By Tim Glon
OSHKOSH, Wis. — Ohio Northern saw its playoff run come to an end with a 42-7 loss at No. 3-ranked UW-Oshkosh in the Second Round of the NCAA Division III football playoffs on a sunny but chilly Saturday afternoon at Titan Stadium.
The Polar Bears end their season with a 9-3 record.
The Titans improve to 11-1 and will advance to the Quarterfinals next Saturday against No. 5-ranked UW-Whitewater.
Sophomore Ricardo Johnson completed 10-of-20 passes for 71 yards and ran 21 times for 82 yards and senior Justin Magazine ran 20 times for 84 yards and a TD to lead the ONU offense.
The Polar Bears drove inside the Titans' 30-yard line on each of their first three possessions, but came away with only seven points on the three trips.
Meanwhile, Oshkosh took advantage of all three of its first half scoring opportunities and led 21-7 at halftime.
UWO then scored on its first two possessions of the third quarter to take a 35-7 lead and went on to the victory.
"We knew there would not be much margin for error against such a good opponent," ONU head coach Dean Paul said. "Congrats to Oshkosh. We did not take advantage of our scoring opportunities and they did. Our guys battled hard, but we just made too many mistakes."
Ohio Northern marched inside the Oshkosh 20-yard line on its opening possession, but a 36-yard field goal was wide left five minutes into the contest.
The Titans then drove 80 yards in seven plays and scored on a 55-yard pass from Brett Kasper to Zach Kasuboski with 6:52 left in the opening period.
The Polar Bears answered with an 10-play, 69-yard drive and tied the game at 7-all on a 2-yard run by Magazine with 1:26 left in the first period.
Junior Trent Stout recovered an UWO fumble on the next play from scrimmage, giving Northern the ball on the Titan 37-yard line.
But Oshkosh stopped a fourth-and-1 run by ONU at the 28 on the first play of the second quarter and the score remained tied at 7-7.
Northern held the ball for 11:59 in the first period and ran 22 plays to just eight for the Titans, but the game was tied at 7-7 after the first 15 minutes.
UWO extended its lead to 14-7 on a 40-yard run by Hecker out of the wildcat formation with 9:16 left in the half.
The Titans went up 21-7 with a 17-yard pass from Kasper to C.J. Blackburn with just 22 seconds left in the opening half.
Oshkosh returned the second half kickoff to the ONU 36, and went up 28-7 on an 8-yard run by Hecker with 2:04 gone in the third.
UWO scored on a 17-yard TD pass with 9:42 left in the third and it was 35-7.
"The score at the end of the half was a big play," Paul said. "Then they got the big kickoff return after we had an offsides penalty, so instead of starting on their 20 the ball was at our 36. Then they go in for a score and now it's 28-7."
Kasper hit Blackburn on a 32-yard scoring pass with 13:02 left in the game to complete the scoring.
Ohio Northern held the ball for 37:09 and had 286 yards of total offense, while UWO had an even 400 yards of total offense.
"Our offense is designed to do whatever it takes, so we are comfortable running or passing," Johnson said. "We know that many teams did not make the playoffs that were deserving of a spot. But we feel that with our win last week and just being a couple of plays away from a tight game here that we absolutely belong in the top tier of Division III teams."
Kasper completed 14-of-22 passes for 211 yards and four touchdowns and Hecker gained 98 yards and score two TDs on 14 carries.
Defensively, senior Justin Tello had 10 tackles to lead the ONU defense.