Titans bedeviled by Stout, drop ’09 finale

Coming up short on a comeback attempt against UW-Stout Saturday, UW-Oshkosh fell to the Blue Devils 27-24 on J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium.

With the loss the Titans end the season with a record of 4-6, with just two wins against Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference teams, and placed sixth out of eight teams in the final conference standings.

UW-Stout (8-2, 5-2 WIAC) came into the game second in the WIAC in rushing offense (221.6 yards per game), while sitting in last place in passing offense with just 129.9 yards per game.

But it was the passing game that provided the scoring for the Blue Devils, as quarterback Kyle Provos threw for three touchdowns and 131 yards.

All three scores went to tight end Patrick Mengelkoch, who proved to be a tough matchup for the Titans.

Oshkosh also gave up 213 yards on the ground, with Stout running back Craig Warminski accounting for 121 of those yards.

Despite these setbacks, the Titans were never out of game due to a strong rally in the second half.

After trailing by as many as 14 points, Oshkosh was able to come within a field goal in the fourth quarter 27-24.

Junior cornerback Nate Heard broke up a pass on a fourth down attempt to give the Titans offense the ball back with 2:48 left.

With the ball on their own 30-yard line and a short amount of time to move it, Oshkosh ran mostly short screen plays to their wide receivers in an attempt to move downfield.

But the Titans only racked up around three yards per play on the drive and lost precious time in the process.

Oshkosh’s chances of a comeback ended with an interception from freshman quarterback Nate Wara by Stout’s Kendall Wade, who was the reigning WIAC Defensive Player of the Week.

Despite such a tough loss, head coach Pat Cerroni said that he was still proud of how the team came back in the second half of the game.

“We played like champions in the second half,” Cerroni said. “I just wish we could’ve finished it off.”

Close losses were the theme of the Titans’ season with all defeats, excluding the UW-Whitewater game, being lost by an average of fewer than six points.

Cerroni said that he views this trend as a sign of improvement rather than one of weakness.

“Our players never quit,” he said. “You want to talk about a team that quit? A year ago this team quit four times. This year we got a little beat up at Whitewater, but we were in every game.”

Wara passed for 144 yards with one touchdown and an interception, adding another 45 yards on the ground.

The freshman signal-caller ended the season with 15 total touchdowns (10 pass, 5 rush), and accounted for over 2,000 yards of offense (1,597 passing and 421 rushing).

Sophomore slot back Justin Budiac caught twelve passes, the third-highest single-game total in school history, for 79 yards while Craig McClelland hauled in the team’s only passing touchdown.

The other two touchdowns for the Titans came on the ground from sophomore running back Charlie Weissman (17 carries for 96 yards) and junior running back Jeremy Roach (7 carries for 54 yards).

The touchdown gave Roach his 10th of the season, with nine rushing and one receiving.

Overall the Titans offense was able to post 406 yards of offense against the WIAC’s second-best defense coming into the game (221.6 yards per game).

But three interceptions (one each from Weissman, sophomore quarterback Tyler Wegner, Wara) and a costly penalty that negated a touchdown pass early in the game proved to be too much to overcome for the Oshkosh.

The Titans defense was faced with tough challenges the entire game, as UW-Stout never started further back than their own 35-yard line after any of Oshkosh’s five kickoffs.

After giving up 250 yards of total offense in the first half to the Blue Devils, Oshkosh only surrendered 94 yards in the second half.

Senior linebacker James Taraboi padded his NCAA Division III-leading tackles total with 15 for the game, but said he would swap them for wins if he could.

“Any given moment, I’d give up all my tackles just to win these games,” Taraboi said. “I could have zero tackles, and if we were winning, I could care less.”

With his college career at an end, Taraboi said that he hopes younger players follow him by example.

“Just have a good attitude and listen to the coaches, and give them your all,” Taraboi said as a message to the younger players on the team. “Leave it out on the field.”

Heard was also impressive, breaking up four crucial passes during the game and ending his season atop the WIAC in passes defended with 16.

Looking ahead to next season, the Titans will be losing nine seniors, but Cerroni said that he is not discouraged.

“I’m pretty happy with what we have coming back,” he said.

Wara said that although the team has improved, it would have to get back to the basics in order to get to the next level.

“This offseason we are going to start all over,” he said. “We’re going to work on everything.”

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