KENOSHA, Wis. – The Carthage College football program gave the number-four team in the nation all they could handle in the season opener, but the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh came back late and defeated the Red Men Saturday at Art Keller Field, 20-9.
 
"We had our chances to win," said a proud Dustin Hass after his first game as head coach.  "We turned it over twice in the red zone, missed a field goal and still had a chance at the end.  We needed one more stop out of our defense but they made some good adjustments and we didn't get it.  I told our guys that is the biggest difference between us and them.  Talent-wise we are right there, but when it came down to winning time they made the plays are we didn't."
 
Oshkosh opened the scoring on the seventh drive of the game after the Red Men's first true scoring opportunity went unanswered as a Lance Unland field goal from 47 yards fell short.  On the ensuing drive, Oshkosh moved the ball 71 yards, all on the ground, on eight plays and put the first points on the board with an 11-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter to take a 7-0 lead.
 
Carthage answered in the second quarter after Amani Dennis intercepted Johnny Duranso for Carthage's second takeaway of the game, giving backup quarterback Billy Dury, who replaced Kyle Friberg after an opening drive injury, and the offense the ball at the Oshkosh 29 yard line.   Following a 19-yard Lafayette McGary run, Dury found Bret Patton in the flat and Patton dove to the pylon for the first Carthage touchdown of the season.  The touchdown pass and catch for Dury and Patton were the first of each of their careers. 
 
Unfortunately, the Red Men's PAT was blocked and the Titans would take a 7-6 lead into the half.
 
In the third, both defenses had strong showings as the Red Men held the Titans to just 29 yards in the quarter, but were unable to score as a pair of interceptions ended drives in Oshkosh's half of the field.
 
Carthage eventually broke through early in the fourth quarter when Lance Unland kicked a 44-yard field goal that clipped the crossbar and went through, giving the Red Men their first lead, 9-7, with 12:14 remaining in the game.
 
After defensive stops by both teams, the Titans regained possession with 6:45 left in the game and went on what turned out to be the game-winning drive.  The Titans used 5:20 off the clock and went 73 yards on 12 plays before punching in the go-ahead touchdown with 1:25 remaining in the game to give Oshkosh a 14-9 lead.
 
Carthage had a chance in the two-minute drill but a desperation heave on the final play of the game was intercepted for the fourth time by the Titans and returned for a touchdown as time expired for the 20-9 final.
 
McGary and Evan French led the offense, as the senior running back touched the ball 22 times for 108 yards and added one catch for 24 yards, while the senior wide out made nine catches for 131 yards.  Bret Patton finished with the one catch for ten yards that went for a touchdown and Billy Dury ended the day going 14-32 for 192 yards, one touchdown, but was intercepted four times.
 
On the play of his offense Hass stated, "Oshkosh does some different things up front and coach Joe Hensel and the offensive guys did a great job adjusting to it at halftime.  Lafayette is a heck of a football player and he ran hard.  I think we can expect to lean on him quite a bit going forward… Evan made some really tough catches.  We have seen it during all of camp and for a few years now we have known he has that ability.  He showed up to play today and we are excited to see what he can do in the future."
 
Defensively, the Red Men held the Titans, who averaged over 500 yards a game last year, to just 206 yards and forced a pair of turnovers in the first half with the Dennis interception and a fumble.  Malik Thigpen led the Red Men with eight tackles followed by Djogi Bumba and Emmet Trost with seven each. 
 
"Our defense played well on the backend today and I can't say enough about the defensive linemen.  Oshkosh ran power formations up there a bunch and our guys stayed strong, got off blocks and made plays.  Our linebackers Trost and Kevin O'Boyle played really hard.  They played tough but the biggest thing is they need to finish the game.  When we are up 9-7 and are counting on them to make a stop, they need to make a stop and we didn't do that today," noted Hass.
 
Next up for the Red Men they will enter conference-play with the opener of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin against in-state rival, Carroll University.  Carthage and the Pioneers will meet in two weeks in Waukesha as they once again play for "The Old Musket" trophy.  Kickoff on September 15th is set for 1:00 p.m.