Box Score UW-Oshkosh 16, UW-La Crosse 7

Oshkosh, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team fell 16-7 at UW-Oshkosh Saturday afternoon at J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium in a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) "non-conference" contest. The Eagles drop to 1-2 on the season while the Titans improve to 2-0. Both teams were receiving votes on this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll.

After a scoreless first quarter, UW-L took a 7-0 lead with 11:55 left in the second on Ben Hertrampf's two-yard touchdown run. The touchdown was set-up as Zach Mestelle hit Jeff Haffemann with a 25-yard pass play down to the Titans' two-yard line. Hertrampf scored two plays later as UW-L went 64 yards on 10 plays in 3:48. Adam Pannier missed the extra-point attempt, but UW-Oshkosh was offside. Pannier then converted the next attempt.

UW-Oshkosh took the ensuing kickoff and cut the lead to 7-3 as Nate Ray hit a 28-yard field goal with 7:58 remaining in the half. The Titans went 62 yards on 11 plays in 3:57.

UW-L led 7-3 at halftime.

Ray cut the lead to 7-6 with 6:54 left in the third quarter as he hit a 27-yard field goal attempt. The Titans used 10 plays to go 69 yards in 3:58. The key play was Nate Wara completing a 23-yard pass to Caleb Voss down to the UW-L 13-yard line.

After forcing the Eagles to punt, the Titans took the lead with 1:09 remaining in the third on Ray's 39-yard field goal. UW-Oshkosh went 23 yards on seven plays in 3:19.

UW-L punted on its third straight possession of the second half and UW-Oshkosh drove to the Eagles' 15-yard line, but Wara was intercepted by UW-L's Jacob Flegner at the two-yard line. Flegner returned the interception 31 yards with 8:55 remaining.

Christian Hallingstad was forced to punt for UW-L after three rushing plays failed to gain a first down. UW-Oshkosh took over at its own 22-yard line and used five plays to go 78 yards in 1:02 to take a 16-7 lead as Cole Myhra scored on a seven-yard run. Wara connected with Voss on a 41-yard passing play on the drive.

The teams traded punts on the next two possessions before UW-L moved to the UW-Oshkosh 30-yard line, but Mestelle was sacked three times in the next four plays. The Eagles were forced to turn the ball over on downs after Mestelle was sacked by Cody Huemmer with :06 remaining.

UW-L finished with 102 yards of offense Saturday, including 17 rushing and 85 passing. The team was held to 33 total yards in the second half. The Eagles totaled nine first downs in the game and were four-of-14 on third-down.

Mestelle was 10-of-19 passing for 85 yards. He was sacked six times. Hertrampf finished with with 48 yards rushing on 14 carries while Jared Stan had eight yards on 12 attempts. Haffeman led the Eagles with five receptions for 45 yards. Tony Favre had two catches for 24 yards and Stan two for 14.

UW-Oshkosh totaled 407 yards, including 169 rushing and 238 passing. The Titans finished with 31 first downs and were nine-of-19 on third-down.

Wara was 20-of-30 passing for 238 yards with one interception. He was sacked four times while rushing for 82 yards on 17 carries. Myhra had 21 rushing attempts for 84 yards and a touchdown. Voss caught seven passes for 129 yards.

Max Nicholson led UW-L with 12 tackles, including nine unassisted. He also had one pass break-up. Flegner totaled nine unassisted tackles, including one for loss, and the interception. Jack Leahy finished with nine tackles, including seven unassisted. He had three tackles for loss and one sack.

Taylor Goodman and Frank Martin led UW-Oshkosh with eight tackles each.

UW-L returns to action Saturday, September 29 at UW-Stevens Point to open up WIAC play.