Standout defense paves way for third straight win for WU football

Miguel Campos | Contributing Reporter

The name of the game for Washington University’s football team this weekend was defense. After a sack and forced fumble by junior linebacker Jeff Gurley within the first three minutes of the game, the team and spectators knew that it was going to be a good game for the Wash. U. defense against Elmhurst College.

Quarterback Johnny Davidson looks to connect with a receiver. Davidson completed 21 of 35 passes for 216 yards against Elmhurst College to lead the Bears to a 23-10 win.Grace Bruton | Student Life

Quarterback Johnny Davidson looks to connect with a receiver. Davidson completed 21 of 35 passes for 216 yards against Elmhurst College to lead the Bears to a 23-10 win.

“There’s two things that are important: consistency and big plays. Consistently, we were playing pretty well. They really weren’t moving the football. You still need to make the big play when the opportunity presents itself and they do a pretty good job of taking care of the football. It’s not easy to get a big play, but the sacks were one. We had sacks and tackles for losses all the way through; that helped us,” head coach Larry Kindbom said.

The Wash. U. football team limited Elmhurst to 234 yards on total offense, distributed equally with 117 yards each for both rushing and passing. They accumulated a grand total of six sacks on the Elmhurst quarterback, with two coming from both Gurley and sophomore defensive lineman Peter Pigatti and one each coming from junior defensive lineman Clayton Farris and junior linebacker Derick Speltz.

Wash. U. got the scoring started late in the first quarter, when junior running back John Fisher punched it in on the ground to go up 7-0. In the second, Elmhurst tried to respond with a drive of their own. But senior linebacker Jake Coon ended the drive in the red zone with an interception. Coon had a productive day, leading the defense with 11 tackles on the day.

“Jake played an outstanding game. He’s put back to back games that he has not had in his career here. He continues to improve, and that’s really important because we’re coming down the stretch here,” says Kindbom.

Coon delayed the inevitable. Elmhurst managed to tie the game at 7 apiece midway into the second quarter. However, Wash. U. struck quickly in response, as the next offensive possession ended with a 36-yard reception touchdown from junior quarterback Johnny Davidson to senior wide receiver Matt Goldberg, making the score 14-7. That would be the closest that Elmhurst would be to Wash. U. for the rest of the game, which ended with a score of 23-10.

Davidson had a respectable outing, as he threw for 216 yards and a touchdown. His receivers also stood out as Goldberg and junior Nick Watts ended up with 68 and 64 yards, respectively.

This is the third win in a row for the Bears. The looming question as they progress is how far these “finely tuned athletic machines” can go in their new conference. As the Bears continue to surpass expectations, one can only wonder what their potential is.

“That’s what we’re all trying to figure out right now,” Kindbom said. “Here’s the kind of hidden factor, and this is what I’m looking to see now as the head coach. Because of the fact that we’ve had so many injuries, we’ve had to have a lot of young guys get put into situations that they might not necessarily have had to face yet had we just been going through a normal season. What happened over the last three weeks is not only did they have had the ability to step up, they got a lot of experience, and some of these other [older] guys are starting to come back into the lineup.

Now, you’ve got the experience plus the guys that have been tested. [The young guys] didn’t make all the plays when they were in there, but the fact that they were in there gave them experience that is totally valuable in terms of our ability to progress as a team. This is what we’re looking forward to—it’s their ability to transition into championship football.”

The Bears will attempt to continue the forward moving train Saturday, Oct. 13 at home versus No. 12 Wheaton College at 1 p.m.

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