/seasons/2021/contrib/20211009s5a4x7

Second Half Rally Leads to WIAC Win over Ninth-Ranked UW-Oshkosh

La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team, ranked 20th on D3football.com, earned a 30-21 win over ninth-ranked UW-Oshkosh Saturday afternoon at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex.  The Eagles improve to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Titans drop to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the conference. 

It is UWL's first 2-0 league start since 2017. 

UW-Oshkosh took the opening kickoff and went 75 yards in 14 plays and 5:16 to take a 7-0 lead on Kobe Berghammer's one-yard touchdown run with 9:49 left in the opening quarter. Jaydon Haag's extra-point made it 7-0. The Titans ran the ball the last eight plays of the drive. UWL quickly responded on its first drive to tie the game. The Eagles went 66 yards in 10 plays and 5:13 with Joey Stutzman scoring on a three-yard run with 4:39 remaining in the first quarter. Stutzman had 45 yards rushing on the drive, including a 27-yard gain to move the ball to the Titans' 17-yard line. He had the last four carries of the drive. Ryan Beirne converted the extra-point to tie the game. The game remained tied, 7-7, after the first quarter. 

The Titans took a 14-7 lead with 6:10 left in the second quarter on Mac Winkler's three-yard touchdown run. Haag converted the extra-point. UW-Oshkosh went 90 yard in 16 plays and 8:08. After UWL was forced to punt, the Titans took a 21-7 lead as Stephan Flores caught a 36-yard touchdown pass from Berghammer with 3:21 remaining in the first half. The drive went 73 yards in three plays.  The Eagles drove to the Titans' 34-yard line, but Stutzman was stopped on fourth-and-one.  UW-Oshkosh led, 21-7, at halftime. 

Both teams were stopped on fourth-and-one on their opening drives of the third quarter. Stutzman was stopped at UW-Oshkosh's 40-yard line while Berghammer threw an incomplete pass at the Titans' 49-yard line. The Eagles cut the deficit to 21-14 with Stutzman scoring on a 12-yard run with 7:32 remaining in the third quarter. UWL went 49 yards in four plays and 1:45. Jakob Parks threw a pair of completions to Jake Simuncak on the drive, totaling 35 yards. Beirne's extra-point made it 21-14. 

UW-Oshkosh was forced to punt on its ensuing drive with UWL taking over at its own 20-yard line. The Eagles went 80 yards in eight plays and 3:58 with Brad Tobin scoring on a four-yard run with :41 remaining in the quarter. Beirne's extra-point was blocked to make it 21-20 after three quarters. 

Haag's 13-yard punt on the Titans' next drive with the Eagles taking over at their own 47-yard line with 13:30 remaining in the game. UWL used a 17-play, 50-yard drive in 7:43 to take a 23-21 lead on Beirne's 20-yard field goal with 5:47 remaining. UW-Oshkosh was stopped on fourth-and-one on its next drive at its own 34-yard line. Four plays later, UWL took a 30-21 lead on Stutzman's one-yard touchdown run with 1:37 left. The Eagles went 34 yards in 2:59.  Beirne's extra-point gave the Eagles a nine-point lead. UW-Oshkosh turned the ball over on downs on its next drive. 

UWL finished with 406 yards of offense Saturday, including 218 rushing and 188 passing. The Eagles totaled 23 first downs while finishing eight-of-13 on third-down. UWL went five-of-five in the red-zone and won the time of possession, 35:13 to 24:47. 

Parks went 16-of-23 for 188 yards while Stutzman finished with a game-high 156 yards rushing on 32 carries with three touchdowns. Tobin finished with 50 yards on six attempts with a touchdown. Simuncak caught a game-high 10 passes for 112 yards. Matthijs Enters caught three passes for 56 yards. 

UW-Oshkosh totaled 301 yards with 97 rushing and 204 passing. The Titans had 17 first downs and were six-of-12 on third-down while finishing two-of-two in the red-zone. Both teams combined to miss all of five of their fourthd-down attempts. 

Berghammer finished 19-of-32 for 204 yards with a touchdown while Peter MacCudden totaled 52 yards rushing on 11 attempts. Trae Tetzlaff had seven catches for 84 yards. 

Ryan Daines and Trevar Helland led UWL's defense with eight tackles each Saturday. Elijah Alt totaled seven tackles with Rusty Murphy and Jack Kelly each recording a quarterback sack. Tobin also had a tackle for loss. Carson Raddatz led UW-Oshkosh with a game-high 12 tackles with Tory Jandrin had 10 tackles. 

UWL returns to action Saturday, October 16 at UW-Platteville at 1 p.m.

Dec. 15: All times Eastern
Final
Cortland 38, at North Central (Ill.) 37
@ Salem, Virginia
Video Box Score Recap Photos
Dec. 9: All times Eastern
Final
North Central (Ill.) 34, at Wartburg 27
Box Score Recap
Final
Cortland 49, at Randolph-Macon 14
Box Score Recap Recap Recap Photos
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