Wide receiver Trae Tetzlaff had 178 receiving yards and two touchdowns as the UW Oshkosh football team took down UW-Stout 19-14 on homecoming at J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium.

After a scoreless first half for the Titans, it took just four plays in the third quarter for UWO to find the endzone. Quarterback Kobe Berghammer found an open Tetzlaff off the play-action pass for the 49-yard score, but a failed PAT put UWO down 7-6.

“I think when we went into halftime, we just kind of relaxed and were in the moment,” Tetzlaff said. “When we came out of halftime we executed and didn’t let negative plays beat us twice.”

On Stout’s next possession, the Oshkosh defense made a goal line stand inside the 1-yard line on fourth down to give UWO the ball back. Only four plays later, Berghammer threaded the needle to Tetzlaff for his second touchdown of the game, this time a 79-yard score, to put the Titans on top 13-7.

“It’s just something that we practice all the time,” Tetzlaf said. “The safety flew down on the play and the corner was 1-on-1 so it was just me and Kobe like it has been a thousand times in practice.”

UWS retook the lead early in the fourth quarter after a DJ Stewart fumble gave the Blue Devils the ball on Oshkosh’s 22-yard line. Chase Hughes ran for a 2-yard touchdown as Stout took the 14-13 lead with just over 10 minutes to go in the game.

On the ensuing kickoff Stewart had his revenge, returning the ball 94-yards for UWO’s first kickoff return touchdown of the year. The Titans unsuccessfully tried to go for a 2-point conversion after the touchdown, putting Oshkosh ahead 19-14.

For his kickoff return touchdown, Stewart was named to the d3football.com Team of The Week and received Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Kwik Trip Athlete of the Week honors.

UWS quarterback Sean Borgerding, who threw for a 9-yard touchdown pass early in the game, tried to lead Stout to a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter but was stopped on fourth down once again.

Head coach Peter Jennings said the biggest change in the second half was the offense’s ability to get the ball in the hands of Tetzlaff.

“Once we got into the second half, we knew we were going to get single coverage from Stout’s defense and it was time to go ‘air Trae’ and he didn’t disappoint,” he said.

Berghammer finished the game 12-20 with 221 passing yards and two passing scores while also leading the Titans in rushing yards with 92. Tony Steger finished with three receptions for 33-yards while Peter MacCudden had 31 yards rushing for UWO.

Jennings said the Titans tried to utilize the run game in the first half, but the team was unable to sustain drives after shooting themselves in the foot too many times.

“In the second half we felt pretty confident with the offense and it was part of the game plan to try and pound the rock a little bit,” Jennings said. “Stout did a good job bottling up our running backs which allowed Kobe (Berghammer) to get some yards on the edge.”

On the defensive side of the ball, linebacker Tory Jandrin finished with a game-high 15 tackles while defensive lineman Jhe’veon St. Julien had 1.5 sacks to lead the Titans. St. Julian also led UWO in tackles for loss as Oshkosh recorded a season-best 96 total tackles.

UWO safety Carson Raddatz said the defense didn’t change much in the second half.

“We had a good game plan going in so in the second half we really rallied with each other and came out with the win,” he said.

For Stout, Borgerding finished 28-39 with 239 yards passing and a touchdown while running back Chase Hughes ran for 100 yards and a score. Wide receiver Parker Fossum led the team with 68 receiving yards in a game where Stout dominated the time of possession 40:30 to 19:30.

UWO, ranked NO. 24 in the nation by d3football.com, sits fifth in the WIAC standings, one game behind the four teams tied for first place.

Jennings said the entire team needs to do a better job of brushing off negative plays, drives and quarters.

“Sometimes I think that we have such high expectations for ourselves that anything less than perfection almost puts us in a little bit of a funk,” he said. “We need to continue to understand that failure is just an opportunity to go and get better.”

The Titans will take on NO. 8 UW-La Crosse Saturday at J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium in the final home game of the year at 1 p.m.