PLATTEVILLE — It’s hard to decide which side of the ball was more impressive in Platteville’s 35–0 shutout of Mineral Point at Ralph E. Davis Pioneer Stadium Friday, Aug. 25.
Hillmen quarterback T.J. Pink threw for 258 yards and four touchdowns, with seven different receivers catching his passes.
On the other hand, the Hillmen defense gave up just 46 total yards and three first downs, and never let the Pointers get close to scoring all night.
The offensive and defensive trends of the night were established in the first quarter. Platteville went 77 yards in two rushes and seven passes to five different receivers, including two third-down conversions. The last pass was a 16-yard touchdown to Logan Day on third-and-7. The first of Tyler Sasse’s five extra points gave the Hillmen a 7–0 lead with 8:51 left in the first quarter.
Mineral Point got one of its three first downs on its second offensive play, but three plays later had to punt — or, more accurately, attempt to punt. A bad snap resulted in a 17-yard loss all the way back to the Pointer 4, and the Hillmen needed just three plays, the last a 1-yard touchdown pass from Pink to Garrison Tashner, to extend their lead to 14–0 with 5:21 left in the first quarter.
The Hillmen’s third drive ended with an interception on a fourth-and-17 play, but the Hillmen got the ball back after another three-and-out. The following eight-play 57-yard drive included a 22-yard completion to Zack McClain on fourth-and-17 to the Pointer 2, setting up Riley Donahoe’s 2-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 21–0 with 9:12 left in the first half.
Three plays later, a blocked punt set up the Hillmen at the Mineral Point 26. The distance to the end zone was halved on a pass interference penalty, and then Pink found Tashner for his second touchdown catch of the night, extending the lead to 28–0 with 8 minutes left in the half.
“I told the guys on Saturday that it is fun to play football when you are blowing them out,” said Platteville head coach Bryce Arneson. “There were comments from players that they haven’t seen some of our guys play like that before and it’s because they had confidence and swagger. I think that the guys came prepared for the game mentally and physically and it showed out there on Friday. We just need to make sure that we are building on this game and getting ourselves ready for a challenging conference schedule.”
Another three-and-out to start the second half set up Platteville’s 69-yard scoring drive with three runs and four passes, the last to Jauron Blevins, who got behind the entire defense for a 40-yard touchdown catch to send the game to running time, after Sasse’s fifth extra point, with 7:43 left in the third.
Mineral Point’s field position was set up by good kick and punt returns all night, but the Pointers were never able to do anything with their field osition, and never got close to the green zone all night.
Pink, making his second career start, was 19 of 26, completing passes to seven different receivers. The Hillmen also rushed for 82 yards.
“I think that we knew that TJ was going to have time in the pocket and was going to be able to show off that special arm that he has,” said Arneson. “Like I said earlier in the year, I believe that we have a great receiving crew, and if T.J. has time to read/throw in the pocket then he should be able to have games like this constantly. He is a special kid with skills that some kids don’t have and we just need to make sure that we give him the time to throw and make the plays like he did on Friday night.”
Mineral Point’s Gabe Sporle was just 6 of 17 for 48 yards. The Hillmen defense also held the Pointers to minus-2 yards rushing.
Platteville opens its SWC season at Dodgeville Friday at 7 p.m. Both teams are 1–1 after Dodgeville lost its opener at Viroqua 48–6 and then beat Pecatonica/Argyle 33–22 Friday behind quarterback Max Godfrey’s 231 passing yards and 10 catches for 168 yards by Ike Waage.
The Hillmen will make their first trip to Dodgeville since 2019, thanks to the schedule rotation the past two seasons and the cancellation of the 2020 game in Dodgeville due to COVID cases in Dodgeville.
Platteville has a 10-game winning streak over Dodgeville, which has not beaten the Hillmen since the first of their three meetings during the 2013 season.
Platteville 35, Mineral Point 0
(from Friday, Aug. 26 @ UW–Platteville Ralph E. Davis Pioneer Stadium)
Mineral Point....0 0 0 0 — 0
Platteville.........14 14 7 0 — 35
First quarter
P: Logan Day 16 pass from T.J. Pink (Tyler Sasse kick)
P: Garrison Tashner 1 pass from Pink (Sasse)
Second quarter
P: Riley Donahoe 2 run (Sasse kick)
P: Garrison Tashner 13 pass from Pink (Sasse kick)
Third quarter
P: Jauron Blevins 40 pass from Pink (Sasse kick)
Team Statistics
First downs — MP 3, P 15. Rushing — MP 14-(-2), P: 27-82. Passing (comp-att-int, yds) — D 6-17-0, 48; P: 19-27-1, 258. Fumbles–lost — MP 0-0, P 0-0. Penalties-yards — MP: 4-26, P: n/a.
Individual Leaders
Passing — MP: Gabe Sporle 6-17-1, 13; T.J. Pink 19-26-1, 258.
Rushing — MP: Brendan Lynch 5-2; P: Riley Donahoe n/a.
Receiving — MP: Landon Thousand 2-22; P: Lucas Ludlum 3-62, Jauron Blevins 3-54, Davyn Edge 2-48, Zach McClain 2-32, Garrison Tashner 4-29, Logan Day 2-18.
Tackles — P: Davyn Edge 6, Dylan Weigel 5.
