McMINNVILLE, Ore.- UW-Oshkosh football traveled to the West Coast for the start of its 2025 schedule and will return to Wisconsin with a 1-0 record after handling nationally ranked Linfield University (Ore.), 31-14, on its home field.
 
The Titans (1-0), receiving votes in both the D3football.com and American Football Coaches Association preseason polls, held the Wildcats scoreless in the first quarter while scoring on a field goal and a touchdown.
 
Linfield (0-1), ranked 16th and 15th, got on the board in the second quarter to cut the lead down to 10-7, however that was the closest the score got as Oshkosh added another field goal and a touchdown with a successful two-point conversion to lead 21-7 headed into halftime.
 
In the second half, the Titans scored on a 48-yard touchdown pass and a third field goal for newcomer kicker Axel Vera Trejo (Appleton/Appleton East) against a fourth-quarter touchdown for Linfield to seal the 17-point victory.
 
UW-Oshkosh led in nearly every offensive category including a 435-162 advantage in total yards, 134-22 in rushing yards, 301-140 in passing yards, 24-13 in first downs, and 6.4-2.9 yards per play while converting 9-of-15 third down conversions, scoring on all five trips to the red zone and dominating time of possession with 36:10 with the ball against the Wildcats' 23:50.
 
Quentin Keene (Waunakee/Waunakee), the Titans' starting quarterback, completed 17 of his 26 passing attempts, including his final eight passes, for 285 yards with two touchdowns and a longest pass of 48 yards while throwing one interception and being sacked three times.
 
Londyn Little (Columbia, Ill./Columbia) led Titan receivers with 114 yards on five catches while Clayton Schwalbe (Waukesha/Waukesha North) scored one of his two touchdowns on his only reception of the day that went 48 yards. Kellan Mella (Plymouth/Plymouth) caught two passes for nine yards and a score.
 
Wildcat quarterback AJ Korth (Menasha/Menasha) rushed 15 times for 53 yards followed by Doug Burson's (Yorkville, Ill./Yorkville) 32 yards on seven carries. Schwalbe pushed the ball through the line for a one-yard score.
 
Defensively, Kyle Dietzen (Omro/Omro) and Ben Wellhoefer (Omro/Omro) both recorded six tackles. Dietzen had four solo. Kellen Wright (West Salem/West Salem) registered 1.5 tackles-for-loss and an eight-yard sack. Kaleb Brooks (Brillion/Brillion) added his first career interception to two tackles (one solo) and Trevor Bahrs (Evansville/Evansville) notched three solo tackles and two pass breakups.
 
Oshkosh and Linfield traded non-scoring drives to open the game. The Titans gained control of the ball on their 26-yard line after a failed field goal attempt by the Wildcats and marched down to the Linfield 12 in seven plays to set up Vera Trejo for a 33-yard field goal. The kicker joined the program this fall after playing soccer at Iowa Western Community College.
 
Linfield got stuck at Oshkosh's 38-yard line in the following drive and had to punt for the first of four times, resulting in a touchback. A Wildcat penalty moved the line of scrimmage to the 35-yard line to start Oshkosh's drive with 5:45 remaining in the first quarter. Keene followed four plays of short gains with passes for 20 and 14 yards to bring the Titans to the Wildcats' 1-yard line. Korth was stopped short in back-to-back plays, however Schwalbe took a direct snap in the next play and maneuvered his way through the line to score his first touchdown. Vera Trejo put the point-after attempt between the posts to put UW-Oshkosh up, 10-0.
 
Linfield responded with an 11-play, 63-yard drive that resulted in a touchdown with 11:11 left in the half.
 
Vera Trejo knocked another field goal in for 36 yards out for three more points at the end of a 10-play drive for the Titans before the teams traded punts.
 
In the next Linfield drive, the Wildcats only attempted a pair of passes that resulted in a total of four yards before Brooks intercepted a pass at the Linfield 36 and ran out of bounds to stop the clock at 1:10. Keene completed a pass to Burson for 28 yards for his first attempt of the drive  and Little rushed four yards to bring Oshkosh to the 4-yard line before Keene and Mella connected in the back left corner of the end zone. The two again worked together to convert the two-point attempt, bringing the score to 21-7 before the teams headed into their locker rooms for halftime.
 
Linfield punted twice and Oshkosh punted once to open the third quarter. After the Wildcats' second punt, the Titans moved from their 17 to Linfield's 48 in six plays. Keene then threw his longest pass of the day for 48 yards to Schwalbe, who caught the ball at the 25-yard line and took it the rest of the way himself.
 
The Wildcats turned the ball over on downs and the Titans lost a fumble in the next two drives. In their next possession, they brought the game into the fourth quarter with possession and eventually scored their second touchdowns on a 15-yard pass.
 
Not content with a two-score lead, the Titans answered with a 10-play, 35-yard drive that ate 6:13 of the clock and resulted in Vera Trejo's third field goal, this time good from 25 yards.
 
Jax Rataczak (Randolph/Randolph) recovered a fumble in the first play of Linfield's succeeding drive to gain possession back for UW-Oshkosh with 1:45 remaining. Following two short rushes, the Titans kneeled out the clock to secure the win.
 
The Titans have now won all three meetings with Linfield (0-1). They bested the Wildcats in overtime in both previous games – 31-24 in McMinnville on December 1, 2012, in the NCAA Division III quarterfinal, and 28-21 in Oshkosh on September 14, 2024. Oshkosh has now outscored Linfield, 90-30, in the three contests.
 
The Titans will travel to Naperville, Illinois next Saturday, facing the defending national champion No. 1/1 North Central Cardinals at 1 p.m. at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium. The programs have split their only two previous meetings. The Cardinals won the first contest at home in 1930, and the Titans defeated North Central, 42-21, in the second round of the 2017 NCAA Division III Championship at J. J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium on their way to making the semifinal round for the third time in six seasons.