Earlier this fall, the Bears football team was 2-2 after defeating two weak teams and suffering two ugly losses.

On Oct. 9, opponent Wabash College, No. 19 in Division III, was riding a four-game winning streak. Statistically, the Bears were heavy underdogs.

But the Red and Green defense kept the home game close in the first half, and with the score tied at seven and 31 seconds remaining in the half, senior tailback Jim O’Brien broke loose. O’Brien caught a screen pass at the 37-yard line, let his offensive linemen set up their blocks and sprinted the remaining 63 yards for a touchdown, giving the Bears the lead and momentum heading into halftime.

The Little Giants responded to open the third quarter, scoring 13 unanswered points to take the lead. Wash. U. got the ball back with 4:37 left to play in the fourth quarter, trailing 20-17.

Senior quarterback Stephen Sherman led the Bears down the field in eight plays, capping the game-winning drive with an 18-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Easton Knott in the back left corner of the end zone with 1:10 left in the game.

“The victory over Wabash really showed us what were we capable of when we were playing to our full potential,” Sherman said.

The 24-20 win sparked a six-game winning streak that carried the Bears to a 7-3 overall record. According to head coach Larry Kindbom, this was the game that showed “our kids we’ve got a good football team.”

Nathaniel Margolies | Student Life

Junior wide receiver Easton Knott celebrates on the sideline after scoring the game-winning touchdown. The Bears defeated No. 19 Wabash College 24-20 on Saturday.

Senior quarterback Stephen Sherman took a three-step drop from the 18-yard line and let the ball fly down the left sideline. Junior wide receiver Easton Knott brushed off a defender as the ball dropped into his hands in the back left corner of the end zone, tiptoeing inbounds for the winning touchdown catch.

“By that point in the game, we knew that we only had a few shots [left] in the endzone and that we needed to make them count,” Knott said. “We lined up, and I was one-on-one with one of their corners. [Sherman] looked over and had faith that I could beat him deep and threw a perfect ball. I just ran by the defender and caught it.”

Sophomore kicker Eric Chalifour added the extra point, to cap an eight-play, 67-yard drive, giving the Washington University football team a 24-20 lead over No. 19 Wabash College with 1:10 left in the game, a lead the Bears would hold onto for the upset win.

“I’ve been telling our kids we’ve got a good football team, and to be competitive in a game like this, we had to at least be a good football team,” head coach Larry Kindbom said. “It was really just a matter of focusing one play at a time. More than anything else, I thought our leadership was tremendous. Bottom line is our guys played and didn’t stop believing.”

That leadership came from all different positions. Sherman finished 18-28 with 266 yards and two touchdowns; senior H-back Sam Kentor threw some punishing blocks and caught three passes for 30 yards off play-action fakes; junior linebacker Nick Hillard recorded 15 total tackles, including 11 solo, three for loss, and one sack, while junior Austin Morman punted five times for a 45.6 yard average, including two punts downed inside the 20-yard line and a long of 59 yards.

Nathaniel Margolies | Student Life

Running back Jim O’Brien fights through a tackle against Wabash. O’Brien ran 18 times for 76 yards and caught two passes for 68 yards, including a screen pass then went for a 63-yard touchdown to close the first half.

With Wabash trailing after sophomore Chris Castelluccio’s 13-yard touchdown run gave Wash. U. a 7-0 lead, the Little Giants (4-1) tied the game at 7-7 with just 31 seconds left in the first half. Quarterback Chase Belton threw a 1-yard pass to running back Derrick Yoder for the score.

Even with so little time until intermission, the Bears (3-2) were not content to enter halftime tied. Senior tailback Jim O’Brien caught a screen pass at the 37-yard line, shuffled behind his offensive linemen, bounced outside and sprinted to the end zone for a 63-yard touchdown, giving the Red and Green the lead, as well as momentum heading into halftime.

“It was a great play call, because when I caught the pass, there was no one around me,” said O’Brien, who tallied 141 total yards on 20 touches in the win. “I started running to more open space but went back in to follow the line, and that sucked the defense in. The line made huge blocks, which allowed me to cut outside again and into the end zone.”

After the break, the Little Giants turned to their backup quarterback and began a comeback. After Chalifour’s 18-yard field goal gave Wash. U. a 17-7 lead, Wabash scored 13 unanswered points and gave the Bears the ball back with 4:37 left, setting the stage for Knott’s touchdown.

However, the game was not over yet. Afert Wabash advanced the ball to the Bears’ 34-yard line, freshman safety Tate Byers broke up a near-perfect pass with his outstretched fingers in the endzone with five seconds left. On the next play, senior cornerback Nick Vom Brack ended the game by leaping and breaking up a pass in the endzone, sealing the win.

“As a defense, we are growing together,” Hillard said. “We are just out there with our crew playing football, just having fun. Our D-line is nasty up front, which really opens things up for us at the linebacker level. People underestimate our [defensive backs]; they are the reason there’s nowhere to throw. We trust each other to be where we need to be, so it allows us to really fly around.”

Next week, the Bears look to push their record to 4-2 as they travel to College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio at 1 p.m. The Fighting Scots (3-2) lost to Wabash 21-17 on Sept. 11.

Against Lindenwood, the women’s team finished first in eight of 11 events while the men’s squad won seven of 11 events despite returning from an eight-day training trip the night before.

“The girl’s team overall dominated,” senior, co-captain Alyssa Pagliere said. “They did an excellent job of bringing the heat.”

