By Angela Kelm
UW-W Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information
Oshkosh, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater football team opened its Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference slate with a big 37-21 win at UW-Oshkosh Saturday afternoon. The Warhawks are ranked third in the latest American Football Coaches Association poll and fourth according to D3football.com. UW-Oshkosh is ranked 21st and 20th in the two polls respectively.
The Warhawks scored early and often to take a 23-0 lead into the break. UWW had an opportunity to put up points in the first drive of the game as Jeff Isotalo-McGuire attempted a 47-yard field goal, just two yards shy of his career best but the kick was no good. The Warhawk defense forced a three-and-out to bring the offense back on to the field.
UW-Whitewater drove 60 yards in 14 plays in their second drive of the day. To cap the over seven-minute drive, Alec Ogden hit a wide-open Tommy Coates cutting across the end zone from three yards out for the score. A failed extra point made it 6-0 UWW. The Warhawk defense got off the field just five plays later after forcing a punt and the offense took care of business once again.
Late in the drive Coates hauled in another pass from Ogden for 15 yards to put the Warhawks on Oshkosh’s 12. Alijah Maher-Parr took the handoff and turned the corner off the left side of the line for a touchdown run. The extra point from Isotalo-McGuire split the uprights to give UWW a 13-0 advantage.
The next two drives were deja vu — a five-play Titan drive ending in a punt followed by a long UWW drive capped with a touchdown. In the longest drive of the game, the 17-play, 77-yard scoring drive was capped on a scoring run by Ogden. The quarterback scampered out of the pocket to his left, surveyed and tucked the ball bolting for the goal line. He took a hit as the Titan defender wrapped him up, but Ogden reached for the line, with the ball just crossing for the score. Another extra point had UWW enjoying a 20-0 advantage.
With time ticking down in the first half, the Warhawk defense came up with a huge turnover. Carter Sessa snagged a pass intended for a UWO receiver and returned it seven yards to the Titans’ 30. Just 14 seconds remained before the intermission and that was all UWW would need as Isotalo-McGuire hit from 38-yards out as time expired to send the Warhawks into the locker room with a 23-0 lead.
The host team got on the board in the third quarter capping an 11-play drive with a short touchdown pass. The Titans opted to go for a two-point conversion, but the attempt failed.
The Warhawks responded with another touchdown drive. This time it took just nine plays with Tamir Thomas entering the scoring column on a 17-yard run. Isotalo-McGuire’s kick made it 30-6.
UW-Whitewater’s stifling defense continued to frustrate the Titans. Joey Antonietti jumped a passing lane and hauled in the interception with open space ahead of him securing the 45-yard pick-6. With the extra point, the Warhawks took a 37-6 lead.
UW-Oshkosh registered the longest play of the day, a 71-yard touchdown pass in their next drive to make it 37-13 in the fourth. An interception for the Titan defense led to more points for UWO as they narrowed the gap to 37-21.
The Warhawk defense responded in kind two drives later as Kamrin Hutt picked off the UWO quarterback with less than three minutes to go. A couple of big runs for Thomas gave the Warhawks the first downs they would need before the team could kneel out the clock to secure the win.
UW-Whitewater put up nearly 500 yards of total offense while the defense held the Titans to under 300 on their home turf. Ogden was 18-28 for 262-yards, two touchdowns – one passing and one rushing – and an interception in his first game back from an injury. Coates was Ogden’s favorite target on the day, hauling in six catches, including a touchdown reception, for 86 yards.
The Warhawks’ back field tandem of Thomas and Maher-Parr combined for 207 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns.
UWW’s defense was phenomenal with three interceptions, two sacks, three tackles for a loss and numerous pass breakups. Roy Panthier and Ethan Gallagher tallied five tackles each. Braeden Barrett and Caden Naselli got to the UWO quarterback for sacks and Kyle Koelblinger added a tackle for a loss in the game.
