The UW Oshkosh football team’s season ended Saturday, Dec. 19 after a 7-10 loss to the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders of Texas in the NCAA Division III National Championship Amos Alanzo Stagg Bowl in Salem, VA.

This was the first appearance at the Stagg Bowl for the Titans and the first Stagg Bowl title for the Crusaders in their second appearance.

A quick three-and-out for the Crusaders to start the game forced them to punt from their own 26 yard line to the Titans’ 36-yard line, after UWO won the coin toss and elected to defer.

The Titans took the early lead after going 64-yards in nine plays for a touchdown from a 2-yard rush from running back Dylan Hecker. The drive included a 39-yard completion from quarterback Brett Kasper to wide receiver CJ Blackburn who was playing with a partially torn ACL.

After the extra point was good from kicker Eli Wettstein, the Titans were up 7-0 with 9:38 left in the first quarter.

The early touchdown was the only time the Titans were ahead and the only score the Titans earned that game.

Titans head coach Pat Cerroni said the Crusaders were still warming up when the Titans scored early.

“I think they were cold,” Cerroni said. “That’s about it.”

The second possession of the game for the Crusaders put them on the board in a drive that took up 8:23 on the clock.

After starting from their own 29-yard line, UMHB was able to take the ball to the UWO 5-yard line where the Titans defense was able to make the stop and force a field goal.

Kicker John Mowery’s field goal from 22-yards out was good and the Crusaders were on the board with 1:11 left in the first quarter.

The second possession of the game for the Titans was a quick three-and-out that resulted in a 45-yard punt from punter Turner Geisthardt. It put the Crusaders on their own 21-yard line as the first quarter came to an end.

To start the second quarter, the Crusaders were able to take the ball 14-yards in eight plays before the Titans got their first turnover of the game as defensive back AJ Plew intercepted Crusader’s quarterback Blake Jackson at the 50-yard line.

The Titans took over at midfield, but were only able to take the ball to the UMHB 25-yard line where they were forced to go for the first down on 4th-and-10. They failed after Kasper rushed the ball and was tackled for no gain.

With 7:31 remaining in the first half, the Crusaders took over on downs and were able to take the ball 75 yards for a touchdown via a 1-yard rush from Stagg Bowl MVP Jackson.

With 3:16 remaining in the first half the Crusaders were ahead of the Titans 10-7.

The last drive of the first half for the Titans resulted in Kasper’s first interception of the game after they were able to take the ball 50-yards in seven plays from their own 27.

Kasper was intercepted at the UMHB one-yard line by Crusaders’ free safety Jaedon Johnson who returned the ball 2-yards.

With 1:02 remaining in the first half the Crusaders ran two plays before the half came to an end with UMHB up on the Titans 10-7.

The Titans got the ball to start the second half on their own 44-yard line and were able to go to the UMHB 29 before the Crusaders’ defense forced a turnover on downs after a Hecker rush for a loss of one.

After the Crusaders took over on their own 29, they ran one play and fumbled the ball, which was recovered by Titans’ American Football Coaches Association All-American linebacker Reese Dziedzic who returned the ball five yards.

Despite starting in Crusaders’ territory the Titans went three-and-out. The drive went for negative 13-yards after a Devon Linzenmeyer rush for a loss of seven, a Kasper sack for a loss of 6-yards and an incompletion from Kasper to Linzenmeyer.

Geisthardt’s punt from the UMHB 40 went 40 yards and resulted in a touchback.

The Crusaders drive from their own 20 resulted in a punt to the Titans who punted back to UMHB after another three-and-out. However, the Crusaders next drive resulted in the third turnover of the game for the Titans defense.

After starting on their own 30-yard line, the Crusaders were able to take the ball to the UWO six before Titans linebacker Jake Thein forced a fumble from Jackson. It was recovered by Titans defensive back Cameron Brown at the UWO 7-yard line.

The Titans were able to take the ball to their own 43, before being forced to punt to the Crusaders.

Starting on their own 32-yard line with 00:23 remaining in the third quarter, the Titans defense was able to hold UMHB to zero yards in a drive that went 00:35 and carried into the fourth.

The fourth quarter started with a drive for the Titans that resulted in a punt. Both teams would punt again.The last punt put the Crusaders on their own 22 where they would begin a drive that resulted in a missed field goal.

Starting on their own 20-yard line, the Titans were down 7-10 with 2:33 remaining in the game.

The Titans ran 10 plays for 58 yards including a pass interference call on Blackburn for 15-yards before Kasper threw his second interception of the game at the UMHB 22 yard line.

With 00:35 remaining in the game the Crusaders took a rush for a loss and then let the clock run out to end the game, which resulted in the 10-7 win.

The Titans were able to hold the crusaders to the lowest score of their season, something Cerroni said should not go unnoticed.

“What’s unfortunate here is that their defense played extremely well, but so did ours,” Cerroni said.

Kasper had a career-high eight interceptions this season. With the eighth one ending the Titans hopes of a national championship, Kasper said he knows that play will hurt for a while, but he will grow from it.

“The last play of the game, that’s gonna be motivation in the offseason and for next season,” Kasper said.

Despite the 2016-2017 season being the most successful season in UWO football history Cerroni said the loss still hurts.

“We wanted to win.” Cerroni said. ”There’s no solace in losing. We weren’t satisfied to be here, we were here to win the thing. Obviously tonight they were the better team.”

Hecker, after being just one year out of ACL surgery, had a career high of 1142 yards this season. He was held to a season-low 29 total yards against the Crusaders.

Hecker said the UMHB defense did what they had to do to stop the Titans from taking the lead.

“The [Titans] defense played great and they gave us plenty of opportunities, so I think at that time we knew it was our turn to step up and put together a scoring drive and we obviously couldn’t,” Hecker said.

Thein, who had a career-high 32 total tackles his senior season, said, despite the loss, he is proud of his team and excited for the future of UWO football.

“We really wanted to win this thing, but I guess there’s really no other way I would want to end my senior season than playing in the national championship,” Thein said. “I’m thankful for getting that opportunity and I’m hoping that they can continue this thing and get back here.”