STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The UW-Stevens Point football team continues a stretch of three consecutive games against ranked Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) opponents by facing No. 5 UW-Oshkosh on the road on Saturday, Oct. 17.

THE BASICS
Who: UW-Stevens Point (3-2, 1-1 WIAC) at No. 5 UW-Oshkosh (4-1, 2-0 WIAC)
When: Saturday, Oct. 17 – 1:30 p.m.
Where: Oshkosh, Wis. – J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium

FOLLOW THE GAME
This week's game will air on television in both the Oshkosh and Stevens Point areas, beginning with a 35-minute pregame show. In the Stevens Point and North Central Wisconsin area, the broadcast will be found on Charter Communications channels 8, 14, 610 (WAOW-DT); 9 and 613 (WCWF-DT); as well as on Direct TV channel 10 and Dish Network channel 7214 (WAOW-DT). The feed of the telecast will be distributed by WAOW and Central Wisconsin's CW. The game will be broadcasted by Ted Stefaniak (play-by-play), John Burton (color commentary) and Brandon Kinnard (sideline reporter).
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LAST TIME OUT
A fourth-down, four-yard touchdown pass from Jack Eddy to Russell Martin gave No. 12 UW-Platteville a 30-27 victory over UW-Stevens Point on Saturday, Oct. 10 at Pioneer Stadium. Eddy found Martin on the right sideline to cap an 11-play, 75-yard drive that gave the Pioneers a three-point lead with 6:04 remaining. The Pointers returned the ensuing kickoff to midfield but then intercepted a pass with 4:51 to go.

Eddy was 30-for-47 for 375 yards and threw four touchdowns and a pair of interceptions. Quinn Buschbacher and Patrick Sheehan each had nine catches for over 100 yards and a touchdown.
The Pointers had taken a 27-23 lead on a 17-yard touchdown from Kyle Larson (Clayton, WI/Clayton) to Matt Sosinsky (Princeton, WI/Princeton) with 8:46 remaining, capping an eight-play, 69-yard drive after a Pioneer field goal. The touchdown was the duo's sixth scoring connection of the season.

UW-Platteville outgained UW-Stevens Point 451-327 in the game. The Pointers' defense forced four turnovers and recorded five sacks in the loss.

ABOUT UW-STEVENS POINT | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS

SCHEDULE TOUGHENS
UW-Stevens Point is in the midst of a three-game stretch against teams currently ranked in the top 15 of the D3football.com Top 25. Last week's opponent, UW-Platteville, is ranked No. 13, UW-Oshkosh is ranked No. 5 and next week the Pointers face No. 6 UW-Whitewater at home.

PUTTING UP POINTS
The Pointers boast the top-scoring offense in the WIAC (45.6 ppg) and the unit ranked 13th in the country in scoring. UW-Stevens Point ranks second in the country in red zone offense having scored on 20 of its 21 attempts inside the 20-yard line this season. The Pointers converted their first 18 red zone trips this season prior to an interception in the end zone in the third quarter last week.

DANGEROUS RETURNERS
UW-Stevens Point also ranks 13th in the country in kickoff returns, averaging 25.7 yards per return. Jerry Williams (Milwaukee, WI/Watertown) and Christian Almonte (Menomonee Falls, WI/Menomonee Falls) are the WIAC's top-two kick returners so far. Williams leads the conference at 29.2 yards per return on nine returns and his 82-yard touchdown at Finlandia remains the WIAC's lone kick return for a touchdown this season. Almonte is averaging 28.2 yards on 10 returns.

SOSINSKY STANDS OUT
Sosinsky is the lone WIAC player to average over 100 receiving yards per game this season and his average of 117.2 yards per game ranks 15th nationally. The senior's six receiving touchdowns tie Sosinsky with teammate Logan Taylor (Wausau, WI/East) for the WIAC lead and give him three-straight seasons with at least six touchdown catches. Sosinsky has caught at least four passes in 10 consecutive games and 22 of the last 25 since the start of the 2013 season. In his last 25 games, Sosinsky has totaled 148 receptions for 2,132 yards and 18 touchdowns and has recorded at least 100 yards and a touchdown in a game nine times.

TOUCHDOWN TANDEM
Sosinsky and Taylor are just the second pair of UWSP players to each have six receiving touchdowns in a season since 2009. The other instance came in 2011 when Sosinsky and Andre Bodden each had six touchdown receptions.

SACK ATTACK
Last week, UW-Stevens Point's defense recorded a season-high five sacks and the Pointers rank second in the WIAC with 13 sacks this season. The trio of Tanner Beaman (Phelps, WI/Northland Pines), Aaron Karlen (Edgar, WI/Edgar) and Dan Brown (Pewaukee, WI/Pewaukee) combined for all five sacks. Beaman had his second-straight two-sack performance, while Karlen and Brown each registered 1.5 sacks. Karlen has 11 sacks in his last 14 games since the start of last season.

LARSON ON HISTORIC PACE
Larson's 15 touchdown passes this season are the most in the WIAC. At the halfway point of the season, the junior is on pace to become the fourth UWSP quarterback to throw 30 touchdown passes in a season. The last UWSP quarterback to do so was UWSP Athletic Hall of Famer Scott Krause, who tossed 37 touchdowns in 2003.

