MENOMONIE (October 29, 2022) - A one handed grab in the back of the endzone by
John Smozynski, in the third overtime, sealed the win for the Blue Devils over No. 22 UW-Platteville (4-4, 3-2 WIAC) at Don & Nona Williams Stadium. The final score of the game was 24-22.
Levy Hamer recorded 144 yards receiving and now holds the record for career receiving yards with 3,431.
To start the game, UW-Stout (5-3, 3-2 WIAC) took the opening kickoff to the Platteville's 47 yard line for a 46 yard return by
Patrick Corcoran. A deep pass to
Levy Hamer brought the Blue Devils to the four yard line. But the Pioneers stopped Stout on the one yard line on third down.
Luke Cool gave the Blue Devils the first lead of the game with a 28 yard field goal.
The Pioneers converted a fourth and three on their first possession, but saw another fourth down play on the 40 yard line of Stout. A 47 yard field goal attempt by Platteville was blocked by Stout to keep the game at 3-0.
But the next play of the game, Stout fumbled the ball to give the ball back to the Pioneers. During Platteville's next possession, the Blue Devils stopped the Pioneer's offense on fourth down for a turnover on downs.
On Stout's next possession, another fumble was recovered by the Pioneers. Platteville's next possession ended with a punt back to the Blue Devils.
With 8:34 left in the first half,
Luke Cool kicked his second field goal of the game, this one for 33 yards, to make the lead 6-0.
The next Pioneers possession, Platteville took two plays to get on the scoreboard. A 64 yard touchdown pass to Ben Wilson from Michael Priami gave the Pioneers their first lead of the game of 7-6.
With only 43 seconds left in the half, the Pioneers were driving down the field, but an interception by Stout's
Mason Priebe stopped Platteville from growing the 7-6 lead to close out the first half. At half time, the Blue Devils trailed Platteville with a score of 7-6.
In the second half, Platteville received the kickoff, but the Stout defense held them to a three and out. On the next possession for the Blue Devils,
Ben Karls punted and pinned the Pioneers at their own six yard line.
But on Platteville's next possession, the Pioneers marched down 94 yards to tally on the lead. The Platteville's extra point was missed to keep the score at 13-6.
On the next possession for the Blue Devils,
Sean Borgerding found
Levy Hamer and took it too the endzone. The extra point made it a tie game at 13-13 with 4:31 left in the third quarter.
The
Levy Hamer touchdown catch made Hamer the career leading Blue Devil in receiving yards.
With the score tied at 13-13, both teams had back and forth possessions while no offense could get on the scoreboard.
With 7:03 left in the game, Platteville's Andrew Schweigert kicked a 29 yard fieldgoal to go up 16-13.
Stout's offense was marching down the field and saw a first and goal on the three yard line with less than two minutes left in the game. On third down and one to go into the endzone, Platteville made a huge stop to have Stout go for the field goal. A 18 yard field goal with 1:19 left in the game by
Luke Cools made the game 16-16.
With 1:19 left to play, Platteville had a chance to go down the field and win the game, but Stout's defense held the Pioneers to a three and out. Stout would get another possession, but would run out of time.
In the first overtime, both teams had chances but neither could find the endzone. Both teams kicked a field goal to make the game go to its second overtime.
In the second overtime, Stout was backed up by a sack, but
Luke Cool kicked a career-long 47 yard field goal to go up three points. Platteville's next overtime possession ended with another field goal, this time from 33 yards by Schweigert, to send it to the third overtime.
Per NCAA rules, in the third overtime, each team gets the ball on the three yard line and has one play to score a two point conversion. Platteville passed the ball into the endzone and Blue Devil's
Mason Priebe came down with the interception.
The Blue Devil's two point conversion saw
Sean Borgerding running away from Platteville's defenders. But Borgerding got the pass off and found
John Smozynski in the endzone to end the game. The final score of the game ended at 24-22 in favor of the Blue Devils.
Blue Devil's
Sean Borgerding threw for 318 yards with one touchdown. Platteville's Michael Priami threw for 256 yards and also had one touchdown.
On the ground, Pioneer's Will Lawrence led in rushing yards with 103.
Blue Devil's
Levy Hamer led in receiving yards with 144 yards while catching nine passes, one for a touchdown.
Arthur Cox also had nine catches for 68 yards.
Parker Fossum had six catches for 83 yards. For the Pioneers, Ben Wilson had 106 yards on five catches, one for a touchdown.
Luke Cool set a school record with five made field goals.
Up next for the Blue Devils is a matchup with UW-Whitewater on November 5 at Don & Nona Williams Stadium. Start time for that game will begin at 1:00 p.m.
