UW-Stout 27, UW-Oshkosh 24
OSHKOSH (November 14, 2009) - Winning at Oshkosh has not been easy for UW-Stout over the last decade, but the Blue Devils got the job done, 27-24, to keep their slim NCAA playoff hopes alive Saturday at JJ Keller Field. Stout will find out Sunday if they earn an NCAA bid.
Tight end
Patrick Mengelkoch (Jr, Champlin, Minn) hauled in a career-high three touchdown passes and
Kendall Wade (Sr, Milwaukee) had two interceptions in the fourth quarter - including one in the waning seconds of the game to preserve the win as Oshkosh threatened to score.
Mengelkoch scored on a 12-yard pass with three minutes left in the first quarter to give Stout a 7-0 lead. The Titans got on the board early in the second period on a 37-yard field goal by Andy Lindsay. The Blue Devils pushed the game back to a seven point lead when
Kyle Martin (Sr, Hubertus) booted a 25-yard field only two minutes later.
Stout (8-2, 5-2) jumped out to a 17-3 lead when Mengelkoch snagged his second TD of the game, an 18-yard pass play from Provos.
The Titans (4-6, 2-5) made the game interesting, scoring two touchdowns in the third quarter. Craig McClelland scored on 10-yard pass play from Nate Wara to pull to within 17-10. Stout pushed the game back to a 10 point game on a 22-yard field goal by Martin.
But the Titans would not roll over. Charlie Weissman scored on 10-yard scamper with just over a minute left in the period to pull Oshkosh to within 20-17.
A couple of minutes into the final quarter, following Wade's first interception to open the fourth quarter, Mengelkoch pulled down his third touchdown, this time a 10-yard pass from Provos to push the lead back up to 10 points,27-17.
Oshkosh gets a medal for perserverance, though. With seven minutes left in the game, Jeremy Roach broke loose for a 21-yard run to paydirt and pull to within striking range.
Stout burned up much of the clock on the next drive, but turned the ball over on downs at the Oshkosh 30 with 2:48 left on the clock. The Titans moved the ball to the 50 yard line in seven plays before Wade stepped in front of the Wara pass on the Stout 12 to seal the win.
Mengelkoch, who had never caught more than one touchdown pass in a game, finished the game with five receptions for 69 yards. Provos completed 14-of-25 passes for 131 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions.
For the second consecutive game, Stout was out-gained in total offense. Stout tallied 344 total yards, 213 on the ground, 131 in the air. The Titans finished with 406 yards, 209 yards rushing, 197 by pass. Wara completed 22-of-31 passes for 144 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Justin Budiac had 12 receptions for 79 yards. Weissman ran the ball 17 times for 94 yards.
Craig Warminski (So, Stanley) carried the ball 25 times for 121 times, his fourth 100 yard game of the season and cracked the single season 1000-yard mark in the third quarter, becoming the first Stout runner to break 1000 yards in a single season since Luke Bundgaard did in the 2003 season. Warminski was also a force on kickoff and punt returns. Warminski returned two punts 47 yards, one for 35 yards, and two kickoffs a total of 61 yards.
Carlos Concepcion (Jr, Milwaukee) had two kickoff returns for 77 yards, including a 43-yard return.
Martin made all three extra points he attempted to run his career total to a perfect 74-of-74. Martin made two field goals for a total of nine points in the game and ran his career scoring totals to 143 points, 10th on the Stout all-time scoring list.
Ryan Pearcy (So, Plover) had 12 tackles for Stout.
Marcus Ball (Sr, Austin, Minn) had two sacks and three tackles for loss to run his season totals to 9.5 sacks and 11.5 tackles for loss.
Greg Towner (Sr, Onalaska) also recorded a sack and
Andrew Jeske (Sr, Glenwood City) had an interception.
Stout has not won in Oshkosh since 1997 and had lost the last four games with the Titans.
The eight wins is only the third time in the program's history that Stout has won eight games or more in a single season. Stout was 8-3 in 1982 and 10-1 in 2000. Several times in school history, Stout has finished with two losses or fewer (1917, 2-2; 1920, 1-2-1; 1946, 2-2-2; 1949, 6-2; 1951, 7-1; 1965, 7-1-1; 2000, 10-1).