Sophomore Karin Underwood took first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:15.73, clocking in ahead of her closest opponent by more than 20 seconds. Senior Kelly Kono took a pair of wins in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke while freshman Karina Stridh submitted an NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 53.10 in the 100-yard freestyle. Stridh is automatically qualified for nationals in that event, as she swam to a school record time of 51.19 last December at the Wheaton Invitational.

Freshman Chris Valach swam to a Wash. U. season best time of 9:47.52 in the 1,000-yard freestyle and junior Daniel Arteaga took first in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.12 seconds. “We’ve been working really hard, really just getting ready for conference,” senior, co-captain Kevin Leckey said. “This is the year we’re going out at conference and impressing everyone.”

Although Wednesday’s dual meet against Wabash only featured the men’s team, the women’s team stood poolside to cheer on their teammates. “It meant a lot to me and the guys,” Head Coach Brad Shively said.

The men triumphed in eight of 11 events against Wabash with a 122-82 victory. Sophomore David Chao and junior Alex Beyer finished first in two events each as Chao captured the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events while Beyer won the 200-yard freestyle and butterfly.

“We‘re a work in progress,” Shively said. “None of us are finished products, and there’s a lot of room for improvement.”

One of the more exciting events was the collegiate debut of freshman Jordan Branham who was sidelined in the fall semester due to injury. “It felt great internally [to the members of the team],” Shively said. “Branham comes in everyday.”

The bonds displayed at the meets were previously solidified over the team’s winter break trip where the squad had 15 intense practices. “You spend every waking minute with your team,” Leckey said.

“Eat, swim, sleep, rinse and repeat,” Pagliere said.

The Bears will have their final home meet of the season on Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 11 a.m. The Washington University Invitational promises to be an emotional meet, according to the captains, especially for seniors Leckey, Pagliere, Kono, Charles Stewart, Julian Beattie and Kyle Ota, who will all have their last meets at the Millstone Pool.

“It’s been an honor to swim with our seniors these past three years, and I’m going to miss them all,” junior Kim Moeller said.

The seniors will be recognized for their contributions during the meet. “It’s definitely one of those bittersweet moments,” Pagliere said.

“It’s been tough being a student athlete, especially at a place like Wash. U.,” Leckey said. “But I wouldn’t trade [the experience] for anything.”

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With Wabash’s offense averaging nearly 500 yards per game this season, the Bears could do little to contain the Little Giants, who accumulated 499 yards against the Bear defense.

“Our goal going into the week was to hold them to 100 yards rushing, so that was kind of our mindset, especially after giving up a lot of yards in the road game the previous week. As you can see from the stats, they still got 500 yards of total offense on us,” a captain and linebacker Adam Hartzler, a senior, said.

Wabash quarterback Matt Hudson threw for 277 yards and four touchdown passes while receiver Kody LeMond totaled 165 yards. Running backs Bobby Kimp and Derrick Yoder amassed a combined total of 175 yards as well.

On the other side of the ball, Wabash held Wash. U. to 221 yards, with only 14 coming via the ground.

“They had a pretty good defense, and they forced us to pass a lot of the time…Also, we were down, which forced us to pass, so I don’t feel like we got that many chances to run in the first place,” sophomore running back Jim O’Brien said.

However, at times, the game looked like a defensive struggle, as evidenced by a scoreless first quarter.

With 13:38 left in the second quarter, Wabash struck first with a 30-yard touchdown pass. The 10-play, 92-yard drive lasted just more than four minutes. The Little Giants then displayed their running game with a six-run 78-yard drive, culminating with a 17-yard run into the end zone by Kimp to made the score 14-0. Yoder had a 26-yard run during the drive, and Kimp had an 18-yard run as well with the touchdown.

“We had seen speed like that in the past, but I think their offense line really is what propelled them in their victory. They had a bunch of big guys up front that were creating some big holes for these guys to run through. Those running backs were real good at setting up their blocks and taking advantage of any mistakes we made,” Hartzler said.

Wash. U. answered on the subsequent drive. Junior Greg Lachaud caught a pass from senior quarterback Buck Smith and took it 73 yards to the Wabash four-yard line. This set up an easy one-yard scamper for a touchdown by Smith. The extra-point attempt by sophomore Tim P. Johnson was blocked, but the Bears had cut into the lead, 14-6.

Junior defensive back Tim Machan picked off Hudson’s first pass on the next drive and returned it 26 yards to set up the Bears’ next score. Three plays later, Smith threw a 19-yard pass to senior receiver Kyle Gray to cut the lead to two points and put Wash. U. in position to tie the game. The two-point attempt, however, was tipped and incomplete.

The Little Giants answered with the final score of the quarter with a 34-yard field goal to make the score 17-12.

While Wash. U. stayed close to Wabash in the first half, the second half became a Wabash rout. After forcing a three-and-out from Wash. U., Wabash scored a touchdown on a 13-play drive. After stopping the Little Giants team on third-and-goal, Hudson completed a three-yard pass for the score. The following two-point conversion extended the lead to 13 points.

The Bears’ offense struggled to keep up with Wabash, as two more touchdowns were added to the score in favor of the visiting team: a 47-yard pass coming in the third quarter and a 52-yard touchdown pass in the fourth to make the score 37-12.

“Our guys played hard. I thought that we gave a great effort. We didn’t make some plays at the appropriate moments. We did a great job putting ourselves into the football game in that second quarter, but we just didn’t take care of business in the third quarter,” Head Coach Larry Kindbom said. “We’re still a good football team. We still have good people. We just didn’t do what we needed to do to win a game like that.”

The Bears (3-2) travel to The College of Wooster next Saturday and look to get back on track against the Fighting Scots.