MENOMONIE, Wis. - After a long off-season, Carroll University football returned to the field Thursday night with a 28-16 season-opening victory at UW-Stout. That marks Carroll's first win against a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) team since 1978 when the team defeated UW-Oshkosh by a score of 6-3. Thursday's win also keeps Carroll Head Coach Mike Budziszewski undefeated (4-0) in non-conference games with the Pioneers.

UW-Stout (0-1) out-gained the Pioneers (1-0) by a margin of 313-267, while also possessing the ball for 11 more minutes. The Pios were more efficient, gaining 4.9 yards per play, including 12.5 yards per completion.

Carroll opened up the scoring mid-way through the first quarter when Caden Pendleton found Cameron Evans for a 27-yard scoring play, marking his first TD pass in a Pio uniform. UW-Stout answered with a 28-yard field goal, before scoring on a one-yard Reese Turner run to take their first lead of the contest.

That lead would be short-lived, as Sammy Muth hauled in a 19-yard touchdown pass from Pendleton with two and a half minutes remaining in the half. The Pioneers would sneak another touchdown in before the break, capping a four-play, 51-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown pass from Pendleton to Evans with just seconds remaining.

UW-Stout continued to battle, scoring on a 70-yard touchdown from Adam Moen to Carter Zezulka to cut Carroll's lead to 21-16 with six and a half minutes to play in the third period. The Pios would put the game away in the fourth however, thanks to Pendleton's fourth TD pass of the night, this time a 27-yard score to Santiago Rios.

In addition to his touchdowns, Pendleton completed 17-of-25 passes for 212 yards and zero interceptions. He also served as the team's leading rusher with 24 yards on six carries. Pendleton's top receiver was Reed Breckheimer, who caught five passes for 61 yards. Rios added four grabs for 54 yards.

Defensively, Carroll was led by Damon Loker's 10 tackles (1.5 TFL). Jake Binkowski recorded the game's only interception, the fifth of his career. The Pios also recorded five sacks Thursday night, led by two from Abe Stockwell. Will Campbell, Riley Stobb, and Clayton Huber also got into the action by sacking the quarterback.

The Pioneers will now rest up during next week's bye week, before beginning their nine-game conference slate at WashU in St. Louis, Mo. on September 21.