David BrodyThe Washington Universty football team rebounded from its opening day loss to defeat Westminster College 41-20 on Saturday at home. With the win, the Bears improved to 1-1 on the season.
The Bears, held scoreless in their first game against Mount Union College, wasted little time in getting on the board this game. They moved the ball 78 yards in 12 plays to score a touchdown on the game’s opening drive. Senior quarterback Adam Meranda finished the drive with a one-yard touchdown run. Westminster would bring the game to a tie at 7-7 with their own one yard run at the beginning of the second quarter.
Later in the second quarter, the Bears would regain the advantage with junior Joe Rizzo intercepting a Westminster pass and returning it 60 yards for a touchdown. Rizzo has eight career interceptions. The first half closed with the Bears leading 14-7.
Not content with their seven-point lead, the Bears opened the second half with touchdowns on their first three drives. Junior Heath Hunter and senior Kevin McCarthy scored three-yard touchdown runs on the first and second drives of the half, respectively. Meranda hit senior Zak Clark on a four-yard pass for the Bears’ third consecutive touchdown. Westminster was only able to match one of the Bears’ touchdowns. With the game now in hand, the Bears inserted sophomore quarterback Nick Henry. Henry joined in on the scoring, throwing a 13-yard touchdown pass to freshman receiver Joe Lubelski. Westminster scored once more at the close of the fourth quarter, but the game was already out of reach at that point.
In addition to evening the team’s record at 1-1, the victory was an important milestone for Coach Larry Kindbom-his 125th career win. Kindbom is now 125-85-1 as a college coach.
On offense, Meranda and junior wideout Brad Duesing helped lead the way for their coach’s landmark win. Duesing had four catches for 65 yards and moved in to second place on the all-time receiving yards list with 2,210 total yards. Meranda went 16-26 for 168 yards and a touchdown while moving into ninth-place all-time in passing yards with 2,236 yards.
Overall, the Bears dominated Westminster in total offense 347-186 yards. The Bears passing game was largely responsible for the disparity as the Bears outgained Westminster 196-90 through the air. Senior Jeff Buening also contributed to the passing game, hauling in four catches for 39 yards. On the ground, McCarthy and Hunter led the way, each gaining 45 yards on 10 and 15 carries, respectively. In the kicking game, senior Ben Lambert connected on five of six extra-point attempts; his sixth attempt was blocked. On the defensive side, senior John Woock led the team in tackles with 10 and freshman Michael Elliott authored a forced fumble and a sack. The stifling Bears pass defense helped limit Westminster to just 10 pass completions on 25 attempts.
The game, which began at 1 p.m., had a game-time temperature of 85 degrees and lasted just over two and one-half hours. There were 1,722 fans in attendance.
The Bears will take the road for the first away game on Saturday, September 18 against Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana.