Don Richards

Here's something you probably didn't know: If a football player goes blind, there's still a future for him. He can become a referee! Sick joke, I know, but I was desperate. Desperation leads to sickness. And did you know what they call 20 Vikings fans in the basement? A whine cellar. But that was last year.

The Falcons, ranked No. 6 last week, improved to No. 4 in the d3football.com top 25 poll, tying their highest ranking in program history. Coming off a 71-14 blowout of UW-Eau Claire Saturday, Oct. 5, they traveled to Platteville to take on the 11th ranked Pioneers on Saturday, Oct. 12. The triumph over Eau Claire was the fourth consecutive win over the Blugolds.

UWRF has the top ranked offense in Division 3, averaging 61.5 points per game. They will be severely tested against the Pioneers, overtime winners in La Crosse on Oct. 5. Platteville is 4-0. La Crosse was picked to win the WIAC this season. UWRF was tabbed third.  

Falcon head coach Matt Walker said in an interview that he had never been a part of such a successfully fast start in his college coaching career and gave credit to his staff and players for having the right attitude. He said it was a great day to bring 60 recruits in to watch the Eau Claire game, and thanked his support staff   "who played an important role."

He went on to praise Platteville for their win over La Crosse, adding that Ralph E. Davis Stadium in Platteville is "as hard a place to play as we'll see." He expected the Falcon - Pioneer game would be the game of the week in D3 football.

Saturday's game was the 67th between the two teams. The Falcons hold a 35-29-2 advantage including a 27-16 win in River Falls last season. The Pioneers' wins have come against Lakeland, 65-0; Dubuque, 38-7; Wabash (Indiana), 42-21; and La Crosse, 30-27. 

In the most recent D3 top 25 poll, five WIAC teams are listed in the top 20: UWRF is fourth, Whitewater 10th, Platteville 11th, La Crosse 12th, Oshkosh 20th. Alma, ranked fourth pre-season, in addition to losing to the Falcons, has now lost twice dropped and out of the top 25.

Those rankings will soon change as ranked WIAC teams play each other. UWRF has four games against the other ranked teams, Whitewater has three, Oshkosh has three, La Crosse has three.

Defense will play a big role in future Falcon success. Through four games, linebacker Gage Timm (junior, Shawano) leads the Falcons with 30 total tackles (sixth in WIAC). Senior defensive back Aaron Borgerding (senior, Spring Valley), was named a semi-finalist for the National Football Foundation's Campbell Trophy, an award that recognizes an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation for his combined academic success, football performance, and exemplary leadership.

Other than the quarterback duo of Cade Fitzgerald (junior, Brooklyn Park, Minn.) and Kaleb Blaha (senior, Coon Rapids, Minn.), wide receiver Austin Rush (junior, Yuma, Ariz.) leads the team with four touchdowns (tied for second, WIAC) on 17 catches for 189 yards. The Falcons lead the WIAC with 18 rushing touchdowns, paced by Fitzgerald (6) and Blaha (4) who rank first and second in the WIAC. Blaha has played in only two games because of injury. Trevor Asher (sophomore, Elmwood) ranks fourth in the WIAC with three rushing TD's.

Finally, penalties are an important factor affecting the outcome: we have to hope that none of our wide receivers own dogs which might get on the field because they could be called for being ineligible retrievers. 

Sorry, but that's the best I can do this time. I'll try to improve. Strive for tolerance. It's a virtue.

Final scores Oct. 12: Pioneers 28, Falcons 7; Stout 29, Whitewater 27; Oshkosh 34, La Crosse 33; and Eau Claire 41, Stevens Point 0.