Titans Topple Pioneers

Andy Moriarty (Sr. • Mequon) totaled 370 yards from scrimmage in his second-straight dominating performance to lead the UW-Oshkosh (6-3/3-3 WIAC) football team to a 35-20 victory over UW-Platteville on Saturday (Nov. 3) in Platteville.

Moriarty, who rushed 50 times for 288 yards and two touchdowns in last Saturday's (Oct. 27) 27-10 win over UW-Stevens Point, ran 40 times for 314 yards and three touchdowns while catching two passes for 56 yards against UW-Platteville.

In addition to recording the Titans' second-best single-game rushing performance for the second straight contest, Moriarty also tallied his 250th career point against UW-Platteville to replace teammate Lucas Raschke (Sr. • Clintonville) as UW-Oshkosh's all-time leading scorer. Raschke now ranks second in UW-Oshkosh history with 246 career points.

UW-Platteville (2-7/1-5 WIAC) wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. After taking the opening kickoff, Terry Belville found Dan Schwartz for a 48-yard completion all the way down to the UW-Oshkosh one-yard line. UW-Platteville's nine-play, 67-yard drive stalled there as the Titans' defense shut down the Pioneers and held them to a 20-yard field goal by Tony Smidl.

UW-Oshkosh's offense responded with a nine-play, 95-yard drive of their own on their next possession. After Steve Stoltz (Sr. • Greendale) reeled in a 12-yard pass, Moriarty rushed for 13 yards and then caught a pass for a gain of 53. Joe Patek (Sr. • Cedarburg) then hit Kyle Nakatsuji (Jr. • West Allis) for a 16-yard touchdown to put the Titans up 7-3.

A wild series of events seemed to shift the momentum to UW-Oshkosh in the middle of the second quarter. Following a Titans' punt, the Pioneers appeared to be driving until Belville was intercepted by Nate Heard (Fr. • Milwaukee). Heard returned the interception 72 yards for a touchdown to increase UW-Oshkosh's lead to 14-3.

Josh Wara (Sr. • Oshkosh) continued the Titans' strong defensive effort on the next drive by intercepting a long pass at the UW-Oshkosh three-yard line. However, he couldn't hold onto the ball as Nick Grosso forced and recovered the fumble at the Titans' one-yard line. The Pioneers took advantage on the ensuing play with a one-yard touchdown run from Tyson Droessler.

Once again, UW-Oshkosh responded to the score in a hurry. Jeremy Roach (Fr. • Deerfield) set up the offense with great field position by returning the kickoff 30 yards. Moriarty then broke free on the first play of the drive and took the rush 59 yards for a touchdown. Moriarty, UW-Oshkosh's all-time leading rusher (4,282 yards), eclipsed 4,000 career rushing yards on the jaunt to put the Titans in front 21-10 at halftime.

The Titans got a 26-yard run from Moriarty on the second half's opening drive, but Justin Athey sacked Patek on third down to force a UW-Oshkosh punt. The Pioneers' Nick Grosso made another big play by blocking the punt from Raschke. Justin Thompson recovered the loose ball and took it to the Titans' nine-yard line. UW-Oshkosh's red-zone defense came through again, forcing UW-Platteville to settle for a 24-yard field goal by Smidl that cut the Pioneers' deficit to 21-13.

Bryan Kent (Sr. • Pewaukee) came up with UW-Oshkosh's fourth interception of the day to assure the third period was a scoreless one. Kent picked off a Belville pass and returned it 30 yards to the UW-Platteville 15-yard line. Moriarty took over from there with two runs and got into the end zone from 10 yards out to stretch the Titans' advantage to 28-13.

UW-Platteville refused to go away and converted two clutch fourth down opportunities in the final period. Joe Burkeland entered the contest at quarterback and ran for 13 yards on fourth and three and completed a pass to Craig Patterson for 19 yards on fourth and eight to keep the drive alive. Belville concluded the possession with a seven-yard touchdown pass to Patterson that made the score 28-20.

UW-Oshkosh continued to give the ball to Moriarty on the next drive. Moriarty carried the football on all five plays and ran for a five-yard touchdown to give the Titans a 35-20 lead. He had gains of 38 and 30 yards on the possession.

Patek wasn't asked to do much throwing for the second contest in a row. He finished the game by completing 6-of-13 passes for 106 yards and a touchdown. Moriarty was the only UW-Oshkosh player with more than one pass reception.

UW-Platteville totaled just 242 yards of offense and was held under 30 points for the first time in five games. Belville connected on nine of 20 passes for 71 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. Burkeland completed three of his eight passes for 33 yards. He was picked off once.

The Pioneers' lone bright spot was a running game that totaled 138 yards. Burkeland ran 14 times for 88 yards and Droessler rushed for 45 yards on 21 attempts. UW-Platteville was led in receiving by Nick Grosso's four catches for 13 yards. Dan Schwartz also recorded 50 yards on three pass receptions. David Pietrowiak led all UW-Platteville tacklers with eight.

UW-Oshkosh's defense put up an outstanding effort in holding UW-Platteville to just two conversions in 18 third down tries. James Taraboi (So. • Grafton) led the Titans with 10 tackles and one quarterback sack. Eric Stenbroten (Sr. • Monticello) and David Consiglio (Sr. • Hubertus) were equally impressive by racking up 10 and eight tackles, respectively. Kent sparked the secondary's strong performance with two pass interceptions.

UW-Oshkosh looks for its seventh win of the year next Saturday (Nov. 10) when it hosts UW-River Falls in the regular season finale.