Oshkosh, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team, ranked eighth on this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll, improved to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) with a 38-35 win at 24th-ranked UW-Oshkosh Saturday afternoon at J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium. UW-Oshkosh drops to 4-4 overall and 2-3 in the conference. 

It is UWL's third straight win over UW-Oshkosh. 

The Titans were forced to punt on the first drive of the game. The Eagles then went 59 yards in seven plays and 3:39 to take a 7-0 lead as Keyser Helterbrand scored on a two-yard touchdown run with 9:25 left in the opening quarter. Ryan Beirne converted the extra point. UWL forced another UW-Oshkosh punt on its next possession and Tyler Stubbendick returned the punt 14-yards to UWL's 49-yard line. The Eagles used 12 plays and 6:21 in going 51 yards for a 14-0 lead with Helterbrand throwing a 14-yard touchdown pass to Matthijs Enters with 1:57 remaining in the first quarter. 

UW-Oshkosh got on the board with 13:27 left in the first half on Nolan Mobley's 35-yard field goal to cut the lead to 14-3. The Titans went 64 yards in seven plays and 3:25. UWL scored on its third straight possession of the game to take a 21-3 lead with Garcia and Enters connecting again, this time on a 16-yard touchdown pass with 7:17 remaining in the second quarter. The Eagles went 84 yards in 11 plays and 6:07. 

Kobe Berghammer threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Trae Tetzlaff with 3:03 left in the first half for UW-Oshkosh to cut the deficit to 21-10. The drive went eight plays and 72 yards in 4:18. UWL quickly responded with a touchdown of its own. After a Joey Stutzman two-yard run on the first play of the drive, Helterbrand hit Stutzman with a 69-yard touchdown pass with 2:17 remaining as the Eagles took a 28-10 halftime lead. 

After UWL punted on its first drive of the second half, Berghammer threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Tony Steger with 8:43 left in the third quarter to cut the lead to 28-16. The Titans' pass attempt failed. UW-Oshkosh used nine plays to go 64 yards in 4:41. The Eagles punted on their next possession and the Titans drove 58 yards in six plays and 2:25 to trail 28-23 on Berghammer's 10-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy DuVal with 1:52 remaining in the third quarter. The extra-point was good. 

Helterbrand gave UWL a 35-23 lead on the third play of the fourth quarter with a four-yard touchdown run with 13:29 left. The Eagles went 75 yards in six plays and 3:26. UW-Oshkosh used a 56-yard completion to the UWL 13-yard line on its next drive. Berghammer later scored on a two-yard run with 9:06 remaining. The extra-point was blocked, keeping UWL's lead to 35-29. 

Helterbrand fumbled on the Eagles' next drive with the Titans recovering at UWL's 43-yard line. Berghammer scored on a one-yard run with 5:30 to force a 35-35 as UW-Oshkosh used five plays and 2:38 to go the 43-yards. Mobley's extra-point was blocked for the second straight time keep the game tied. 

Taking over at its own 29-yard line with 5:26 remaining, UWL moved to UW-Oshkosh's 26-yard line as Stutzman had 44 yards rushing on the drive. Helterbrand was sacked on third-down at the Titans' 34-yard line, but Beirne converted a 51-yard field goal with :51 left to give the Eagles a 38-35 advantage. UWL used 4:35 of time, going 37 yards in 10 plays. The 51-yard field goal tied the single-game school record set by Dewey Stendahl versus St. Norbert College (Wis.) in 1969.

Berghammer was intercepted by Cade Osborn on the next play from scrimmage and UWL ran out the clock. 
 

UWL finished with 399 yards of offense, including 150 rushing and 249 passing. The Eagles had 18 first downs in the game, finishing eight-of-13 on third-down and four-of-four in the red-zone. UWL won the time of possession, 31:50 to 28:10. 

Garcia went nine-of-11 for 120 yards and one touchdown while Helterbrand finished seven-of-eight for 129 yards and two touchdowns. The duo combined to finish 16-of-19 for 249 yards and three touchdowns. Helterbrand had two rushing touchdowns. Stutzman had 108 yards rushing on 21 carries while Enters finished with 82 yards and two touchdowns on four catches. Stutzman had three receptions for 67 yards and a touchdown while Max Stubbendick totaled three catches for 37 yards. Cameron Sorenson finished with two receptions for 44 yards. 

UW-Oshkosh totaled 391 yards with 49 rushing and 342 passing. The Titans finished with 19 first downs and went five-of-10 on third-down. UW-Oshkosh was six-of-six in red-zone chances. 

Berghammer went 21-of-33 for 342 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. DJ Stewart led the Titans with 21 yards rushing on five attempts. Tetzlaff finished with 72 yards on seven catches and one touchdown while Terrell Carey had five receptions for 135 yards. Steger totaled four catches for 83 yards. 

Osborn led UWL with nine tackles, including five unassisted. Jack Anderson finished with seven tackles while Josh Dorschner and Ryan Daines each had six. Jack Kelly had a pair of quarterback sacks. 

Brandon Kolgen and Carson Raddatz led UW-Oshkosh with 10 tackles each. 

UWL returns to action Saturday, November 5 hosting 21st-ranked UW-River Falls at 1 p.m.