Pioneers Ruin Titans' Homecoming Party

From the looks of the opening drive, it looked like it was going to be a happy homecoming game for the UW-Oshkosh football team Saturday (Oct. 14) at J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium. But the 11-play drive that gave the Titans a one touchdown lead over UW-Platteville was as good as it got for the hosts, who watched opportunity after opportunity march by like a nightmarish homecoming parade as they fell to the Pioneers, 21-14.

"We had fumbles, dropped picks, dropped passes, missed field goals, and we couldn't stop them in some key situations," UW-Oshkosh head coach Phil Meyer said. "We didn't deserve to win at all, and they did. "You can't do the things we did and expect to squeak out a victory. It ain't going to happen. They played better and tougher than we did."

That's not the way it looked in the opening minutes, when the Titans had their way with the Pioneers during a 69-yard march that ended with fullback Tyler Jandrin's 1-yard touchdown plunge. But a first half that began so promisingly descended into a frustrating situation that, in the final minutes, became an unmitigated disaster.

Two missed field goals and three crucial turnovers kept UW-Oshkosh stuck on seven points and gave Platteville the opportunity to make two trips to the end zone – the second a 40-yard interception return by Jared Baganz in the closing minutes that put the Pioneers up, 14-7, and the Titans in a dicey situation.

"I told them, 'I could get real mad at you right now, but it's not going to do any good,'" Meyer said of his halftime lecture. "We were still in the ball game, but we needed to regroup and get after it."

The comedy of errors didn't follow the Titans to the third quarter, but results didn't improve and they had to settle for trading touchdowns with the Pioneers and went into the final period trailing, 21-14.

Seemingly ready to put the day's frustrations behind it, UW-Oshkosh opened the fourth quarter on a roll and quickly found itself in position to at least knock a few points off its deficit. But a swing pass on fourth and 2 at the UW-Platteville 7-yard line clanged off the hands of running back Steve Levonowich, who had a pair of defenders waiting for him even if he made the catch, and gave the ball over to the Pioneers.

Four plays later, UW-Platteville returned the favor with a fumble the Titans recovered and quickly turned into another visit to the Pioneers' doorstep.

But with a little over 7 minutes remaining, the drive stalled and Raschke pulled a 26-yard attempt wide right. UW-Oshkosh didn't touch the ball again. Not exactly known for its fierce ground attack, UW-Platteville nonetheless ran 14 straight plays and ate up the rest of the clock.

The win got the Pioneers to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the WIAC. The Titans fell to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in league play, and instead of going into next week's match-up with Stevens Point in the midst of a three-game winning streak, they're now forced to take a long, hard look at what could have been and try to regroup.

"No matter how you cut it, a loss is always going to hurt for a couple of days," Meyer said. "But you need to take it like a man and worry about the challenge ahead."