After opening up the season with a dramatic win last week, the UW Oshkosh football team survived another intense game last Saturday.
The No. 17 ranked Titans took down another top 25 opponent, No. 21 Linfield University (Oregon) in a 28-21 overtime thriller. It is UWO’s third straight win versus a top 25 team dating back to last season (No. 11 UW-River Falls and No. 9 Wheaton).
Coach Peter Jennings knows that the team has been on a tough start but said that this stretch will set them up for the future.
It was a rough start defensively for the Titans. Linfield started with the ball since the Titans won the coin toss and deferred to the second half.
The Wildcats made sure to take advantage of the ball. Linfield scored a touchdown on their opening drive, torching the UWO defense with a lot of quick and short field passes.
Thankfully, that lead for Linfield was short-lived. It only took the Titans two minutes and 17 seconds to tie the game up at 7-for-7 thanks to a 12-yard reception from Jon Mathieu that set up a 38-yard touchdown run from Wildcats quarterback AJ Korth.
On the Wildcats next drive, they played similar to their first possession. This time the Titans defense was able to hold them to only a field goal to make it 10-7 Linfield.
The game nearly went south for the Titans as Linfield got the ball back with an interception on their own 47, but thankfully the Titans defense made sure that the Wildcats did nothing for that drive as UWO forced a punt.
That drive helped the Titan defense after the 10-point first quarter. The Titan defense was lights out for the rest of the half.
“We knew that they are a great team and they’ll get points but we have the play makers to go head to head with them,” said Linebacker Kyle Dietzen.
The offense took advantage of the great defense, as UWO went into half with a 14-13 lead thanks to a touchdown from freshman quarterback Cole Warren to Mathieu.
With the tough challenge of coming in for his first ever game in the middle of the competition, Warren had himself a solid game. Warren went 15/19 passing for 180 yards and two touchdowns. Jennings was proud of how Warren handled himself in the situation.
“He is always ready to rock.” Jennings said, “(Warren) had high level stuff against that opponent.”
In the second half, the Titan offense struggled, and UWO had five penalties in the half.
Linfield retook the lead thanks to a 37-yard completion and a 29-yard completion that set up the go ahead touchdown for the Wildcats. Linfield converted on the two-point conversion to go up 21-14.
The Titans responded with a 12-yard touchdown from Warren to tight end Clayton Schwalbe, tying up the game 21-21.
The game went into overtime after three quick drives by both teams to end regulation.
In overtime, UWO started out with the ball after Linfield won the toss and elected to start out on defense. The Titans were able to get the ball down to the Linfield 8-yard line with a new set of downs behind a 10-yard completion from Trae Tetzlaff.
The Titans were then able to punch it in with a 2-yard touchdown run from running back Justice Lovelace to go up 28-21.
Needing a stop to win, the Titan’s defense came up with exactly that. The Titans came up with another interception to close out the win, this time courtesy of Dietzen.
Lovelace, who made a crucial overtime touchdown after making a game-winning touchdown in the prior three games, said the pressure is a thrill.
“It feels really good to be trusted.” he said, “There’s stuff that goes into it knowing that we didn’t play great the whole game. And that I might not get to make that play.”
The Titans will take the field again Sept. 21 against D-II Michigan Tech, the first time Titan football has faced a D-II school since 2022, when they fell to Northern Michigan University 13-10. The home game will take place at noon at J.J. Keller Stadium, and will be the final non conference game before the WIAC season begins.
