St. Ambrose drops opener to UW-Platteville 16-6

The Fighting Bees could not get new head Coach Mike Magistrelli his first coaching victory as they suffered a 16-6 loss to Division III UW-Platteville. The Fighting Bees managed only 229 yards of total offense and 1 touchdown in defeat.

The Fighting Bees defense got off to a good start as they forced a fumble and a punt in UW-Platteville's first two possessions. After gaining back to back first downs, UW-Platteville's Michael Schmidt fumbled on a Vince Filipp tackle and the Bees recovered at their own 27 yard line.

The Bees went 3 and out on their first possession and were forced to punt. On Platteville's second drive, the Fighting Bees forced a punt after a penalty backed them up to 4th and 15.  Nick Smither called for a fair catch and SAU again began at their own 27 yard line.

This time, however, the Fighting Bees offense put together a 13-play, 77 yard drive to put the Bees ahead 6-0. Running back Vernon Reed put together runs of 8 yards, 9 yards and 10 yards on the drive. Quarterback Jim DuPage connected with three different receivers, including a 12 yard pass to Brendan McCarron, a 13 yard pass to Tyler Driscoll and a 5 yard touchdown pass to Michael Hayward. SAU then missed the extra point attempt.

Unfortunately, the Bees offense could not put up any more points on the stout UW-Platteville defense. The Bees gained just 86 yards on the ground and 143 through the air on the day.

UW-Platteville put up 390 yards of total offense, including 199 yards rushing and 191 yards receiving. Michael Genslinger put together 156 yards rushing and had two touchdowns. Craig Patterson added 110 yards receiving off of five catches.

Hank Belshause and Jesse Weygand anchored a Bees defense that only allowed 16 points, while forcing two fumbles and two interceptions. Belshause finished the game with 10 total tackles and two tackles for loss. Weygand had 9 total tackles, 1 tackles for loss and a forced fumble.

Chance and Kevin Linn each picked off Platteville quarterback Michael Schmidt. Jenkins led the MSFA a year ago with 7 interceptions. He finished with 5 tackles, two tackles for loss and the intereption. Linn added 4 tackles with his interception.

With the loss, the Bees fall to 0-1 on the season.  They will be back in action on Sept. 15 with a 1:00 p.m. non-conference match-up at Waldorf.