The UW Oshkosh football team finished its non-conference part of the season undefeated 3-0 as they shutout the Morthland College (Ill.) Patriots 77-0 which is their third highest point total in history on Saturday, Sept. 24.
This was their first 3-0 start since 2013 and head coach Pat Cerroni said they are happy about that.
“The first goal in our program is to go through non-conference undefeated,” Cerroni said.
The Titans scored one of five touchdowns in the first quarter at 11:36 and never looked back when running back Dylan Hecker scored on a 9-yard touchdown run to put UWO up 7-0.
At 7:39 quarterback Brett Kasper threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Dom Todarello.
In the following possession for the Titans, Hecker had a 35-yard touchdown run at 5:42 putting the Titans on top 21-0 after the extra point kick was made by kicker Eli Wettstein in a game where he tied his school’s record of making all nine of his extra point kicks.
After a drive from the Patriots that lasted 22 seconds and consisted of 0 yards, the Titans got the ball back and at 5:05 Kasper threw a 60-yard touchdown pass to Todarello stretching the Titans’ lead to 28-0.
To finish out the first quarter, running back Devon Linzenmeyer ran for a 13-yard touchdown to put the Titans up 35-0.
The first Titans possession of the second quarter resulted in a 49-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Connor Senger to wide receiver CJ Blackburn, giving Blackburn his first touchdown of the season after not playing in week two due to a hamstring injury.
The Titans’ following possession resulted in another touchdown from a 38-yard run from wide receiver Andy Jones. With 11:04 still to play in the second quarter the Titans were up on the Patriots 49-0.
After another empty possession from the Patriots, the Titans put their eighth touchdown of the game on the board with a 22-yard run from Senger at the eight-minute mark.
To close out the first half of the game, the Titans’ third quarterback of the game, Jayden Essman, threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Evan Thammahong putting the score 63-0 at halftime.
The first touchdown of the second half was a 38-yard touchdown pass from Essmann to wide receiver Robbie Bell making the score 70-0.
The final touchdown of the game for the Titans came with 8:40 yet to play in the third quarter. A 53-yard touchdown run from running back Chad Walton gave the Titans the eventual final score of 77-0.
The Titans’ total time of possession was 15:15 as they had 530 yards of total offense with 40 total plays and 18 first downs.
The Titans’ defense was able to hold the Patriots to 103 total yards of offense with 63 total offensive plays and only nine first downs. The Patriots’ total time of possession was 44:45.
Despite the blowout win from the Titans and finishing non-conference play 3-0, Cerroni said he knows that these past three games are not the hardest part of the season.
“You have to keep it in perspective,” Cerroni said.
Cerroni said he is well aware of what the team must do now that the WIAC play is about to start.
“All those stats in the non-conference are gone,” Cerroni said. “Now it begins.”
Blackburn said they know every game counts from here on.
“The kind of mentality that we have is it’s one game at a time,” Blackburn said. “Every week is like a playoff week for us. We know that if we lose, our season is over.”
The Titans’ season will continue this Saturday, Oct. 1 at 2 p.m. at Titan Stadium, as they take on UW-Platteville in the first home game of season and the WIAC opener.
“It’ll feel great to be back at Titan Stadium,” Kasper said. “We’re glad to be back home.”
