Titan Football Game Article

Andrew Pantzlaff
Sports Article
November 13, 2006

In a sloppy game plagued by fumbles and interceptions, UW-La Crosse seemingly turned over everything but a victory to the UW-Oshkosh football team (5-5), winning 31-20 at J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium on Saturday.

La Crosse (9-1), in the spirit of giving, turned the ball over on three of their first four possessions. Two of these turnovers, a fumble and an interception, took place at UW-Oshkosh’s one yard line.

Missed opportunities were paramount, however, as the Oshkosh offense went three-and-out after each of La Crosse’s trio of first half turnovers.

The Titan’s failure to capitalize on any of the Eagles’ early mishaps proved to be the difference, not only in the game itself, but also between the two teams in general.

Oshkosh defensive coordinator Pat Cerroni outlined the distinction between La Crosse and Oshkosh. “They take advantage of mistakes,” Cerroni said. “That’s what champions do. They have you down and tear you apart. That is what we need to learn how to do.”

Cerroni was also quick to note, however, in spite of missed opportunities, Oshkosh didn’t hand over the game. “I think we did a great job just to survive,” Cerroni said. “This game could have gotten ugly real quick.”

La Crosse was first on the scoreboard with a one yard run up the middle by junior fullback, Mike Schmidt. From there, less than five minutes later, the Eagles returned to the end zone as quarterback John Schumann found Jason Wagner open for a 25 yard touchdown pass.

Down 14-0 with under a minute left in the first half, things started to literally bounce Oshkosh’s way.

When Titans quarterback Dieter Juedes fired a pass to the left side of the field, the ball bounced clumsily off of wide receiver Andy Heiman’s hands and landed safely into the grasp of Steve Stoltz, a fellow Oshkosh receiver. This unusual 16-yard gain gave the Titans a first down and added some confidence to their struggling offense.

On the next play, Juedes once again threw the ball to Heiman. This time, however, Heiman was able to hold on to the ball himself and reel it in for a 19 yard touchdown with just under 30 seconds remaining in the half.

Only trailing by a touchdown at halftime, the Titans hoped to pull out the upset and send their thirteen seniors out with a victory in their final game.

La Crosse had other plans. They did “what champions do,” as Cerroni would say.

With just over five minutes into the second half, Schumann completed his second touchdown pass of the game as he found the hands of Scott Swanson in the end zone. Then, with 6:46 left in the third quarter, the Eagles scored yet again as Corey Geldernick rushed for eight yards up the left side of the field.

Oshkosh senior, Chris Kirch had an opportunity to respond back with a big rushing play of his own. Unfortunately his feet got in the way. After dodging several Eagle defenders, Kirch blew by the secondary and looked poised for a stroll passed the goal line. After running a few steps, however, he lost his balance and crashed to the dirt.

Despite the mishap, the Oshkosh running game didn’t stay down for long. Running backs Tyler Jandrin and Andy Moriarty both ran for touchdowns to cut the lead to eight. The second extra point was blocked by the Eagles defense.

With 12 minutes still remaining in the game, however, the Titans would never get any closer to catching up.

A field goal by Dylan Rude sealed the victory for Lacrosse with five minutes remaining.

With the season now over, Cerroni isn’t dwelling too much on the past. “There are 36 juniors coming back,” Cerroni said. “Our next year’s seniors are pretty talented people.”

Cerroni, as well as the rest of the Oshkosh coaching staff, is riding on the hopes that this group of veteran talent will take them to the next level.

“We just got to stick together,” Cerroni said.