Titans Overwhelm Falcons To Remain In WIAC Lead

Brett Kasper passed for 347 yards and two touchdowns, Dylan Hecker and Devon Linzenmeyer had two rushing scores apiece and the nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh football team downed UW-River Falls, 57-12, on Saturday (Oct. 31) at J. J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium.

Kasper completed 16 of 26 passes before exiting the game late in the third period. Linzenmeyer registered 11 carries for a career-best 126 yards, while Hecker had four carries for 20 yards and his WIAC-leading 13th touchdown before leaving the contest midway through the second period.

UW-Oshkosh (7-1, 5-0 WIAC), ranked fifth in the NCAA Division III by D3football.com, had a 658-149 advantage in total yardage, including a 222-34 edge in rushing yards. UW-River Falls was limited to just eight first downs and less than one yard per carry on 39 attempts.

The Titans, who scored the most points in the 60-game history of the series with the Falcons, won their 10th straight game over UW-River Falls on the way to remaining the lone unbeaten team in WIAC play and extending their winning streak to seven games.

UW-Oshkosh fumbled on its first possession of the game, and UW-River Falls converted the turnover into a touchdown 100 seconds later on a 5-yard pass from Ryan Kusilek to Matt Woller at the 10:38 mark of the first quarter. Johnny Eagan blocked Kusilek's extra point to keep the UW-River Falls lead at 6-0.

The Titans answered the early deficit by scoring on their last six possessions of the first half.

Kasper completed passes of 35 yards to Zach Kasuboski and 26 yards to Joe Sommers, setting up Hecker's 4-yard touchdown run that started the first-half scoring binge with 9:48 to go in the first period.

Kasper connected with Kasuboski for a 54-yard scoring strike with 7:14 left in the first quarter, and Linzenmeyer raced 56 yards to the end zone to give UW-Oshkosh a 21-6 lead after one period.

Greg Rand capped an 11-play drive with a 21-yard field goal for a 24-6 advantage with 9:52 left in the first half.

UW-River Falls punter Owen Schommer retrieved a wayward snap in the end zone, where CJ Blackburn covered Schommer for a safety and a 26-6 lead with 8:53 to go in the second quarter.

Dom Todarello returned the ensuing kickoff 60 yards to the Falcons' 13-yard line, and Hecker ended his day one play later with his second touchdown for a 33-6 lead at the 8:33 mark.

Nick McQuestion stymied a long UW-River Falls drive with an interception at the Titans' 2-yard line, and Kasper capped a seven-play, 90-yard drive with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Craig Schommer for a 40-6 advantage with 2:11 left before intermission.

Five of UW-Oshkosh's six first-half scoring drives lasted 1:51 or less and the other was less than four minutes. The Titans outgained the Falcons, 424-67, in the first two quarters.

Linzenmeyer's 13-yard touchdown run extended UW-Oshkosh's lead to 47-6 with 4:39 remaining in the third period, and Jayden Essman's 70-yard scoring pass to Chad Redmer gave the Titans a 54-6 advantage with 27 seconds to go in the third quarter.

UW-River Falls received an 8-yard touchdown run from Brandon McCarthy to trim the Titan lead to 54-12 with 12:15 remaining before Rand tacked on a 26-yard field goal for his 13th point of the contest with 5:03 left.

Nine Titans recorded receptions with Sam Mentkowski's five catches for 81 yards leading the way. Kasuboski added three grabs for 129 yards.

Marcus Senn paced the UW-Oshkosh defense with five tackles. Steve Forner, Dallis Ramos-Deleon and Jamier Szymanski added four tackles each. Trevor Fiegel and Kevin MacCudden registered sacks, while Willie Grisby added an interception.

Falcons quarterback Kusilek completed both of his passes for 10 yards before being forced from the game in the first quarter. Backup Ben Beckman was 6 of 15 passing for 72 yards.

McCarthy led UW-River Falls with 10 rushes for 34 yards, while Woller was the only Falcon with more than one reception, ending the contest with three grabs for 12 yards.

Matt Ekman led all players with 10 tackles for UW-River Falls, which also received nine tackles from Albert Itula and seven stops from Charles Register.

UW-Oshkosh concludes its regular season road schedule when it travels to UW-La Crosse next Saturday (Nov. 7).