Brett Kasper and UW-Oshkosh have been on fire the past three games. UW-Oshkosh athletics photo

On the gridiron, UW-Oshkosh quarterback Brett Kasper uses his arm to help his team vanquish opponents. Off the field, he used his bone marrow to help a child fight cancer.

When the UW-Oshkosh football and baseball teams became involved with the Be the Match organization, Kasper was identified as a suitable donor. He seized the opportunity to help and underwent a procedure this winter to have bone marrow extracted.

The hope is that an 8-year-old girls fighting leukemia will get a second chance at life.

“I was pretty much all in. I wasn’t really expecting to get picked,” Kasper said. “But once I did get picked, I was more than excited to go ahead and go along with the donation.”

“He’s pretty solid on the football field, and he’s a pretty solid human being,” UW-Oshkosh head coach Pat Cerroni said of his quarterback. “It didn’t shock me at all that he went into this thing 100 percent.”

Kasper and the Titans became involved with Be the Match when Villanova football coach Andy Talley was reaching out to other teams to help. From there, Kelli VanderWielen – the Be the Match rep in Wisconsin’s Fox Valley region – got in contact with UW-Oshkosh’s football and baseball teams.

“I didn’t know what it was, to be completely honest,” Cerroni said.

Volunteers get their mouths swabbed to see if their DNA matches a patient’s. If someone is picked, they proceed with a blood test to check for a more precise match. If a match is found, that volunteer can donate.

“We’ve had at least four guys on the baseball team and the football team get picked for the first stage,” Cerroni explained. “One of my student-coaches just got contacted to give blood.”

Kasper had his mouth swabbed during the spring of 2014 during a donor registry drive on campus. He went through with the blood draw later that fall and was informed he was a match in December.

“I was actually in the library studying for finals, and I got the call saying they were going to go through with me and set up a donation,” Kasper said.

Provided photo

There are two ways to donate. A donor can take medication that draws what doctors need from bone marrow into the blood stream. Then it is extracted in a similar way to drawing blood. The other process, which Kasper experienced in February, is to have the bone marrow surgically removed.

“I was put out for the surgery. It was only like a 45-minute to an hour-long process. It wasn’t too bad. I didn’t even spend overnight in the hospital,” Kasper said.

Kasper said the full recovery process took two weeks.

“A week after the donation, I was pretty much back on my feet, doing normal activities,” Kasper explained. “But they kind of stressed taking two weeks off any physical activities, like weightlifting. We were working out in the offseason, so I had to miss a couple workouts for that.”

The quarterback has yet to hear how the recipient is doing because the process is confidential.

“They don’t want the patient’s name getting out or any information. So I’m yet to know where she’s from. I do know she’s an 8-year-old little girl, but that’s it,” Kasper said. “A year after the donation, I do have the possibility to meet the patient.”

Even though he doesn’t know what direct effect his donation has had for the patient, Kasper has made an impact around campus. His experience with Be the Match has generated a great deal of awareness for the cause.

“Basically, 80 percent of our team is registered in the Be the Match program,” Cerroni said.

“Kelli was here last week. I think we had 11 more (players) get swabbed. They know Brett’s story,” the coach added, noting donors need to be younger than 44 years old, which is what makes college campuses an ideal place to find donors.

“This past spring, we had another annual drive on campus. We had a great turnout again – I think we had over 300 more students get on the registry list. That’s great for the organization,” Kasper said.

“The biggest thing I always tell people is the fear of pain shouldn’t keep them off the registry list. It was really a painless procedure,” Kasper said. “A lot of times with a bone marrow donation, people perceive it as a really painful operation. But to me, that wasn’t the case.”

The Titans have partnered with Be the Match on a raffle fundraiser, and Kasper’s story has been shared throughout the Green Bay area. In November, Kasper, Cerroni and UW-Oshkosh athletic director Darryl Sims will travel to Minneapolis, where they will be recognized with a national volunteerism award.

“I knew Brett was a good person, and when this happened to him, I told Kelli, ‘Your dream just came true because you couldn’t have found a better person to promote what you’re doing than him,’” Cerroni said. “And I really felt that.”

Cerroni said the leadership demonstrated by Kasper off the field can be seen when he plays as well.

Kasper has led UW-Oshkosh to a 3-1 record this season. The Titans’ only loss was a 23-21 decision at Robert Morris-Chicago – a ranked NAIA program. Since then Oshkosh has outscored its opponents 190-14. On Saturday, Kasper and the Oshkosh offense compiled a school- and conference-record 829 yards in total offense.

“There’s definitely a lot more comfort this year,” said Kasper, who has completed 65-of-99 passes for 942 yards and nine touchdowns this season. “You see the game as a whole, instead of focusing on different routes. I have a better understanding of the whole offense. That was a big thing, in the offseason, that I got to work on.”

