the opening kickoff and the Pointers never looked back with a convincing 45-24 victory on Senior Day. Keith Ingram (Milwaukee, WI/Riverside) also scored on a 42-yard run and finished the day with 117 yards on 11 carries.

Radio
The game can be heard live on WSPT (1010am) radio with Scott Krueger calling the play-by-play. Fans can also listen live on the internet by visiting www.1010wspt.com and clicking the “Listen Live” button. Pregame will begin at 12:45 p.m. and kickoff at 1:00 p.m.

The Coaches
Pointer coach John Miech is currently in his 24th season in leading the team and has compiled a career record of 153-78-2. Miech, a 1975 graduate of UWSP, is the active wins leader in the WIAC and fourth all-time. Platteville coach Mike Emendorfer is in his 13th season and has a career record of 43-77.

Last Time Out
UW-Stevens Point opened their season last week traveling to Salem, Oregon and came away with an 8-6 victory against the Bearcats of Willamette University. The defense and special teams ultimately won the game for the Pointers as Jered Fohrman (Stevens Point, WI/SPASH) connected on two field goals, Brandon Matznick (Kiel, WI/Kiel) pinned four of his seven punts inside the 20-yard line and the Bearcats fumbled in their end zone for a safety. The defense allowed a Willamette score with 27 seconds left but held strong on the two point conversion and recovered the onside kick for the victory. Joe Mleziva (Casco, WI/Luxemburg-Casco) and Cody Seibel (Kewaskum, WI/Kewaskum) recorded double-digit tackle games with 15 and 11 respectively.

The Pioneers
Quarterback Nick Anderson led the Pioneers to a 38 point, 419-yard outburst against Buena Vista to extend their winning streak in home openers to 13 games in a row with a 35 point victory last Saturday. Darin Blaser benefited the most from Anderson's success as he hauled in seven passes for 88 yards and a touchdown.

One More Time
Joe Mleziva (Casco, WI/Luxemburg-Casco) and Justin Ourada (Manitowoc, WI/Lincoln) are back with the Pointers this season as both players had one year of eligibility left and have chosen to attend graduate school. In the opener, Mleziva showed why he was named first time All-WIAC defensive back as he led the team with 15 tackles, one and a half tackles for loss and one interception.

Welcome Back
Last appearing on the Pointers roster during the 2005 season, running back Cory Flisakowski (Stevens Point, WI/SPASH) made his way back on to the football field last Saturday after a six year absence. The former SPASH standout led the Pointers ground game last week as he carried the ball 16 times for 71 yards including a 36-yard run to set up the second field goal of the game.

Changing Sides
In the offseason Theo Maglio (Wautoma, WI/Wautoma) made the switch from wide receiver to defensive back but you wouldn't be able to tell that by watching the game Saturday. He led the secondary with seven solo tackles, eight total, and made some great open field tackles to put the stop to some potential game changing plays. Last season, he had 11 catches for 150 yards in 10 games.

Defensive Stoppers
The Pointers defense played exceptionally well in Saturdays contest allowing 242 total yards and just 35 through the air. They were also to force two turnovers on interceptions by Mleziva and Kody Morgan (Iola, WI/Iola-Scandinavia) and the team was credited with three sacks.

Brotherly Love
Faraji and J'Gai Starks (Cedarburg, WI/Cedarburg) are back on the same team once again. The reunited when J'Gai transferred after playing last season at Missouri S&T. Faraji carried the ball one time for five yards Saturday while J'Gai did not make an appearance in the contest.

Up Next
The Pointers will have next week off and start to prepare for their trip to Michigan to face Albion College before they kick off their WIAC conference schedule. Game time for the Albion game is set for 1:00 p.m. EST.