La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team, receiving votes on this week's D3football.com and American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Top-25 Poll, fell 42-28 to third-ranked UW-Oshkosh Saturday afternoon at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. The Eagles drop to 5-2 overall and 2-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) while the Titans improve to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the conference. UW-Oshkosh is ranked third on the D3football.com and AFCA Top-25 Polls.
It is UW-Oshkosh's seventh straight win over UWL, including fourth straight on the road.
On UWL's Varsity Homecoming/Wall of Fame Day, the teams traded punts on the first four possessions of the game Saturday. UW-Oshkosh took a 7-0 lead with 6:41 left in the first quarter on Brett Kasper's 28-yard touchdown pass to Chad Redmer. The Titans went 81 yards in six plays and 2:17. UWL's Drew David was intercepted by Derrick Jennings Jr., but UW-Oshkosh was forced to punt three plays later. UWL tied the game, 7-7, with 1:16 remaining in the first quarter with David throwing a 12-yard touchdown pass to Nick Holcomb. The drive went 80 yards in nine plays and 4:03.
After forcing a UW-Oshkosh punt, UWL went 90 yards in 17 plays and 6:14 to take a 14-7 lead as Jalen Clark scored on a five-yard run with 8:38 left in the first half. It marked the first time UW-Oshkosh had trailed all season. David went seven-of-11 on the drive. UW-Oshkosh quickly tied the game at 14-14 on its next possession with Mitch Gerhartz scoring on a 21-yard run with 5:40 remaining in the second quarter. The Titans went 77 yards in six plays and 2:58.
The teams touchdowns on the next two drives of the game. The Eagles took a 21-14 lead with 1:14 left in the first half on David's 13-yard touchdown pass to Holcomb. UWL's drive was 12 plays for 77 yards in 4:25. The Titans came right back to force a 21-21 halftime tie with Kasper connecting on a four-yard touchdown pass to Redmer with 0:15 remaining. UW-Oshkosh went 70 yards in five plays and 1:00.
UWL scored on the opening possession of the second half, going 76 yards in seven plays and 3:10 as Clark scored on a three-yard run with 11:50 left. UW-Oshkosh responded once again with a game-tying touchdown drive as Kasper threw a 14-yard pass to Sam Mentkowski with 6:45 left in the third quarter. UW-Oshkosh went 82 yards in 12 plays and 5:06.
UWL was forced to punt on its next drive and it took only one play for UW-Oshkosh to regain the lead as Kasper threw a 82-yard touchdown pass to Mentkowski with 5:24 remaining in the third quarter. After forcing another Eagles' punt, JP Peerenboom scored on a 19-yard touchdown run to give the Titans a 42-28 lead with 2:06 left in the third quarter.
The Eagles had a chance to cut into the lead after Brandon McKandes intercepted a Kasper pass and returned it to the Titans' 20-yard line. UWL had a first-and-goal at the UW-Oshkosh one-yard line, but failed to score four plays later.
The two teams combined for 1,070 offensive yards. UWL finished with 514 yards, including 100 rushing and 414 passing. David finished 35-of-57 for 414 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. His 35 completions are second-most in single-game school history while his 57 attempts are tied for second and his 414 passing yards is fifth-most. Tarek Yaeggi set school records for completions (39), attempts (66) and yards (518) versus UW-Platteville November 12, 2016.
Holcomb tied a single-game school record with 15 passes while finishing with 190 yards and two touchdowns. The 15 catches ties the school record set by Joel Oxton versus UW-Platteville last season.
Clark led the Eagles with 45 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 13 carries. UWL had 27 first downs in the game while winning the time of possession, 33:47 to 26:13. The Eagles were seven-of-16 on third-down and four-of-five in the red-zone.
UW-Oshkosh finished with 556 yards, including 239 rushing and 317 passing. Kasper went 12-of-25 for 317 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. Mentkowski caught four passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns while Redmer had touchdowns on both of his catches.
Gerhartz had 172 yards rushing on 18 attempts and one touchdown. He averaged 9.6 yards per attempt. The Titans totaled 21 first downs while going three-of-12 on third-down. UW-Oshkosh was three-of-four in red-zone opportunities in the game.
Luke Winnen led UWL's defense with eight tackles while McKandes had six tackles and one interception. Peter Kissling also recorded an interception. Scott Skornicka led UW-Oshkosh with 12 tackles while finishing with four pass break-ups. Jennings Jr. had two interceptions.
UWL returns to action Saturday, October 28 at 10th-ranked UW-Platteville at 1 p.m.
UW-La Crosse Falls to Third-Ranked UW-Oshkosh
/seasons/2017/boxscores/20171021_eyq0.xml
2017
UW-Oshkosh
42
UW-La Crosse
28
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 3 UW-Oshkosh (6-0) | 7 | 14 | 21 | 0 | 42 |
| No. 24 UW-La Crosse (5-2) | 7 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 28 |
Oct 21, 2017