STEVENS POINT, Wis. – After a win in its conference opener, the UW-Stevens Point football team begins a stretch of three consecutive games against Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) teams currently ranked in the D3football.com Top 25 by travelling to No. 12 UW-Platteville on Saturday.
THE BASICSWho: UW-Stevens Point (3-1, 1-0 WIAC) at No. 12 UW-Platteville (3-1, 0-1 WIAC)
When: Saturday, Oct. 10 – 2 p.m.
Where: Platteville, Wis. – Ralph E. Davis Pioneer Stadium
FOLLOW THE GAMELive VideoLive AudioLive StatsLAST TIME OUTKyle Larson (Clayton, WI/Clayton) threw for 265 yards and had his second-career five-touchdown game to lead UW-Stevens Point to a 38-28 victory over UW-Eau Claire in its WIAC opener on Homecoming on Saturday afternoon at Community Stadium at Goerke Park. The Pointers led 28-7 midway through the third quarter before the Blugolds got within a touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter. However, UW-Stevens Point scored the game's next 10 points to hold off UW-Eau Claire's comeback bid.
Larson threw a touchdown to
Matt Sosinsky (Princeton, WI/Princeton) on the opening drive and two to
Logan Taylor (Wausau, WI/East) in the first half and found
Jared Pankow (Mosinee, WI/D.C. Everest) and
Reed Lehman (Edgar, WI/Edgar) for scores in the second half.
Britton Vernon (Stillman Valley, IL/Stillman Valley) ran for a career-high 111 yards as the Pointers racked up 426 yards of offense in the win.
ABOUT UW-STEVENS POINT | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATSUW-Stevens Point has won its last three games after dropping a wild season-opener at Albion. The Pointers have scored at least 34 points in all four games this season and rank second in the WIAC and 10th nationally in scoring offense (50.3 ppg).
UW-Stevens Point is one of just four Division-III teams to have scored on 100 percent of its red zone attempts this season (Redlands, UW-Oshkosh, Susquehanna). The Pointers are 16-for-16 in the red zone with 13 of the 16 scores being touchdowns. Ten of UW-Stevens Point's 13 red zone touchdowns have come through the air.
After having 17 rushes for 44 yards in his first two seasons and one rush for one yard in the season opener at Albion, Vernon has totaled 41 rushes for 222 yards and three touchdowns over the last three games. In addition to his career-high 111 yards last week, Vernon had 98 yards and a touchdown in the win over Coe and had a pair of touchdowns at Finlandia.
Sosinsky had his third 100-yard receiving game of the season in the win over UW-Eau Claire, finishing with eight receptions for 150 yards and a touchdown. He currently ranks eighth in the country in receiving yards per game (132.3). The senior has had at least four receptions in his last nine games and 21 of the last 24 since the start of the 2013 season.
Since allowing 386 yards and four touchdowns on the ground at Albion, the UW-Stevens Point defense has held its last three opponents to 321 yards on 93 rushes. The Britons averaged 11.4 yards per carry but the Pointers have held teams to 3.5 yards per rush since the opener.
UW-Stevens Point continues to lead the WIAC and now ranks 11th in the country in kickoff returns at 26.0 yards per return.
Jerry Williams (Milwaukee, WI/Watertown) ranks 19th nationally with an average of 29.2 yards per return and still has the only kick return touchdown in the WIAC this season.
Larson was named the WIAC Football Offensive Athlete of the Week for the week of Sept. 28 – Oct. 4 on Tuesday following his outstanding performance in the 38-28 win over UW-Eau Claire. The junior was 19-for-27 for 265 yards and five touchdowns and led scoring drive of 84, 76, 68 and 80 yards in the win. It was the second time in Larson's career that he has earned the accolade.
Tanner Beaman (Phelps, WI/Northland Pines) had five tackles, 2.5 for a loss, two sacks and a forced fumble in the Homecoming victory over UW-Eau Claire on Saturday. The two sacks were a career-high for the sophomore, who entered the game with a half sack in his career. His first sack forced a punt on a third down and he forced a fumble on his second sack with 1:50 remaining that allowed the Pointers to run out the clock.
