Titans Win Defensive Contest With Pointers
UW-Oshkosh created a season-high four turnovers and held UW-Stevens Point scoreless for the final 48 minutes as the Titans pulled out a 13-3 football victory over the Pointers on Saturday (Oct. 15) at Community Stadium at Goerke Park in Stevens Point.
UW-Oshkosh (5-1, 2-1 WIAC), ranked fifth in the NCAA Division III by D3football.com, registered two interceptions and two fumble recoveries while owning a 178-57 advantage in rushing yards.
UW-Stevens Point (4-2, 1-2 WIAC) ran just two plays in UW-Oshkosh territory during the second half, both from the Titan 49-yard line. The Pointers, who have lost six straight games to the Titans, committed two turnovers and punted six times over the final two quarters.
Saturday's game marked the 115th meeting in the longest WIAC rivalry. UW-Stevens Point owns a 59-48-8 record in the series that began in 1896.
UW-Oshkosh, which won for the 29th time in its last 33 WIAC contests, opened the scoring on a 35-yard field goal from Eli Wettstein with 6:31 remaining in the first quarter, but UW-Stevens Point answered three minutes later with a 39-yard field goal from Kyle Hendzel.
A 32-yard field goal from Wettstein gave the Titans the lead for good at 6-3 on the ensuing possession, and UW-Oshkosh extended its lead to 13-3 on its next drive with a 10-yard touchdown run from Devon Linzenmeyer at the 11:23 mark of the second quarter.
UW-Oshkosh is outscoring its opponents, 185-6, during the first half this season.
Dallis Ramos-Deleon spearheaded UW-Oshkosh's defensive effort with a career-high nine tackles, including seven solo.
Jake Thein chipped in eight tackles and one fumble recovery for the Titans, who also received five tackles and one interception from Johnny Eagan, five stops from Reese Dziedzic and one fumble recovery from Jon Kallas.
UW-Oshkosh's AJ Plewa contributed four tackles and one interception, and Branden Lloyd had four tackles, including one sack.
Dylan Hecker led the Titan offense with 20 carries for 88 yards while Linzenmeyer had 15 rushes for 56 yards and his seventh ground score of the year. Linzenmeyer added two catches for 16 yards.
Titan quarterback Brett Kasper completed 10 of 23 passes for 106 yards with one interception.
Dom Todarello paced UW-Oshkosh with three receptions for 32 yards.
Kasper threw an interception on the first offensive play of the game. UW-Stevens Point drove the ball 24 yards on six plays to the Titan 9-yard line, but Thein thwarted the scoring chance by stuffing Pointers running back Darin Ward for no gain on fourth-and-1.
UW-Oshkosh marched its second possession 73 yards on 12 plays in 5:24 before Wettstein knocked his first field goal through the uprights.
UW-Stevens Point's equalizing drive spanned eight plays and 49 yards in just under three minutes as Pointers quarterback Kyle Larson completed three straight passes for 51 yards to begin the possession.
The Titans responded with another 12-play drive that covered 69 yards in a little over four minutes. UW-Oshkosh had a first down at the UW-Stevens Point 21-yard line, but the Pointers forced an incomplete pass on third down from the 15.
On the following possession, Larson connected Ward for an apparent first down, but Ward fumbled the ball and Kallas recovered at the Pointer 29-yard line.
UW-Oshkosh cashed in the turnover six plays later as the Titans gained 10 yards on each of the last three plays of the drive, culminating in Linzenmeyer's score.
The Pointers had a chance to trim their deficit to one score on the following possession, but Hendzel's 35-yard field goal attempt missed wide left with just over seven minutes left in the first half.
After forcing a UW-Oshkosh punt, the Pointers again advanced inside the Titan 20-yard line as Larson accounted for 42 total yards, including 1-yard sneaks on consecutive fourth-and-1 conversions. Following an incomplete pass on first-and-10 from the UW-Oshkosh 12-yard line, Plewa secured a tipped pass at the 1-yard line, and UW-Oshkosh ran out the final 39 second of the opening half.
The teams exchanged punts on all 10 possessions of the third period as the longest drive of the quarter gained 21 yards for UW-Oshkosh.
UW-Stevens Point's Logan Taylor was intercepted by Eagan on the first Pointer possession of the fourth period. Eagan snared the errant throw and raced 38 yards to the Pointer 37-yard line before Taylor chased him down.
The Pointer defense held the Titans to two yards on the ensuing drive, forcing UW-Oshkosh into its sixth straight punt of the half. Larson completed passes for 38 total yards on the first two plays of the next possession, but Ward lost another fumble on the following play, and Thein came out of the pile with the ball with 9:31 remaining.
The Pointers received the ball after UW-Oshkosh's seventh consecutive punt, but Lloyd sacked Larson for a 10-yard loss on first-and-10 from the UW-Stevens Point 44-yard line, and the Pointers were forced to punt following a pair of incompletions.
The Titans ran out the clock on the next possession as Hecker gained 43 yards on six straight carries, resulting in three first downs and forcing the Pointers to use two of their three timeouts.
UW-Stevens Point's Larson concluded the game 23-for-43 passing for 245 yards with one interception.
Ward had 38 yards on 10 carries for the Pointers, who averaged just 2.1 yards on 27 rushes. Britton Vernon chipped in nine carries for 20 yards and four catches for 23 yards.
The Pointers's Steve Herra and Jared Pankow led all players with six catches apiece. Taylor had four receptions for a game-high 76 yards while Pankow and Herra amassed 68 and 54 yards, respectively.
Brad Birkhauser was the Pointers' leading tackler with nine stops, followed by Griffen Davis with 8 tackles and one interception, and Ryan Strick with seven stops. John Kontowicz recorded six tackles, including one sack, while Adam Wachwiak had 3.5 tackles for loss among his five stops.
UW-Oshkosh 10th-year head coach Pat Cerroni won his 69th game to become the winningest coach in the 122 years of the program. Cerroni, who sports a 69-33 record since taking over the Titans in 2007, surpassed Russ Meyer's total of 68 wins (68-63-2 record) in 14 seasons with UW-Oshkosh from 1963-76.
Cerroni also becomes the 14th WIAC coach to win 69 games.
UW-Oshkosh returns home to face seventh-ranked UW-Platteville (5-1, 2-1 WIAC) next Saturday (Oct. 22) at J. J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium.
Photo courtesy of Kylie Bridenhagen, UW-Stevens Point Athletics