Titan football game

The Oshkosh Titans couldn’t capitalize on four turnovers by the eighth-ranked LaCrosse Eagles, including two on the Titans’ one-yard line, losing the game 31-20 and putting and end to a disappointing 5-5 (3-4 in conference) season. The Eagles finished the regular season at 8-1 (6-1) on the verge of an at-large playoff birth.

The predictability of the Titans’ offense and the lack of a steady run defense did them in throughout the game. Head coach Phil Meyer’s unwillingness to pass the ball in the first half thwarted any hopes the Titans had of winning their last game of the season.

“The problem is (our defense) was put in bad situations a lot,” defensive coordinator Pat Cerroni said. “This game could have got ugly real quick.”

Coming into the game, the Titans’ run defense was ranked second in the conference allowing only 117.3 yards per game on the ground. Conversely the LaCrosse Eagles were in the bottom third in the conference for rushing offense averaging 143.1 yards per game.

In the first half alone, the Eagles ran for 176 yards on 26 carries, carrying a 14-7 lead into halftime. In total the Eagles rushed for 257 yards over a porous Oshkosh defense. The Eagles’ rushing attack was led by senior running back Corey Geldernick with 149 yards on 23 carries and one touchdown.

The LaCrosse passing attack was equally effective as senior quarterback John Schumann passed for 144 yards and two touchdowns.

The Eagles got on the board first with a one-yard touchdown run by junior fullback Mike Schmidt, set up by a three-and-out by the Titans and a poor punt by junior Lucas Raschke.

LaCrosse struck again in the second quarter with a 27-yard touchdown pass from Schumann to junior wide receiver Jason Wagner, set up after Oshkosh cornerback dropped an easy interception deep in Titans’ territory.

The Titans offense showed what their offense was capable of on their final possession of the first half, putting together an impressive scoring drive exhibiting a balanced offensive attack of running and passing. The drive culminated with a 27-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback sophomore Dieter Juedes to junior wide receiver Andy Heiman.

“I felt like we should have taken more shots down the field, but we did have a young quarterback in who was pretty inexperienced,” junior Andy Versnik said. “That being said, it all came down to our inability to run the ball.”

Leading 14-7 the Eagles came out firing in the second half, quickly scoring 14 points on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Schumann to senior wide receiver Scott Swanson and an eight-yard touchdown plunge by Geldernick.

The Titans entered the game with the top rushing offense in the WIAC, but couldn’t match the production of their counterpart. The Titans’ rushing offense was stagnant for most of the game excluding a long drive late in the third quarter to answer Geldernick’s touchdown, capped off by a one-yard touchdown run by junior fullback Tyler Jandrin to make the score 28-14.

The Titans’ offense had one last flurry left in them late in the game. Junior wide receiver Kyle Nakatsuji blocked a punt and Oshkosh recovered on the Eagles’ 13-yard line. “The punt block was just good design from Cerroni,” Nakatsuji said. “The way it was set up somebody was going to get it. If it wasn’t me somebody else was going to block that kick.”

Junior running back Andy Moriarty followed the blocked punt with a two-yard rumble for a touchdown, pulling the Titans within one score at 28-20.

Oshkosh stopped the Eagles on the ensuing possession and had the ball with an opportunity to tie the game, but Juedes was picked off on an errant pass by junior cornerback Jacob Buswell. LaCrosse capped off the scoring with a 33-yard field goal by freshman kicker Dylan Rude late in the fourth quarter.

Moriarty ran for 51 yards, eclipsing 1,000 yards for the second consecutive season for the Titans.