PLATTEVILLE, Wis. - A week after a tough loss at Carson Park, the 17th-ranked UW-Eau Claire football team handed UW-Platteville a 20-10 loss today at Ralph E. Davis Pioneer Stadium.

The Blugolds improve to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). The Pioneers drop to 2-5 on the season and 0-4 in conference play.

Platteville got on the board first with a field goal on their opening drive. The Blugolds remained down 3-0 through the first but scored touchdowns in every other quarter.

Cory Sartorelli (Jr.-Appleton, Wis./North) had an impressive day, scoring the Blugolds' first two touchdowns and picking up 188 yards on 34 carries. His first touchdown of the game came on a nine yard run at the beginning of the second quarter, putting the Blugolds up 6-3. On the Blugolds' first snap of the second half, Sartorelli took the ball 85 yards to the end zone on the ground and Michael Goodman (Sr.-Neenah, Wis.) added the PAT to give the Blugolds a 13-3 lead. The play was the second longest touchdown run and third longest carry in program history. Earlier this season Sartorelli had a 91-yard rushing touchdown against Hope College. Sartorelli is now 20 yards away from the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season.

In the fourth quarter, Platteville tried to fight its way back into the game with Jon Martin scoring a rushing touchdown at 9:45. Tony Smidl added the extra point to make the score 13-10.

With only 38 seconds remaining in the contest, quarterback Kyle Paulson (Jr.-Amery, Wis.) sealed the deal for the Blugolds with a 42-yard rushing touchdown and Michael Goodman again put the ball through the uprights, to give the Blugolds a 20-10 lead. For the day, Paulson completed 13 passes on 27 attempts for 125 yards. Brett Schreiner (Jr.-Somerset, Wis.) led Eau Claire in receiving with four catches of 43 yards. Sartorelli and David Goodman (Fr.-Neenah, Wis.) each added 21 yards on three receptions.

For the day the Blugolds accumulated 379 yards of total offense, including 254 yards on the ground and 125 through the air. Platteville did not have much of a ground game with only 30 yards of rushing, but put up 314 yards passing for a total of 344 yards of offense.

Three Pioneers threw passes today, with John Akim leading the group with 14 completions on 29 attempts for 153 yards. Joe Burkeland added 144 yards on 8-for-15 passing, while Terry Belville picked up 17 yards with two completions. Jimmy Spehn led the team with 37 rushing yards on nine carries and Nick Grosso led the receivers with nine catches for 157 yards.

The Blugold defense came up with three sacks and a total of eight tackles-for-loss. Granger Taft (So.-Rosemount, Minn.), Andy Neumann (Fr.-Germantown, Wis.) and Chris Below (Sr.-Antigo, Wis./Bemidji State) each recorded a sack. Below's sack came at a critical point in the fourth quarter when he knocked the Pioneers back 13 yards after they had marched down the field 35 yards into Blugold territory. Platteville was then forced to punt three plays later.

Dave Wicklund (Sr.-Kewaskum, Wis./Bemidji St.) led the Blugolds with eight tackles, including a game-high six solo tackles, while Bryant Dorsey (Jr.-De Pere, Wis.) added seven tackles (four solos, three assists). Both Wicklund and Dorsey forced fumbles along with two other Blugolds and Andrew Evanoff (Jr.-Plover, Wis./SPASH) and Kyle Meulemans (Sr.-Wrightstown, Wis.) both recovered fumbles. Meulemans also picked off a pass in the second quarter.

Platteville's Joe Tinucci led all tacking today, coming up with 10 (five solos, five assists). Matt Janus