Junior halfback Sam Kentor’s 1-yard charge into the end zone with 3 minutes and 41 seconds left in the fourth quarter, his second touchdown of the day, gave Washington University a 41-35 victory over Westminster College on Saturday in a wild game of twists and turns.

“We needed to get that score in because we needed to win that football game, and I think everyone knew that and knew that we had the capacity to do it,” Kentor said. “We just executed, gave it 100 percent, and we got in.”

The Bears’ 35-14 lead at the start of the fourth quarter was cut down in a span of 3 minutes and 47 seconds.

Westminster started the final quarter of the game quickly with a 2-yard touchdown run by sophomore Isaiah Mosley. After intercepting junior quarterback Mitchel Bartel, the Blue Jays connected on a 52-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Daniel Edison to junior receiver Carl Givens.

Westminster’s defense held Wash. U. to a three-and-out immediately after, while Givens scored the tying touchdown on only the second play of the drive.

“The big thing that the coaches had stressed to us at halftime is that we needed to finish. That’s what great teams do; they finish. They finish the game, they finish all the plays, and they don’t let these [games] slip away,” said junior quarterback Stephen Sherman, who made his first career start at that position. “At no point did we feel like we were ever going to lose that game…There wasn’t a doubt in mind.”

On the Bears’ first offensive play of the game, Sherman connected with senior halfback Greg Lachaud, who took the ball 43 yards for a touchdown with 11:46 left in the first quarter. The 7-0 lead was extended in the second quarter when senior receiver Matt Mangini caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Sherman.

On the ensuing drive by the Bears, Kentor ran the ball 22 yards for a touchdown, earning his team a 21-point lead.

“[Taking an early lead] was huge to give our offense the confidence we needed, just to show that we really are a good team, and that we can make some great things happen,” Kentor said.

Westminster showed some life in the first half, however, and after an interception off  Bartel, the Blue Jays managed to score on a 15-yard touchdown pass with only seven seconds left before the break.

A successful two-point conversion attempt made the score 21-8 at halftime.

With 5:03 remaining in the third quarter, O’Brien capped a 91-yard drive with a 22-yard touchdown run to push the lead to 28-8. Starting in place of injured senior co-captain Matt Glenn, O’Brien recorded 143 rushing yards, a career-high, on 28 carries.

“The [offensive line] did a great job at opening things up. They were just getting a great initial push and doing good work,” O’Brien said. “It was a lot of them just clearing things up and letting the backs get up to the secondary levels.”

Westminster scored after a punt return gave them the ball at the Bears’ 2-yard line, but senior Nick Vom Brack intercepted a pass from Eidson and returned it 28 yards for a touchdown to restore a 21-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Blue Jays threatened to score again with under two minutes to play after two costly personal fouls gave Westminster great field position, but Wash. U.’s defense strengthened on fourth and 4 yards to close out the victory.

Following a game against Greenville College in which the Bears managed to gain only 167 total offensive yards, the team rebounded in a big way with 430 total yards, 243 of which came on the ground.

“We were fired up,” Kentor said.”We had a good week in practice, and everyone knew their responsibilities and knew what we had to do to be a good football team.”
Washington University (1-1) takes on Wittenberg University (1-0) at home on Saturday. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.