Late Surge Helps Falcons Run Past Titans

In its last two home games, the UW-Oshkosh football team showed glimpses of excellence, beating UW-Stout and UW-Stevens Point in convincing fashion.

In its home finale Saturday (November 3) at Titan Stadium, UW-Oshkosh showed it's still too inconsistent to compete for the WIAC title, dropping a 38-17 decision to UW-River Falls. The loss dropped the Titans to 3-5 overall, 2-4 in the WIAC with one game to play, and with their shot at a winning season finished, they're playing for pride.

"It's about heart right now," said senior cornerback Willie Jude. "We're coming off two tough losses, we have to bounce back. It's about character."

Early on, UW-Oshkosh was unable to capitalize on a large number of UW-River Falls penalties, unable to establish a running game and unable to secure the football. In the second half, the Titans rallied, but were unable to stop the Falcons' running game.

"We were good in spurts," said Jude. "We were good, but we still didn't win, and that's the goal of the game."

UW-Oshkosh head coach Phil Meyer did not attempt to sugarcoat his team's lack of execution.

"With a team like this, you can't drop passes, you can't throw interceptions, you can't fumble," said Meyer. "This is the first game I can really say that turnovers really hurt us."

A UW-Oshkosh fumble set up the Falcons' first score. Midway through the first quarter, Titans senior quarterback Alan Beversdorf fumbled, and Nick Basham recovered for UW-River Falls on the UW-Oshkosh 17. Five plays later, Dustin Vogelgesang plunged in from 1 yard out.

UW-River Falls (3-5, 3-3) returned the favor, with Aaron Greisen fumbling Kris Johnson's punt. Senior free safety Mike Mabry recovered for UW-Oshkosh on the UW-River Falls 8, and Beversdorf hit junior split end Steve Wagner two plays later to tie the game.

On the ensuing drive, UW-Oshkosh stopped UW-River Falls on three plays, but punter Adam Bergdahl hit Neil Mantor for a 30-yard gain on a fake punt, and Rob Ohman capped the Falcons' drive with a 3-yard touchdown run.

"We've been coming all year, I've been waiting for it to happen," said Meyer. "Sure enough, they hit it. That was a big point in the game."

Ohman scored on a 29-yard run to give River Falls a 21-7 halftime lead.

"It seems they were doing some things well, then (UW-River Falls) would pop a long one," said Meyer. "They gave up some long runs, and that's the thing against UW-River Falls, you can't give up that big run."

Bergdahl gave UW-River Falls a 24-7 lead in the third quarter with a 37-yard field goal, but missed two more attempts to leave the door open for UW-Oshkosh.

Beversdorf hit Wagner with a 7-yard touchdown pass, and senior placekicker David Gaulke made a 42-yard field goal to pull UW-Oshkosh within 24-17 with 8:06 to play.

The Titans defense held, and Oshkosh got the ball back with 4:04 left, but a five-play drive quickly fizzled, and the Titans turned the ball over on downs. After a 30-yard Taylor Hall run set up Ohman's 1-yard touchdown run, Matt Palas returned a Beversdorf interception 55 yards for the final score.

UW-Oshkosh was unable to generate a rushing game, compiling a deceiving 35 yards on 29 carries. Backup quarterback Nick Wara, a freshman, gained 31 yards on three quarterback keepers on the last three plays of the game.

UW-River Falls rushed for 358 yards, led by Ohman's 143 and Hall's 133.

Beversdorf was 26-of-48 passing for 258 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. Wagner caught eight passes for 61 yards and two touchdowns, junior split end Jeremy James caught seven passes for 73 yards and senior pslit end Justin May caught six passes for 43 yards.

Junior free safety Nick Carlson led Oshkosh with 12 tackles, senior linebacker Lucas Jachthuber had 11, junior linebacker Justin Schneider had eight and sophomore linebacker Derick Bielmeier had seven.