Titans' Season Opener A Smashing Success
Counting points on nine of its 11 offensive possessions, the UW-Oshkosh football team rolled to a 57-0 season-opening victory over Ripon College on Saturday (Sept. 2) at J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium. UW-Oshkosh has won four straight season openers and 24 of its last 26.
UW-Oshkosh (1-0) scored eight touchdowns as Steve Levonowich (So. • Kenosha) and Andy Moriarty (Jr, • Mequon) reached the end zone twice. The Titans also received touchdowns from Joey Fisher (So. • Fond du Lac), Andy Heiman (Jr. • Clintonville), Chris Kirch (Sr. • Lake Geneva) and Kyle Kubasa (Sr. • West Allis). UW-Oshkosh got nine points from its placekickers as Lucas Raschke (Jr. • Clintonville) tallied eight and Brad Budde (Fr. • Stevens Point) one.
While UW-Oshkosh's offense was totaling 483 yards and 22 first downs, the Titans' defense was limiting Ripon College (0-1) to 187 yards of offense and 12 first downs. The Red Hawks moved just 113 yards after the first period.
Things looked bright for Ripon College early in the contest as it benefited from a fumbled UW-Oshkosh punt return to operate the game's first 10 offensive plays. The Red Hawks went 17 yards on their first possession and took the football over again as Danny Murphy recovered a mishandled UW-Oshkosh punt return at the Titans' 40-yard line.
Following Murphy's fumble recovery, Ripon College moved to the UW-Oshkosh five-yard line as Bob Faulds completed a 35-yard pass to Ryan Jahns. The Red Hawks crawled to within one yard of a touchdown on their next two plays, but couldn't get any closer as UW-Oshkosh's Jason Hartwig (Sr. • Port Washington) stopped a rushing attempt on third down while the Titans' Ryan Neff (Sr. • Merrill) sacked Faulds on fourth.
UW-Oshkosh's first offensive possession lasted only four plays as Joe Patek (Jr. • Cedarburg) capped the series with an 83-yard touchdown pass to Heiman at the 7:34 mark of the first quarter. The Titans added 10 points in the second period, including a Levonowich eight-yard touchdown run and a Raschke 30-yard field goal. Raschke's 29th career field goal tied a school record.
UW-Oshkosh exploded for 26 points within a 10-minute span of the third quarter, including touchdown runs of 50 and five yards by Moriarty. The Titans also scored on Patek's 15-yard touchdown pass to Kubasa and Levonowich's six-yard touchdown run.
The Titans picked up a pair of rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter as Kirch scored from two yards out and Fisher from one.
UW-Oshkosh totaled 323 yards on the ground as Moriarty gained 117 on 12 carries, Kirch 90 on 17 and Levonowich 82 on 14. Moriarty has surpassed the 100-yard mark in five of his last six games played.
In the air, UW-Oshkosh compiled 160 yards. Patek owned all 160 yards as he completed seven of 13 passes, including touchdowns. Heiman caught three passes for 99 yards, while Matt Meronk (Jr. • Wittenberg) caught two for 41 yards and Kubasa two for 20.
Ripon College gained 128 of its 187 yards in the air. Faulds completed 11 of 19 passes for 122 yards, but he threw four interceptions. The Red Hawks totaled only 59 yards on the ground, including 28 by Jahns.
UW-Oshkosh had 29 players make a tackle in the game, including Neff and and Mike Mayer (Jr. • Chilton) who compiled seven each. The Titans also received six tackles from Chris Lins (So. • Madison) and five from Eric Stenbroten (Jr. • Monticello).
UW-Oshkosh took the football away from Ripon College five times as A.J. Hollanquest (Jr. • Wausau), Kyle Radke (So. • Oshkosh), Ryan Radtke (Sr. • Peshtigo) and Spencer Schulz (So. • Menomonee Falls) intercepted passes while Dave Dejewski (Jr. • Hartland) recovered a fumble.
Ripon College had Mike Krause, Joshua Kraemer and Eric Saari each totaled six tackles in the game.
Saturday's game was the 33rd between UW-Oshkosh and Ripon College, but the first since 1987. The Titans have recorded seven straight victories over the Red Hawks to lead the all-time series by a 15-12-6 count. Ripon College has been outscored 128-0 in its last three games against UW-Oshkosh.