Senior kicker
Jesse Vervelde (Oostburg, WI/Oostburg) needs two points to become UW-Stevens Point's all-time leading scorer among kickers. He currently has 185 points, one behind the record held by Dave Schneider (1988-91).
ABOUT UW-PLATTEVILLE | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATSUW-Platteville is coming off its first loss of the season, a 17-7 setback at top-ranked UW-Whitewater. The Pioneers scored the game's first points with a second-quarter touchdown run by Kyle Whitman but the Warhawks scored 10 points in the final 1:27 of the first half to take a 10-7 halftime lead. UW-Whitewater got a touchdown run by Jordan Ratliffe early in the third quarter and held UW-Platteville to -2 rushing yards in the game.
The Pioneers began their season with a 49-13 home win over Buena Vista and the recorded a 31-7 win at Dubuque. UW-Platteville then scored 28 unanswered points to stun then-No. 13 North Central (Ill.) 35-28 in overtime. The Pioneers trailed the Cardinals 28-7 with 11:24 remaining in regulation.
The Pioneers are ranked No. 12 by D3football.com and No. 14 by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) this week.
Junior quarterback Tom Kelly is second in the WIAC in passing yards per game (277.8) this season. He was 21-for-25 for 277 yards and five touchdowns in the 49-13 win over Buena Vista and threw for 316 yards and a pair of scores in the 31-7 win at Dubuque.
UW-Platteville leads the WIAC and ranks 37th in the country in pass defense, allowing just 158.8 yards per game this season. The Pioneers held the Warhawks' Chris Nelson to 9-of-20 passing for 149 yards last week.
Senior defensive end Andrew Robinson leads the WIAC with 4.5 sacks and 12.0 tackles for a loss so far this season. No other WIAC player has more than 6.0 tackles for a loss or 3.0 sacks. Robinson is a two-time Second Team All-West Region and First Team All-WIAC selection who has 22 sacks and 45.4 tackles for a loss in his career.
Junior wide receiver Dillon Villhauer is the WIAC's top punt returner in 2015, averaging 12.0 yards on nine returns. He ran a punt back 75 yards for a touchdown with 2:38 left against North Central (Ill.) to tie the game.
THE COACHESTom Journell is in his fourth season as the head coach at UW-Stevens Point and has a 17-17 career record at UWSP. His teams have steadily improved from 2-8 in 2012 to 5-5 in 2013 and 7-3 last season. In 2014, he led the Pointers to a 5-0 start that saw the team ranked No. 13 in the country, the team's highest ranking since early 2009. Prior to becoming the Pointers' head coach, Journell was the team's defensive coordinator for four seasons, helping UWSP to a 19-9 record. He was the head coach at Elmhurst from 2004-07 and compiled a record of 22-18 over the four seasons. Journell also spent 15 seasons at UW-River Falls as the Falcons' defensive coordinator and assistant head coach.
Mike Emendorfer is in his 17th season as UW-Platteville's head coach and has amassed a 77-88 record with the Pioneers. Emendorfer's 77 wins make him the winningest active coach in the WIAC. He has been named the WIAC Coach of the Year twice (2004, 2013). Emendorfer came to UW-Platteville after previous stops as the offensive coordinator at Hanover and Quincy University and as the passing coordinator at Grinnell College. His son Logan is a senior defensive back for the Pioneers.
SERIES NOTESUW-Stevens Point and UW-Platteville first met in 1923 and the Pointers hold a 49-35-3 lead in the all-time series. Last year, the 14th-ranked Pioneers ran out to a 24-0 halftime lead and outgained the 13th-ranked Pointers 459-186 in a 31-13 home win.
The Pioneers have won the last five meetings, holding the Pointers to an average of 10.6 points per game since the 2011 season. Prior to 2011, UW-Stevens Point beat UW-Platteville 20 consecutive times from 1992-2010.
UW-Stevens Point is 15-9-1 in the last 25 games played in Platteville, going back to 1966.
