The UW Oshkosh football team has advanced to the NCAA Division III football semi-finals for the second time in program history after a 34-31 victory against the St. Thomas Tommies at O’Shaughnessy Stadium in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Titans head coach Pat Cerroni said he is happy with his team and what they were able to do to beat such a hard opponent.
“I’m very proud of our players,” Cerroni said. “It’s all about our players, it has nothing to do with me. These guys are focused.”
The Titans took an early lead on the Tommies after STU won the coin toss and elected to differ.
The Titans took the first possession of the game 68 yards in nine plays to score a touchdown from a 1-yard rush from Titans’ running back Dylan Hecker in a drive that included a 23-yard Hecker rush and a 21-yard completion from quarterback Brett Kasper to Hecker.
Last year’s national runner-up Tommies were quick to tie the game with a completion from STU quarterback Alex Fenske to Matt Christenson for four yards.
In the following possession, the Titans were able to take the ball 79 yards in six plays and retake the lead with a 46-yard touchdown pass from Kasper to wide receiver Sam Mentkowski.
The Titans went ahead 14-7 with 2:39 remaining in the first quarter.
The Tommies got the ball back on their own 32 yard line and ran one play before the Titans got their first of eight turnovers in the game via defensive back Johnny Eagan’s interception on the STU 38.
With 2:35 remaining in the first quarter, the Titans started their drive and ran one play to score a touchdown by a 38-yard completion from Kasper to Mentkowski to put the Titans up 21-7.
The following possession for the Tommies resulted three plays before the Titans got their second turnover of the game from another Eagan interception at the UWO 22.
The Titans’ pursuing drive lasted two plays before the first quarter came to an end, continuing into the second quarter and resulted in a punt to the Tommies.
The Tommies started their drive on their own 36 before giving the Titans their third turnover of the game after a fumble from Fenske which was recovered by Titans’ linebacker Jon Kallas on the STU 47.
The Titans went five plays before they were forced to attempt a field goal. The attempt from kicker Eli Wettstein was good and extended the Titans lead over the Tommies 24-7.
With 11:01 remaining in the second quarter, the Tommies began a drive that resulted in a field goal after going 57 yards in eight plays. After the 23-yard attempt from STU kicker Bryan Stensapir was good, the Tommies were still down 24-10.
The rest of the first half went scoreless. However, the Titans were able to come up with two more turnovers at the end of the half.
The Titans fourth turnover of the game came from a forced fumble by Titans’ defensive lineman Marcus Senn, which was recovered by Titans’ linebacker Jake Thein at the UWO 35.
The Titans got their fifth turnover of the game after an interception from defensive back AJ Plewa on the UWO 10. The first half came to an end shortly after with the Titans up 24-10.
After punting back and forth to each other for a few drives to start the second half, the Tommies were able to come up with their second touchdown of the game in a one-play drive for 31 yards after a completion from Fenske to tight end Jackson Hull.
With 6:38 left in the third quarter, the Tommies were inching closer to the Titans with a score of 24-17.
The Tommies were quick to tie the game after the Titans were forced to punt from their own 45 and the punt was blocked by defensive lineman Ryan Winter who ran it in for a touchdown.
With 4:34 remaining in the third, the score was tied at 24.
Before the third quarter came to an end, the Titans got their sixth turnover of the game from an interception by defensive lineman Justin Watson at the UWO 17.
The second possession of the fourth quarter resulted in a Titans touchdown after a 32-yard completion from Kasper to Mentkowski. With 8:36 remaining in the game, UWO retook the lead 32-24.
STU struck back after going 65 yards in six plays with a 14-yard rush from running back Josh Parks with 5:57 remaining to tie the game at 31.
The following possession for the Titans proved to be the possession that would put the Titans over the top for good.
A drive that resulted in a 36-yard field goal from Wettstein gave the Titans the lead and the eventual win at 34-31.
The Tommies were unable to come up with an answer and ended up turning the ball over two more times before the game ended.
The seventh turnover for the Titans came from an Eagan interception and the eighth came with 00:07 left in the game after a STU fumble was recovered by Wattson to end the game.
After missing the first two rounds of the playoffs due to injury, Titans wide receiver CJ Blackburn returned against St. Thomas and said he is excited to be back.
“It feels good,” Blackburn said. “For people to tell me I wouldn’t play again and then to come back and play, it was awesome.”
The Titans will host John Carroll at home on Saturday for the right to go to the Stagg Bowl. The Titans played John Carroll to open the season and won 33-14; however, Kasper said he knows they are not facing the same Blue Streak team from week one.
“Obviously no team has their identity week one, you try to find that throughout the season and I think that’s what we’ve both done,” Kasper said. “I think we can expect a totally different John Carroll team. We know it’s going to be a completely new team, a completely new game.”
The Titans face the Blue Streaks at J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium with kickoff at 12:05 p.m. Students can pick up a free ticket at the Kolf Sports Center. The deal is only available until Friday at 4 p.m. otherwise follow @atitansports on Twitter for live updates.
