The UW Oshkosh football team, ranked No. 16 in the nation in Tuesday’s D3football.com Top 25 poll, defeated the preseason No. 16 team, Lindfield University (Oregon) 31-14 Saturday at Maxwell Field in McMinnville, Oregon.
Quentin Keene made his first career start under center for the Titans and finished the game with 285 yards through the air along with 18 net yards on the ground, two passing touchdowns and one interception.
The interception occurred during UWO’s first drive of the game, but the Titans found a way to bounce back and followed up with only two other empty possessions throughout the rest of the contest.
Clayton Schwalbe earned himself his second D3football.com team of the week honors of his career by scoring touchdowns on both his touches in the contest. Schwalbe’s first of the day put UWO up 10-0 in the first quarter as he finished a long nine-play drive with a 1-yard rush, then in the third quarter, Schwalbe flashed his receiving excellence as he broke through for a 48-yard touchdown.
Axel Vera Trejo, in his first ever collegiate football game, put UWO on the board first with a 33-yard field goal and continued to make his presence felt with two more field goals and two extra points, giving Trejo 11 total points in the season opener.
Linfield University was held scoreless for the entirety of the first quarter and up until 11:20 left in the second, before quarterback Luke McNabb connected with Caleb Woodcock for a 1-yard touchdown to bring the score to 10-7.
After conceding their first touchdown of the season, UWO responded with 18 unanswered points, 11 before the first half was over. Trejo succeeded in his second field goal attempt of the day to increase the Titans lead to 13-7, before Keene hit Kellan Mella in the endzone with 14 seconds left and a successful 2-point conversion.
Going into the second half, the Titans led 21-7 and never looked back. Schwalbe scored his second touchdown of the day in the third quarter, then Trejo finished off his day with a field goal following the two-minute warning. The Wildcats reached paydirt one more time when McNabb found his leading receiver of the day, Dane Meddaugh, for a 15-yard touchdown, but couldn’t mount a comeback.
UWO had four different rushers net double-digit yards in Saturday’s contest, with A.J. Korth leading the team in both carries and yards. He had a final statline of 15 attempts for 53 yards. Doug Burson was the next best rusher with 32 yards on seven attempts.
As for the receivers, Londyn Little had his second career 100-plus receiving yard game as a Titan, and led the game with five receptions for 114 yards. One reception was enough for Schwalbe to gain the second-most receiving yards on the team.
The Titans next clash will be against last year’s undefeated NCAA D-III champions in No. 1 North Central College (Illinois) at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium in Naperville, Illinois, Saturday at 1 p.m. The game will be streamed on 90.3 WRST-FM.
