PLATTEVILLE — After Friday’s football game against Brodhead-Juda Platteville head coach Bryce Arneson thanked his players “for giving me, for giving the community, and for giving their parents the game of a lifetime.”
That opinion might get modified depending on what happens the rest of this season, particularly in the next two weeks.
But there is little question that the Hillmen’s 14-6 win over the previously undefeated Cardinals, the second-ranked team in Division 5, was the program’s biggest win in these current players’ careers, and dating back at least to Platteville’s last Southwest Wisconsin Conference title season in 2017.
Platteville defeated — in fact, scored on — Brodhead-Juda for the first time since the Cardinals joined the football version of the SWC in 2021, thanks to a 93-yard scoring drive to end the first half and a 78-yard touchdown run by Tyler Sasse on the Hillmen’s first drive of the second half.
Despite giving up more yards than Platteville gained on offense, the Hillmen defense held a team that had averaged 38 points in each of its first three games to one trip into the end zone, with five fourth-down stops and two interceptions. The defense smothered quarterback Gabe Bockhop on fourth-and-goal from the 4-yard line with 16 seconds left to set off a wild celebration on the field.
The Hillmen (3-1, 2-0 SWC) are now tied for first place with Lancaster in the SWC and possess the SWC’s top scoring defense.
Some of Brodhead-Juda’s offensive problems were self-inflicted. An offensive pass interference penalty negated a 22-yard touchdown pass to Gunner Boegli on the Cardinals’ first offensive drive, after which the Cardinals failed to convert on fourth-and-27. The Cardinals’ next two drives ended on a 1-yard run by Marcus McIntyre on fourth-and-2 on the Platteville 28, and an interception by Garrison Tashner at the Platteville 7.
The Hillmen went no-huddle on their next drive, and that propelled them 93 yards in nine plays and just 2:18 to take the lead for good. Quarterback T.J. Pink, who started the game 3-for-10 with an interception, completed eight consecutive passes, hitting Davyn Edge, Lucas Ludlum and Sasse for first downs. Then, after an offside penalty turned third-and-8 into third-and-3, Pink found Ludlum behind Cardinal defensive backs for a 33-yard touchdown pass that, after Sasse’s extra point, gave Platteville a 7-0 lead with 1:06 left in the first half.
The Hillmen defense started the second half with a stop. Following a 10-yard loss on a fumble, Bockhop threw an incomplete pass on fourth-and-16. Sasse ran for four yards and no gain, and then on third-and-6, raced through the defense and down the visitor sideline for his 78-yard touchdown run that extended the lead to 14-0 with 5:42 left in the third quarter.
Sasse’s 121 yards on 13 carries is the most yardage by a Hillman so far this season. The Hillmen’s 180 rushing yards were also their most by far this season.
Brodhead-Juda finally scored on a 19-play, 83-yard drive that started following the kickoff and ended 8:48 later with an 10-yard touchdown pass from Bockhop to Boegli with 9:14 left in the fourth quarter, making the score 14-6 after the missed extra point.
Platteville then ran 16 plays to go 66 yards, but an interception at the 1-yard line ended the chance to seal the game and set up a much more dramatic finish.
On the second play, Bockhop found Boegli for a 53-yard completion to the Platteville 42, but three plays later Tashner intercepted a pass at the Platteville 20 with 2:10 left. A punt return four plays later set up Brodhead-Juda at the Platteville 48 with 49 seconds left.
Bockhop found Boegli for a 42-yard pass to the Platteville 6, but Bockhop lost two yards on a sack and threw an incomplete pass. A pass interference penalty on fourth-and-goal from the 8 pushed the ball to the 4 and repeated fourth down, but the Hillmen defense rushed Bockhop up the middle to get the sack and end the game.
Pink found the going harder than in his three previous games, but ended up 13-for-24 for 147 yards and one touchdown, completing passes to eight different receivers.
Bockhop was 9-for-22 for 187 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
