Kenneth Hamilton isn’t able to secure the ball in a 12 yard pass effort from Matt Rush. (Photo by Clara RIchards | Student Life)

To be on the end of a knockout blow isn’t always a bad thing. If nothing else, it gives you perspective. 

In the Bears’ bout with the North Central College Cardinals last fall, their 42-0 halftime deficit made clear the difference in weight classes between the Cardinals and the Bears. In the 2021 game, WashU entered the game 6-2 on the season. The final result, a 59-20 loss, was a disappointment for sure. It was also a challenge to improve, or as head coach Aaron Keen phrased it, to “close the gap”. 

And that’s what the Bears hoped to do.  

With the majority of a season-high 2442 attendees in their corner, the Bears came out swinging against the top-ranked Cardinals — but they failed to land anything of consequence. Miscues caused much of this effort to have just glancing effects on the Cardinals.

After forcing North Central to a fourth down with three yards to go, a WashU penalty extended the drive, allowing the Cardinals to eventually capitalize and jump out to an early 7-0 lead. A few possessions later, now trailing by two scores, a promising Bears drive — highlighted by a 26-yard completion from senior quarterback Matt Rush to junior wideout Collin Hoyhtya — fizzled out with a fumble in the redzone. This would not be the only such turnover of the half, however, as a Rush interception in the endzone with nine seconds remaining in the second quarter guaranteed WashU would enter the second half without points for the first time all season.

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Had it not been for these miscues, Keen believes the game could have had a different tenor entering the second half. “We’ve got to find a way to convert,” Keen said. “We punted on the first possession and turned it over the next two in the red zone. Against good teams, you’ve got to come away with points in those situations — and maybe [then] the game’s different at halftime.” Compounding these miscues, though, was the dearth of possessions for the Bears, a byproduct of the Cardinals’ rushing attack gaining over 120 yards. Ball carriers often got to the second-level before being touched by a WashU defender. 

The second half rendered much of the same for the Bears’ offense as it continued to sputter. The team never improved its offense’s efficiency, as it started the half with three straight 3 and outs which rendered a mere total of 28 yards. The fourth offensive drive of the half proved to be their most successful as they gained 43 yards in 8 plays, but no points were put up due to the offense’s inability to convert a 4th and 1. In total, in five offensive second-half drives, the Bears gained a total of 94 yards.

Despite the jumbotron reading a 21-point halftime deficit for the Bears on the breezy, temperate October afternoon, the game still felt in reach for many of the players — a different perspective than this team had in previous years.

“Last year, I remember thinking, like ‘God, this team we’re playing is really good’,” sophomore receiver Collin Goldberg said. “But this year, I felt [the deficit] was more of our mistakes than them beating us.”

Defensively, there were some glimmers of improvement. The Bear’s defense caused North Central to punt the ball twice, something North Central never did in the first half. Additionally, a porous Bear run defense seemed to stand strong and limited North Central to 91 rushing yards, which was an improvement from the 144 yards the Bears allowed in the first half.

Collin Hoyhtya makes a reception, the longest of the game. (Photo by Clara Richards | Student Life)

As the game began to run away from WashU in the second half, Keen began to insert younger players into the game, such as sophomore backup quarterback Clark Stephens.

“Any opportunity that our players have to jump in there and run our schemes is really valuable against different teams and they will grow from it and be better,” he said. Players like sophomore receiver Zach Ginsburg and freshman Xander Georgoulis also got time on the field in the final minutes of the game.

“These are guys that can definitely help the program. They’re not getting minutes right now, but for the future going into next season, you get reps against a good team like this, then next year you won’t be fazed by it,” Goldberg said. 

Although the final scoreboard read 31-0 in favor of North Central, Keen believed that the gap between WashU and North Central narrowed.

“If you look at last year’s game against North Central versus this year’s game against North Central, it is a completely different feel, with the feeling I get from the team,” Keen said. “The disappointment they have after that game is palpable, and so I know the belief is strong amongst our team members and what they can do and what they would like to do against teams like this in the future.” 

Hoyhtya, who was second on the team in receiving yards with 43, and senior outside linebacker Matthew Schmal, who led the team in tackles against North Central with 13, shared Keen’s disappointment. “There were opportunities for the offense to score, as the unit was able to drive down the field a few different times, but it was killed by turnovers and not executing when we were supposed to,” Hoyhtya reflected.

Schmal added that the d-line hopes to bounce back and intends to “keep pressing, get in the film room, learn from the things we did right, learn from the things we did wrong, fix them, and then go forward from there.”

The Bears will travel to Elmhurst University in Illinois to take on the Blue Jays on Saturday, October 29th before returning home for senior day and their last home game against Wheaton College on Saturday, November 5th.