Titans football cruise to 2-0 start

Thanks to an impressive second quarter, the Titan football team blew away Huntingdon College (Ala.) 31-13  Saturday afternoon on J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium.

Freshman quarterback Nate Wara got UW-Oshkosh on the board in the first quarter with a 15-yard touchdown run, which capped a 99-yard drive.

In the second quarter, sophomore quarterback Tyler Wegner hit freshman wide receiver Jamie Braasch for a 67-yard scoring strike.

The Wegner-Braasch tandem has now accounted for three touchdowns on the year, but Wegner attributed the big play to noticing a few holes in the defense rather than a special connection.

"We figured out what they were running on defense and we just kept exploiting their defense," he said.

After sophomore cornerback Charlie Stueck's 43-yard interception return for a touchdown, Nate Wara found his brother Juston on a fade pattern for another six points with six seconds left in the half.

"We just had a match up that we liked and I gave him a signal," Nate Wara said. "And I just threw it up there to him and he got it."

Nate Wara started the game and threw for 117 yards and a touchdown.  Wegner came in halfway through the Titans' third offensive series.

Wegner threw for 152 yards and a touchdown.  After the third series of the game, Nate Wara played quarterback for three series followed by Wegner coming in for the next two.

Stueck's interception was one of five Huntingdon turnovers caused by the Titan defense.

Senior linebacker James Taraboi said the coaches put in a great scheme, and the Oshkosh defenders knew what plays Huntingdon was likely to run based upon the formations they were lined up in.

He said he was able to intercept Hawk quarterback Justin Ridgeway late in the fourth quarter when he saw the opposing linemen cut-block and knew the receiver was running a quick route.

"I just kind of floated to where the receiver was, and that's when he threw it right at the right time when I broke," Taraboi said.

However Taraboi said he was not pleased with the ribbing he took from his teammates after the play.

"I was kind of excited to have a pick, and then on top of it I got made fun of the whole rest of the night for getting tackled by the QB," he said.

Nate Wara said the Titan defenders set up the offense for many of their 554 yards.

"They set a tone pretty early, and we were able to execute on the turnovers that they forced," he said.

In a twist in the second half, Hawk coach Mike Turk punted the ball away on 2nd-and-20.  Titan coach Pat Cerroni said he used that instance to motivate his players.

"I did tell the offense that if we didn't start playing, we were going to punt on first down just to one-up them," he said.

Cerroni also said a big reason Oshkosh could only generate a field goal in the second half was because of the overuse of some of his players.

"You play these guys for a whole game and they just get fatigued," Cerroni said. "We have to do a better job as the coaches on really getting guys off the field earlier in the games so they're fresher in the second half."