A late fourth quarter comeback came up short as the UW Oshkosh football team dropped its Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener to UW-Whitewater 37-21 Sept. 30 at J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium.
The Titans, ranked No. 20 in the nation by d3football.com, trailed No. 4 UWW 37-6 with under 12 minutes to go in the game before quarterback Kobe Berghammer tossed two touchdown passes to bring UWO within two scores. Oshkosh (2-2, 0-1 WIAC) looked poised to score once again with under five minutes to go in the contest, but Berghammer (4-0, 1-0 WIAC) threw his third interception of the day to seal the Whitewater victory.
UWO head coach Peter Jennings said he was very proud of the way the team played in the second half.
“I had no doubt that we would turn it on in the second half,” Jennings said. “I had no doubt that we would be able to play a very competitive game against UW-Whitewater and any team in the country. I was just hoping there would be enough time in the game for us to make that comeback. It was obviously not the result we wanted but I am very proud of this group and I told them that in the locker room. Failure is a great teacher, and what we went through today and what we were able to do in the second half, I think, is going to be able to create something special for this program.”
Berghammer finished the game 14-27 with 209 passing yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. Berghammer also finished as the team’s leading rusher, gaining 40 yards on the ground on 10 attempts. UWO was outgained 231-63 in rushing yards during the contest, with Oshkosh running backs Kaio Harn and Doug Burson combining for 23 yards on eight carries.
Wideout Dan Fynaardt finished as UWO’s leading receiver, catching three passes for a game-high 98 yards and a touchdown. Trae Tetzlaff caught five passes for 43 yards and two touchdowns while Clayton Schwalbe caught two passes for 29 yards, snapping his streak of three consecutive games with a touchdown reception.
Jennings said the game plan was to put the ball in Berghammer’s hands.
“In the first half we had some things that we thought would have been executed a little more consistently than they did,” He said. “We always had a couple of plays to use in our back pocket to use just in case we needed to get big yards. But, as we saw today, you can get open but you still have to make the play. You still need to finish the run, you still need to finish the tackle.”
Defensively, UWO defensive backs Carson Raddatz and Justin Tenpas both had a game-high eight tackles while Raddatz also recorded a forced fumble and two pass breakups to lead the team. Oshkosh recorded 89 tackles as a team and had three tackles for loss, one from Jacob Mandella and one from both Bryce Edwards and Tijs Santiago. Linebacker Kyle Dietzen recorded six tackles and an interception for the Titans.
Raddatz said he was definitely frustrated at how easy it was for the Warhawks to move the ball in the first half.
“In the first half they came out hot, got up 23 on us by halftime but in the second half we were able to execute plays a little better and got some stops,” Raddatz said. “Call-wise, we didn’t really change a whole lot — we played a bit more man coverage but that was about all we changed.”
UWW quarterback Alec Ogden went 18-28 for 262 passing yards, a touchdown and an interception. Whitewater running back Tamir Thomas dominated the ground game, rushing for 117 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. Ali Maher-Parr rushed 16 times for 91 yards and a score while Ogden finished with 18 yards and a touchdown.
Tommy Coates caught a game-high six passes for UWW, finishing with 86 receiving yards and a touchdown. Nick wind caught three passes for 59 yards while Steven Hein caught four passes for 53 yards for the Warhawks.
On the defensive side, UWW combined for 40 total tackles, three tackles for loss and three interceptions. Roy Panthier and Etha Gallagher led the team with five tackles apiece while Ky Koelblinger, Braede Barrett and Caden Naselli all recorded tackles for loss. Egon Hein finished the game with two interceptions while Joe Antonietti finished with a pick-six.
Whitewater dominated Oshkosh in the 115th all-time meeting between the two teams, outgaining the Titans in total yards 493-272, acquiring 17 more first downs, converting on 50% of third down tries and dominating in time of possession 39:37-20:23.
UWW opened the contest with a missed 47-yard field goal from Jeff Isotalo-McGuire on Whitewater’s opening drive. After a quick three-and-out from UWO, the Warhawks found the endzone in their next drive when UWW capped off a 14-play drive with a 3-yard touchdown pass from Ogden to Coates. Isotalo-McGuire missed the ensuing extra point, giving Whitewater a 6-0 lead.
A failed surprise-onside kick gave the Titans good field position, but Oshkosh couldn’t capitalize and punted the ball right back to the Warhawks to begin the second quarter.
UWW marched 87 yards on its next possession and added another touchdown, this time on a 12-yard rush from Maher-Parr to put the Warhawks on top 13-0.
With less than a minute left in the half, Whitewater scored on its third consecutive drive when Ogden scrambled outside of the pocket and rushed for a 9-yard touchdown. UWO received the ball with 27 seconds left in the half and attempted to score before halftime, but Berghammer’s first pass of the drive was intercepted, giving UWW prime field position. The Warhawks were able to capitalize on a field goal at the end of the half, giving Whitewater a 23-0 lead going into halftime.
After stopping the Warhawks on fourth down early in the third quarter, the Titans finally found the back of the endzone when Berghammer found a wide open Tetzlaff in the endzone for a 5-yard touchdown. UWO attempted a two-point conversion after the score and it seemed that the Titans had converted the try after a catch from Jon Mathieu, but after a long discussion the referees ruled Mathieu out of bounds when he made the catch.
UWW began the fourth quarter with a nine play, 84-yard drive that resulted in another touchdown for the Warhawks after Thomas broke out a 17-yard run for the score. A minute and a half later, UWW added another touchdown when Berghammer was intercepted by Antonietti, who ran 45 yards for a pick-six.
Just two plays later, the Titans responded with a touchdown when Berghammer aired out a deep pass and connected with Fynaardt, who ran for a 71-yard touchdown. Dietzen picked off Ogden on UWW’s next drive and the Titans scored once again after Berghammer connected with Tetzlaff for a 7-yard passing touchdown. Berghammer found Schwalbe on the two-point try to pull the Titans to within two scores.
UWO forced a Warhawks punt on Whitewater’s next possession, but as the Titans were driving down the field looming to pull to within a touchdown of UWW, Berghammer was picked off for the third time of the afternoon. The interception ended any hopes of an Oshkosh comeback, and the Titans fell 37-21 on Hall of Fame Day at Titan Stadium.
UWO will look to rebound with a win over UW-Stout (2-2, 0-1 WIAC) as the Titans head to Don and Nona Williams Stadium to take on the Blue Devils Oct. 7 at 2 p.m.
