UW Oshkosh fell to UW-La Crosse 30-21 in Saturday’s Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) matchup at Veterans Memorial Field in La Crosse.

The now 18th ranked Titans opened the scoring with a one-yard run by quarterback Kobe Berghammer to put UWO up 7-0. This marks Berghammer’s fourth touchdown run of the season, the 6th most in the WIAC.

On the next drive, UWL marched down the field and responded with seven points of their own, with a three-yard Joey Stutzman run.

After each team exchanged punts, the Titans scored once again. Sophomore running back Mac Winkler had a three yard run, extending the UWO lead to 14-7. This marked Winkler’s first career rushing touchdown.

With 4:27 to go in the half, the Titans scored once again. Berghammer lofted one up to wide receiver Stephan Flores from 36 yards out for the score. This was Berghammer’s sixth passing touchdown on the year, and the first receiving touchdown for Flores. This would be the last time UWO scored in the game.

After the game, head coach Pat Cerroni said that after the first half, “We didn’t move the ball, I don’t know [why] it’s a mystery for all of us, we got to do a better job of coaching period.’

In the third quarter, UWL pulled to within seven after another touchdown by running back Joey Stutzman, this time a 12-yard run. Late in the third quarter, UWL scored once again.

Senior running back Brad Tobin scored on a four-yard run, but UWL missed the ensuing extra-point, putting the score at 21-20 UWO. UWL later took the lead in the fourth quarter, when kicker Ryan Beirne made a 20-yard field goal to put the Eagles up 23-21.

Late in the fourth quarter, UWL added to their lead after another touchdown by Stutzman, bringing the score to 30-21. The Titans could not get anything going on offense after halftime, only accumulating three first downs and conducting three offensive plays in Eagle’s territory.

UWL outgained UWO 406-301 and out rushed the Titans 218-97. Cerroni said after the game, “Our goal was to stop the deep pass game to limit big plays, but they did a good job finding the weaknesses. We started strong, but we just didn’t finish. We were 11 points short of being 4-0 on the road, hopefully we have some juice this week.”

Berghammer went 19-32 for 204 yard passing with one touchdown. He now has six touchdown passes and a team leading four rushing touchdowns this season.

For UWL, Joey Stutzman rushed 32 times for 156 yards and three touchdowns. Jake Simuncak caught 10 passes for 112 yards and remains the WIAC’s leading receiver. Quarterback Jakob Parks went 16-23 for 188 yards. Parks is second in the WIAC with 13 touchdown passes on the year.

Following the loss, the Titans moved down to 18th in the d3football.com rankings, while UWL moved up to number 11. UWO lost its second straight in the all-time series between the Titans and Eagles, which UWL leads 51-17-6.

UW-Oshkosh will play in its home opener against third ranked UW-Whitewater on Saturday October 16th at JJ Keller Field at Titan Stadium. “We just got to come together this week and figure it out. We’ve been in this position before and we’ve figured it out. We’re excited to get an opportunity to fix things and get it right,” said coach Cerroni.

Whitewater quarterback Max Meylor leads the WIAC in touchdowns with 16 and has thrown zero interceptions. “They [Whitewater] are an excellent football team. Their offense is outstanding, and their team is on a roll. [But] in this conference you can’t expect anything. We’re just happy to be home.”