The Bears ultimately lost to the Little Giants, who entered the game leading the country in offensive production (50.8 ppg), 31-12 on Saturday, Oct. 10.

“The whole game, the whole mindset…was not that ‘we’re in this game.’ It was, ‘We’re going to win this game,’” senior co-captain Andrew Berryman said. “That was felt throughout the team.”

Little Giants senior quarterback Matt Hudson went 32 of 45, throwing for 335 yards with three touchdowns.

“We knew it was going to take an almost error-free game to go in and beat them, because we knew they were good, but we knew they were beatable,” Berryman said. We kind of showed that yesterday.”

Junior Stephen Sherman had his own career day for Wash. U. at the quarterback position, throwing for 218 yards, but the Bears offense was outmatched in total offensive yards, 272-478.

Both teams were held scoreless in the first quarter, while a 42-yard pass from Sherman to senior Matt Mangini put the team at the Wabash 29-yard line.

In great position to take the lead with less than five minutes left in the quarter, senior halfback Greg LaChaud fumbled the ball on the very next play, giving Wabash possession.

“We have put in some new plays during the course of the year, and one of time’s tests of things in football is that when you put a new play in, you’ve got to run it a thousand times before you put it in on the field. We didn’t necessarily do that,” head coach Larry Kindbom said. “That fumble was more of a result of not working on that play enough times over the course of the year.”

On the following series, Wabash turned to freshman running back Nathan Walters who capped a 70-yard, 5:04 drive with a 1-yard touchdown.

Wash. U. finally broke into the score column late into the second quarter. Senior defensive back Tim Olivos capitalized on a Little Giants fumble, returning it 59 yards to the Wabash 5-yard line. Berryman forced the fumble. Sophomore kicker Brandon Rogalski scored two minutes later on a fake field goal, but his extra-point kick was blocked.

The Little Giants responded with a nine-play, 55-yard drive resulting in a field goal, taking a 10-6 lead into the half.

Hudson’s 29-yard touchdown pass to sophomore receiver Brady Young extended the score to 17-6 with 5:51 left in the third quarter, but the Bears answered on the ensuing series.

“There’s no doubt Wabash is an incredible team,” junior receiver Tom Gulyas said. “We definitely knew we needed to sustain a drive and get a touchdown…Obviously to even up on the scoreboard and also to give our defense a rest, because [Wabash] has so many offensive weapons.”

Sherman’s 73-yard pass to Gulyas ended the three-play touchdown drive, but a two-point conversion attempt failed.

The Little Giants came right back with another touchdown at the hands of Hudson, extending their lead to 24-12. Junior safety Jake Martin ended Wash. U.’s chance for a response, intercepting Sherman’s pass on the following series.

A 14-yard touchdown pass from Hudson to junior receiver Wes Chemblee pushed the score to 31-12 with 11 minutes left in the game.

With the loss, Wash. U. drops to 2-3 for the season. The season continues at Francis Field on Saturday, Oct. 17, against Wooster College (3-2). Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.

“[Our defensive performance] gives us a lot of confidence from here on out, to know that we can hang with one of the top 10 teams in the nation,” Berryman said, “So that gives us confidence going into the next few games against Wooster and then heading into conference play that we can go out and dominate all these offenses, because we’re not going to face another offense this good.”

“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.