The UW Oshkosh football team improved their record to 5-1 after a 13-3 victory over the 4-2 UW-Stevens Point Pointers at Community Stadium at Goerke Park in Stevens Point on Saturday.
The victory on Saturday set the record for head coach Pat Cerroni as he became UW Oshkosh football’s winningest coach in the 122-year history of the program. In his 10 years as the Titans head coach, he has a record of 69-33.
When asked about his achievement, Coach Cerroni kept his response simple.
“It just means I’m getting old,” Cerroni said.
The Titans are now in a three-way tie for second place in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with UW-La Crosse and UW-Platteville. Sitting atop the conference is the UW-Whitewater Warhawks with a record of 6-0, who the Titans lost to last week.
The matchup between UWO and UWSP was the 115th meeting since 1896. The Pointers own the overall record 59-48-8.
There was a total of four scoring drives in Saturday’s game with three of them belonging to the Titans.
Oshkosh got off to a slow start when quarterback Brett Kasper threw his third interception of the season 12 seconds into the first play of the game.
Kasper was picked off on the Titans’ 35 yard line by Pointers defensive back Griffen Davis, who returned the ball to the UWO 33 yard line.
The Titans’ defense was able to keep the Pointers from scoring after forcing a turnover on downs in a drive that went seven plays for 24 yards.
After getting the ball on their own nine yard line, the Titans were able to get to the Pointers 18 yard line and get their first score of the game via a 35-yard field goal from kicker Eli Wettstein.
With 6:31 remaining in the first quarter the Titans were up 3-0.
The Pointers answered during the following drive by putting up a 39-yard field goal from kicker Kyle Hendzel in a drive that went seven plays and 49 yards. This was the Pointers’ only scoring drive of the game.
The Titans got the ball back with 3:21 left to play in the first quarter. The drive went into the start of the second quarter and resulted in their second field goal of the game. A 32-yard field goal from Wettstein put the Titans back on top 6-3 with 14:17 left in the second quarter.
On the Pointers following possession, the Titans defense got their first of four turnovers of the game on a fumble recovery by linebacker Jon Kallas.
The Titans defense is ranked second in total defense in the WIAC. Players on the offense are aware of how good their defense is and feel confident in them, running back Dylan Hecker said.
“The defense, we gotta give a lot of credit to them,” Hecker said. “We put them in bad positions and they only let up three points so that’s awesome that we have them on our side.”
On the Titans’ fumble recovery drive, running back Devon Linzenmeyer had a touchdown run of 10 yards. The extra point was good, giving the Titans the lead 13-3 with 12:50 left to play in the first half.
High scoring in the first half is not new for the Titans, considering they have outscored their opponents 185-6 in the first half of games so far this season.
Stevens Point’s second turnover of the game came with 16 seconds left in the first half. Titans cornerback AJ Plewa made the interception on the Titans one yard line. The Titans ran two plays before the first half came to an end.
The Titans’ defense came up with their third turnover of the game with 12:33 left in the game. Safety Johnny Eagan intercepted Pointers quarterback Logan Taylor. Eagan returned the ball 38 yards to the Pointers’ 37 yard line.
The fourth turnover of the game came at the 9:31 mark in the fourth quarter. A fumble from the Pointers was recovered by linebacker Jake Thein at the Titans 31 yard line. The Titans were unable to do anything with the drive, which resulted in a four-and-out.
Although the Titans came out on top they admit the win was not their best performance, Kasper said.
“We expect so much out of ourselves,” Kasper said. “We think we should blow every team out of the water. Overall I think we’re just hungry and ready to put a full game together because I don’t think we’ve put a full game together this season.