“He’s improving every day, and I wouldn’t have expected anything less out of him,” Cerroni said. “He’s the leader of our team, and there’s no question about it. He’s done a great job.”

Oshkosh hosts top-ranked UW-Whitewater this weekend. The Titans are looking to defeat Whitewater for the first time since 2012, when Oshkosh won the WIAC and advanced to the NCAA Division III semifinals.

“We know they’re a great team. But we want to treat it like any other game week,” Kasper said. “We’re really excited for this week. We’re going to work hard this week and see what happens Saturday.”

The Heisman visits the Pine Bowl

Whitworth University president Beck A. Taylor and his wife Julie with the Heisman trophy, which made an appearance on campus this past weekend. Whitworth athletics photo

The Heisman Trophy was on display at Whitworth’s homecoming matchup with George Fox.

Fans had the opportunity to have a photo taken next to the trophy awarded to the college football’s top player.

The Pirates won the game, their Northwest Conference opener, 37-14. Mike McKeown hauled in 12 catches for 174 yards and a touchdown to pace the Whitworth offense while Dalin McDonnell registered eight tackles, one sack and an interception to go with a forced fumble.

Whitworth improved to 4-0 overall.

Number of the week

15,287 – as in the number of people in attendance at Perkins Stadium to watch UW-Whitewater take on WIAC rival UW-Platteville. Saturday’s game is the third-largest recorded attendance in D-III football history. The Warhawks scored 10 points in the final 90 seconds of the first half and added a touchdown in the first 90 seconds of the second half, propelling them to a 17-7 victory. In addition to suffering the loss, UW-Platteville starting quarterback Tom Kelly was injured late in the game.

The rest of the West

Travis Sparks rushed for 210 yards and scored two of his four touchdowns during a 26-point fourth quarter to guide La Verne to a 48-27 victory over Occidental. … Seven Concordia-Moorhead players combined to rush for 270 yards and three touchdowns as the Cobbers topped Bethel, 23-21. … Loras scored 20 fourth-quarter points, but Coe held on to win, 30-27. Josh Rekers threw for 337 yards and two touchdowns in the Kohawks’ victory. … Coy Dorothy, who passed for 318 yards and ran for 77 more, scored his second touchdown of the game with 10 seconds to play, but MacMurray’s two-point conversion attempt was no good and Minnesota-Morris won 44-43. Devan Griffin had 125 rushing yards and two touchdowns to lead the Cougars. … Warner Shaw accumulated 353 yards and three touchdowns on 25-of-32 passing as Pacific rolled to a 34-7 win over Pacific Lutheran. … A blocked PAT attempt in overtime propelled UW-River Falls to a 21-20 win over UW-La Crosse. Saturday’s game marked the third year in a row that the Falcons and Eagles needed overtime to decide a winner. … Parker Brisebois caught the game-winning touchdown with 1:17 play as Puget Sound rallied to beat Willamette, 24-20. Ronnie Espedal recorded his second interception of the day to seal the win. … Logan Schrader scored two rushing touchdowns to help Wartburg rally and beat Central, 21-13. … Matthew Aven forced overtime with a 31-yard field goal and Andrew Segre scored the game-winning touchdown to lift Claremont-Mudd-Scripps over defending SCIAC champion Chapman, 33-30. … Mitch Hendricks was 20-for-29 with 270 yards and four touchdowns in Gustavus Adolphus’ 63-14 win at Carleton. … Linfield outgained Lewis and Clark, 539-135, in a 73-0 victory. … Cal Lutheran picked off three passes and three sacks in its 31-7 win over Whittier. … Crown got 192 yards rushing and two touchdowns from Josh Edlund in a 29-21 win at Westminster (Mo.). … Kyle Larson threw five touchdown passes in UW-Stevens Point’s 38-28 win over UW-Eau Claire.

Rank ‘em

Eight teams in the West region are ranked in the Top 25 this week, including four in the top 10.

UW-Whitewater, Linfield, Wartburg and St. Thomas remained ranked in the top 10. The No. 1 ranked Warhawks received 21 first place votes, and the No. 3 Wildcats received two first place votes. Wartburg and St. Thomas are ranked Nos. 6 and 9, respectively.

UW-Platteville moved up two places to No. 12, St. John’s went up three spots to No. 13 and UW-Oshkosh climbed two positions to No. 15. Concordia-Moorhead defeated MIAC rival Bethel and moved into the Top 25 at No. 23 while the Royals dropped out.

Gustavus Adolphus (33), Whitworth (22) and Bethel (4) received votes this week.

Be heard

Do you have a story idea for the Around the West column? Contact me about approaching milestones, broken records, break-out players or any other storylines in the Region. Or just drop me a note to let me know what you think of the column. All ideas and feedback are welcome. Email me at josh.smith@d3sports.com or follow me on Twitter @By_Josh_Smith.