Titans Pull Away From Falcons In Second Half
Brett Kasper threw for 262 yards and two touchdowns, and Chad Walton added a career-high 104 rushing yards and two scores on nine carries, as the nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh football team pulled away for a 41-7 victory at UW-River Falls on Saturday (Oct. 29).
UW-Oshkosh (7-1, 4-1 WIAC), ranked fifth in the NCAA Division III by D3football.com, led by a 10-0 score at halftime before erupting for 17 points in the third quarter and 14 in the fourth for a 41-0 advantage with under five minutes remaining. UW-River Falls lost at home for the first time this season.
With the win, UW-Oshkosh remains alone in second place in the WIAC standings, one game behind second-ranked UW-Whitewater (8-0, 5-0 WIAC) with two league games remaining.
The Titans outgained the Falcons, 544-279, including 282-118 rushing. UW-Oshkosh, which has outscored opponents by a combined 201-12 score during the first half this season, entered the game leading the WIAC with 261.6 rushing yards and 10.1 points allowed per game.
UW-Oshkosh, which has won 31 of its last 35 WIAC contests, extended its winning streak to 11 games over UW-River Falls. The Titans have outscored the Falcons, 371-129, in their last 11 meetings.
The Titans had 11 plays of at least 20 yards, including eight on passes from Kasper, and allowed just one play longer than 20 yards. UW-Oshkosh now has 57 offensive plays of 20+ yards this season while allowing just 11 big plays.
Kasper concluded the game 15-for-26 passing and added five carries for 60 yards, including a 47-yard run.
The UW-Oshkosh running game, which also entered the contest leading the WIAC with 7.1 yards per carry, averaged 6.9 yards per rush as Dylan Hecker added 13 totes for 81 yards and one touchdown. Walton chipped in one catch for 29 yards to cap his career day with 133 total yards.
Dom Todarello paced UW-Oshkosh with four receptions for 34 yards and one touchdown while CJ Blackburn had three catches for 52 yards, Johnny Eagan his first career grab for a 51-yard score, and two catches apiece for Cody Moon and Robbie Bell for 49 and 32 yards, respectively.
Reese Dziedzic spearheaded the Titan defense with eight tackles, including one sack, and one interception. Jon Kallas and Jamier Szymanski each contributed seven tackles for the Titans while Branden Lloyd had six. Kallas recorded one sack, and Eagan had five tackles, two pass breakups and one blocked kick.
Following a punt by UW-River Falls on the game's first possession, Eli Wettstein connected on a 31-yard field goal to cap UW-Oshkosh's first drive that spanned nine plays and 73 yards.
Eagan blocked a potential game-tying, 37-yard field goal by the Falcons' Francisco Perez early in the second quarter. UW-River Falls has now missed each of its five field goal attempts this season.
The Titans upped their lead to 10-0 on a 3-yard touchdown run by Hecker with just under four minutes left in the second quarter. The eight-play, 67-yard scoring drive was aided by completions from Kasper to Bell for 24 yards and to Blackburn for 23 yards.
UW-River Falls drove the opening possession of the second half 46 yards until Dziedzic intercepted a Sawyer Moon pass at the UW-Oshkosh 17-yard line. The Titans converted the turnover into points six plays later when Wettstein connected on a 38-yard field goal. The scoring drive was sparked by a 47-yard run from Kasper.
On the ensuing possession, Falcons running back Michael Diggins was stopped short on fourth-and-1 from the Titan 49-yard line by Dziedzic and Lloyd. On the next play, Kasper hit Eagan for a 51-yard touchdown pass for a 20-0 UW-Oshkosh lead with 10:50 left in the third period.
UW-Oshkosh put the game away by scoring touchdowns on its next three possessions. Walton rushed into the end zone from 15 yards out for a 27-0 lead with 3:12 to go in the third period, Kasper connected with Todarello for a 25-yard scoring pass for a 34-0 cushion early in the fourth quarter, and Walton ran untouched from 6 yards for a 41-0 advantage with 4:34 remaining.
Walton had six carries for 77 yards, including a 50-yard run, during the Titans' final scoring drive.
UW-River Falls, which suffered its first loss in four home games this season, broke up the shutout with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Moon to Alex Hohenstein with 98 seconds left.
Moon completed 11 of 31 passes for 100 yards while the Falcons' Travon Hearns went 8-for-11 passing for 61 yards.
Diggins paced the UW-River Falls backfield with 43 rushing yards on 13 carries while Falcons wide receiver Tyler Halverson led all players with eight receptions for 80 yards. Hohenstein contributed three catches for 19 yards and one score.
The UW-River Falls defense received eight tackles apiece from Matt Ekman and Robbie Flom and seven stops from Kyle Seamann. Flom recorded an interception and forced one fumble while Ekman recovered a fumble.
The Falcons, who did not notch a sack, had just two tackles for loss totaling three yards.
UW-Oshkosh returns home to face UW-La Crosse (5-3, 2-3 WIAC) next Saturday (Nov. 5) at J. J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium.
Photo courtesy of Tori Schneider, UW-River Falls