The UW Oshkosh football team will return to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III Football Championship for the second year in a row.
Titans quarterback Brett Kasper says it feels good to be back.
“It feels good to get back to the quarterfinals,” Kasper said. “We’re in a little different situation than we were last year with having to go on the road. Obviously we are going to be at a slight disadvantage, but I don’t think competition is anything new to us.”
The Titans won the first game of the tournament on Saturday, Nov. 19 against the Washington University Bears in a dominant fashion, scoring seven touchdowns and holding the Bears to two touchdowns, making the score 49-13.
Kasper threw for 192 yards and three touchdowns. Titans’ running back Mitch Gerhartz ran for a career high 204 yards and also had a touchdown. Running back Devon Linzenmeyer had two scores and sophomore tight-end Cody Moon had his first touchdown of the year.
The Titans out-played the Bears on all fronts, holding them to 314 yards of total offense compared to the Titans 608. The Titans’ defense came up with four fumbles and two interceptions.
On Saturday, Nov. 26 the Titans managed to pull away from St. John’s 31-14 in a game where the Johnnies kept it close until the fourth quarter.
The first quarter went scoreless with the first score of the game coming in the second quarter from a 2-yard Dylan Hecker rush in a drive that was the result of an interception from Titans’ strong safety Johnny Eagan, putting the score 7-0 with 7:48 left in the second quarter.
Hecker had a career high 198 rushing yards and three touchdowns on Saturday, in a game where the Johnnies surrendered 332 rushing yards, the most in their past 20 games.
The Johnnies were quick to tie the game on their next possession after a 3-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jackson Erdmann to running back Zack Sundly with 2:28 left in the second quarter.
As the first half was winding down, the Titans managed to take the ball 67 yards in 10 plays and retake the lead from a 26-yard field goal from kicker Eli Wettstein. The Titans were now ahead 10-7 and never lost the lead for the remainder of the game.
The Johnnies received the ball to start the second half after winning the coin toss and electing to differ at the beginning of the game.
A quick 3-and-out from the Johnnies resulted in a punt to the Titans who started their drive on their own 20-yard line. After a Kasper incompletion, the second play of the drive was a 57-yard Hecker rush, which brought the Titans to the Johnnies 23-yard line.
After a rush for a loss from Linzenmeyer, a Hecker rush for two yards and a 6-yard completion from Kasper to wide receiver Sam Mentkowski, the Titans were faced with fourth-and-3 at the Johnnies 16-yard line.
A Hecker rush for 16 yards gave the Titans their second touchdown of the game which extended their lead to 17-7 with 11:25 to play in the third.
The Johnnies next possession resulted in a 41-yard punt to the Titans; however, a Kasper interception on the UWO 32, which was returned 16 yards by Johnnies’ linebacker Carter Hansen, gave the Johnnies the ball on the UWO 16.
The Johnnies ran four plays and got their second touchdown of the game, which narrowed the Titans’ lead to three points with 5:33 remaining in the third quarter putting the score 17-14.
The following possession for the Titans was a 3-and-out, which resulted in a punt, which gave the Johnnies the ball on their own 29-yard line.
The Johnnies, now within three points of tying the game, were able to take the ball to the UWO 27 where the Titans’ defense was able to hold the Johnnies to fourth-and-inches as the third quarter came to an end.
St. John’s began the fourth quarter with a run for a loss of one yard resulting in a turnover on downs to give the Titans the ball back.
UWO started the drive on their own 28 which resulted in one play for a touchdown after a 72-yard Linzenmeyer rush to increase the Titans’ lead to 24-14 with 14:09 remaining in the game.
The Titans were able to put up one more score with 2:32 to go in the game via a Hecker 20-yard rush, giving him his third touchdown of the game.
The Johnnies got the ball down to the 17 with 2:32 to play; however, after two plays the Titans got the ball back after an interception from defensive back Cole Yoder on the UWO 38.
A 50-yard Hecker rush brought the Titans to the Johnnies 5 yard line where the Titans let the clock run out resulting in a final score 31-14.
Hecker said despite things not going as planned on offense through the air, the ability of the team to step up and still perform well is what makes the team so successful.
“It shows how deep we are and how versatile we are,” Hecker said. “Anybody could go off. We got anybody that can do that and it happened to be me that day.
On Saturday Dec. 3, the Titans will face the undefeated St. Thomas Tommies who are conference champions of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
The Tommies are coming off blowout wins in the first two rounds of the tournament with wins over University of Northwestern-St. Paul and Coe College.
Titans’ head coach Pat Cerroni said he feels his team is in a good position so far in the tournament.
“It’s good everything is good,” Cerroni said. “We got a really tough game this week but we are pretty focused, pretty confident, feeling good. Top eight team in the country, this is where we should be.”
The game will be held in Minnesota at Palmer Field at O’Shaughnessy Stadium with kickoff at noon. Follow atitansports on Twitter for complete coverage of the quarterfinal game.
the UWO 32, which was returned 16 yards by Johnnies’ linebacker Carter Hansen, gave the Johnnies the ball on the UWO 16.
The Johnnies ran four plays and got their second touchdown of the game, which narrowed the Titans’ lead to three points with 5:33 remaining in the third quarter, putting the score 17-14.
The following possession for the Titans was a 3-and-out, which resulted in a punt, which gave the Johnnies the ball on their own 29-yard line.
The Johnnies, now within three points of tying the game, were able to take the ball to the UWO 27 where the Titans’ defense was able to hold the Johnnies to fourth-and-inches as the third quarter came to an end.
St. John’s began the fourth quarter with a run for a loss of one yard resulting in a turnover on downs to give the Titans the ball back.
UWO started the drive on their own 28 which resulted in one play for a touchdown after a 72-yard Linzenmeyer rush to increase the Titans’ lead to 24-14 with 14:09 remaining in the game.
The Titans were able to put up one more score with 2:32 to go in the game via a Hecker 20-yard rush, giving him his third touchdown of the game.
The Johnnies got the ball down to the 17 with 2:32 to play; however, after two plays the Titans got the ball back after an interception from defensive back Cole Yoder on the UWO 38.
A 50-yard Hecker rush brought the Titans to the Johnnies 5-yard line where the Titans let the clock run out resulting in a final score 31-14.
Hecker said despite things not going as planned on offense through the air, the ability of the team to step up and still perform well is what makes the team so successful.
“It shows how deep we are and how versatile we are,” Hecker said. “Anybody could go off. We got anybody that can do that and it happened to be me that day.”
On Saturday, the Titans will face the undefeated St. Thomas Tommies, who are conference champions of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
The Tommies are coming off blowout wins in the first two rounds of the tournament with wins over University of Northwestern-St. Paul and Coe College.
Titans’ head coach Pat Cerroni said he feels his team is in a good position so far in the tournament.
“It’s good, everything is good,” Cerroni said. “We got a really tough game this week but we are pretty focused, pretty confident, feeling good. Top eight team in the country, this is where we should be.”
The game will be held in Minnesota at Palmer Field at O’Shaughnessy Stadium with kickoff at noon. Follow @atitansports on Twitter for complete coverage of the game.
