The Pioneers (5-2, 2-2 WIAC) posted their first shutout of the year in route to a 31-0 victory Saturday.

The Pioneer defense smothered the University of Wisconsin-River Falls Falcons all afternoon giving the offense plenty of opportunities to put away the much younger, less experienced Falcons (1-6, 1-3 WIAC).

“It was a great team victory but our defense putting up a shutout against anyone is a big feat,” head coach Mike Emendorfer said. “They were the star of the game, consistently keeping River Falls out of the end zone.”

Just merely keeping the Falcons out of the end zone was a bit of an understatement. The Falcons reached the red zone once, and that came with 7:43 left in the game, only to set up a field goal that missed wide right. The Falcons were held to a mere 157 yards of total offense with only nine first downs.

“We came out and did our job today,” senior linebacker Dave Daino said.

“We are at a must-win every week to give us a shot at the postseason. The goal now is 8-2. We have to bring our ‘A’ game every week, no matter who the opponent is.”

Junior wide receiver Ryley Bailey echoed those sentiments and credited the team’s play to an angry attitude. “We came out today with a little chip on our shoulder after just losing to Oshkosh. We wanted to come out and have a really good day today.”

Sophomore quarterback Bryce Corrigan struggled early and threw two interceptions in the game. The first pick came on the first drive of the game.

Corrigan rebounded, scoring on the next two drives. Corrigan found sophomore wide receiver Bryan Whitehead for a seven-yard touchdown pass, then sophomore wide receiver Trevor Whitehead for a 28-yard score.

“Bryce’s greatest attribute is the fact that he is so smart,” Bailey said. “He can pick apart defenses before the play happens. Those two interceptions were not on him, they were on us (the receivers).”

Corrigan has proven that he has the ability to overcome adversity in his short career as a starter.

“Bryce is a confident young man,” Emendorfer said “But he is only a sophomore. In the position he has been put in, with two seniors going down in front of him, he is going to have mistakes, but that is how you learn.

We know we will have to live with a couple of interceptions. But he learned from it and came right back in and started making plays again.”

“Its really just part of being a quarterback,” Corrigan said. “You cant get too low and you cant get too high. I told myself at half, ‘You’re better than this,’ and came out and the offense got rolling.”

Corrigan and the offense did just that, putting up 31 unanswered points with Corrigan going 36-52 for 377 yards and four touchdowns and a nearly error free second half, throwing two more touchdowns to Bailey to give him eight touchdown catches on the year.

Next week the Pioneers will be on the road, squaring off once again against University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, a team the Pioneers defeated 49-19 Sept. 20.

“It’s going to be a big game,” Bailey said. “We beat them pretty good the first time around at our place, but they are going to try and really come at us. So we need to have a good week of practice and get as best prepared as we can.”

The Pioneers will have a different look in personnel in this matchup with the Blugolds with Corrigan at the helm instead of senior quarterback John Kelly.