Quarterback Kobe Berghammer threw for 337 passing yards and three touchdowns, but the UW Oshkosh football team fell to nationally ranked UW-La Crosse 31-28 at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Oct. 21.
Berghammer, who is three touchdown passes away from breaking the school record for most touchdown passes in program history, leads Division III with 29 touchdown passes on the year and has the third-most touchdown passes in the nation at any level.
Berghammer finished the game against UWL, ranked fourth in the nation by d3football.com, 32-45 for his fourth game of the season, throwing for more than 400 yards. He was also UWO’s leading rusher for the fourth straight week, scoring a touchdown and gaining 23 yards on the ground on nine carries.
UWO wide receiver Dan Fynaardt had a career-high six catches for 96 yards and a touchdown in the loss. Oshkosh’s Trae Tetzlaff, who leads the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with 47 receptions, recorded nine catches for 85 yards and a score.
As a team, Oshkosh outgained UWL through the air 337 yards to 203 yards, but the Titans were outgained on the ground 275 yards to 48 yards.
UWO senior defensive back Chris Doherty said it was a very disappointing loss for the team.
“If we would have won, then we would have been tied for first atop the conference,” Doherty said. “Losing by three points to the No. 4 team in the nation is nothing to be sad about though. We definitely put up a good fight and we put forth our best effort. I think it was the most physical that we’ve been in any game this season. We just need to clean up some small errors, that way we can become much better as a team for the last few games of the season.”
The Titans (4-3, 2-2 WIAC) drove deep into UWL territory on their first possession of the game but were unable to walk away with points after a failed fourth down attempt. The Eagles (6-1, 4-0 WIAC) took possession and marched 75 yards for their first touchdown of the game after quarterback Keyser Helterbrand tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Jack Studer to give UWL a 7-0 lead.
Oshkosh missed a field goal on their next drive and La Crosse scored another touchdown six plays later when Gabe Lynch ran for a 5-yard score.
The Titans finally found the endzone early in the second quarter when Berghammer threw a short pass to running back Doug Burson, who ran 11 yards for the touchdown. UWO missed the ensuing extra point and the Titans trailed UWL 14-6.
La Crosse scored on their third straight drive of the game to jump out to a 21-6 advantage after Helterbrand threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Bowman with just under 10 minutes remaining in the half.
UWO was able to cut the lead to seven points on their next possession when the Titans put together a 12-play drive that was capped off by a 2-yard touchdown pass from Berghammer to Fynaardt. Berghammer also found Fynaardt on a two-point conversion to try to cut the deficit to 21-14.
Just before halftime, UWL marched into the red zone and looked poised to score once again until Oshkosh linebacker Kyle Dietzen picked off Helterbrand to finish off the half.
The Titans converted on a surprise onside kick to begin the second half, but UWO was unable to take advantage of prime field possession and turned the ball over on downs.
With just over four minutes to play in the third quarter, the Eagles took a 24-14 advantage after kicker Michael Stack drilled a 40-yard field goal.
UWO opened the fourth quarter with a touchdown to cut the deficit to just three points after Berghammer broke outside the pocket and ran for a 10-yard touchdown.
The Titans could not hold the Eagle offense on their next possession, and UWL took a 31-21 lead when Helterbrand ran for a 21-yard touchdown.
Oshkosh made things interesting late in the fourth quarter after Berghammer connected with Tetzlaff for a 16-yard touchdown to cut the Eagle lead to three points, but the Titans were unable to get a stop on the defensive side. UWL earned three straight first downs on the final possession to run out the clock and claim their sixth win of the season.
Doherty said he was most impressed by the team’s resilience against La Crosse.
“Even though we have gotten down on ourselves after falling behind in other games, sometimes it felt we would maybe point fingers and stuff like that, that was not the case in this game,” Doherty said. “In this game we tried to stay as a cohesive unit, and we didn’t get the end result we wanted, but we really put forth our best effort.”
On the defensive side, UWO’s Carson Raddatz and Mitch Borkovec both had a game-high nine tackles and the team combined for 72 total tackles including two tackles for loss.
For UWL, Helterbrand finished the game 13-20 with 203 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Helterbrand was also the team’s leading rusher, gaining 145 yards and a score on the ground on 17 attempts. Lynch finished the game with 102 rushing yards on 19 attempts and scored a touchdown. Studer finished the game as La Crosse’s leading receiver, catching five passes for 87 yards and a touchdown.
Doherty said the team needs more leadership from everyone.
“We need everyone to be on the same page at all times, cheering on each other and picking each other up when we’re down,” he said. “We need to continue to come together as a team going into the last stretch of the season. Hopefully we can still either get a playoff berth or get into a bowl game. We’ll have to win out and get some help, but we need to focus on ourselves and play together as a unit.”
The Titans will take on UW-Stevens Point (1-6, 0-4 WIAC) for Homecoming at J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium Oct. 28 at 1:35 p.m.