RECORD BREAKER
Last week, senior kicker Jesse Vervelde (Oostburg, WI/Oostburg) became UW-Stevens Point's all-time leading scorer among kickers with a second-quarter extra point. In 35 career games, Vervelde is 27-of-40 (.675) on field-goal attempts and is 104-of-110 (.945) on extra points for a total of 188 points. His four made field goals this season are the most in the WIAC after he led the conference with 10 field goals last season.

UWSP VS. RANKED TEAMS
Since the start of the 2011 season, UW-Stevens Point is 2-10 against ranked opponents. Ten of the 12 games have come against WIAC teams and the Pointers are 1-9 in those games. The two victories were a 34-27 home win over No. 5 North Central (Ill.) on Sept. 27, 2014 and a 17-14 home victory over No. 13 UW-Whitewater on Oct. 27, 2012. Two of the losses came to ranked UW-Oshkosh teams (35-20 on Nov. 2, 2013 and 56-31 on Nov. 3, 2012).

UW-Stevens Point has played six top-five teams since the start of the 2011 season and last season's victory over fifth-ranked North Central (Ill.) is the Pointers' lone victory in those games.

ABOUT UW-OSHKOSH | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
Last week, then No. 15 UW-Oshkosh snapped then-No. 1 UW-Whitewater's 36-game winning streak, which was the longest active streak in all of college football, by defeating the Warhawks 10-7 at home. The loss was UWW's fourth loss in its last 90 games, with two of those losses coming to UW-Oshkosh and one to UW-Stevens Point.

The Titans defeated the Warhawks behind third-string quarterback Jayden Essman, who played the second half due to injuries. Essman led a nine-play, 64-yard drive on UW-Oshkosh's first possession of the fourth quarter, leading to a 41-yard field goal by Greg Rand with 10:45 remaining. The Titans sealed the win when Branden Lloyd blocked a 44-yard field goal with 1:59 remaining.

Since losing its season-opener, UW-Oshkosh has won its last four games to ascend to No. 5 in this week's D3football.com Top 25. In their season-opener, the Titans fell 23-21 to then-No. 20 Robert Morris of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). UW-Oshkosh then blanked Finlandia 86-0, North Park (Ill.) 35-0 and won their WIAC opener 69-14 at UW-Stout.

UW-Oshkosh ranks 20th in the country in both scoring offense (44.2) and total offense (510.6) this season. The Titans' rushing attack leads the conference and ranks 13th in the country with an average of 279.4 yards per game, led by sophomore Dylan Hecker, who averages 91.6 yards per game and has run for a WIAC-best eight touchdowns.

The Titans' defense ranks 12th in the country in total defense, surrendering just 245.2 yards per game, and sixth in scoring defense (8.8 ppg). UW-Oshkosh's rushing defense has been especially stout, giving up 88.0 yards per game. Opponents have averaged just 2.6 yards per carry and have one touchdown on the ground this season. The Titans lead the WIAC in pass defense (158.2  ypg) and total defense (246.2 ypg).

UW-Oshkosh averages the fifth-fewest penalty yards per game (28.6) among Division III teams this season. The Titans have been whistled for an average of 3.6 penalties a game, tied for sixth-fewest in the country.

Sophomore Brett Kasper leads the WIAC in pass efficiency (169.7) and has completed a WIAC-best 67.6 percent of his passes this season. He has thrown for 1,020 yards, nine touchdowns and just one interception through five games. His favorite target is Sam Mentkowski, who trails only Sosinsky in receiving yards (445) and Sosinsky and Taylor in touchdowns (5) among WIAC players.

THE COACHES
Tom Journell is in his fourth season as the head coach at UW-Stevens Point and has a 17-18 career record at UWSP. His teams have steadily improved from 2-8 in 2012 to 5-5 in 2013 and 7-3 last season. In 2014, he led the Pointers to a 5-0 start that saw the team ranked No. 13 in the country, the team's highest ranking since early 2009. Prior to becoming the Pointers' head coach, Journell was the team's defensive coordinator for four seasons, helping UWSP to a 19-9 record. He was the head coach at Elmhurst from 2004-07 and compiled a record of 22-18 over the four seasons. Journell also spent 15 seasons at UW-River Falls as the Falcons' defensive coordinator and assistant head coach.

This is Pat Cerroni's ninth season as UW-Oshkosh's head football coach. Through eight-plus seasons, Cerroni has guided the Titans to a 57-31 (.648) record. He has coached 30 players to 36 All-WIAC First Team laurels and 12 players to 15 All-America selections. In 2012, Cerroni was named the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) NCAA Division III Region 5 Coach of the Year and the WIAC's Coach of the Year after directing UW-Oshkosh to its first national tournament appearance, as the Titans advanced to the semifinals. Cerroni joined the Titans as an assistant coach in 2000 after three seasons as the head coach at Menomonee Falls High School.

SERIES NOTES
UW-Stevens Point and UW-Oshkosh play in the oldest football rivalry in the WIAC, which dates back to 1896. The Pointers won the first-ever meeting 22-6 and have gone on to take a 59-45-8 advantage in the series.

The Titans have won the last four meetings by double figures, including a 21-7 win in Stevens Point in last season's meeting on Nov. 1, 2014. Kasper and Mentkowski connected on touchdowns of 42 and 37 yards early in the third quarter and the Titans' defense forced three turnovers. UW-Stevens Point outgained UW-Oshkosh 318-221 in the game and held a 20-6 advantage in third downs.

UW-Stevens Point is 13-11 at Oshkosh since the 1966 season, including eight-straight wins from 1984-1999. The eight consecutive road victories were part of a string of 16 UWSP wins in a row over the same stretch.