Three losses—including two in the previous two weeks by less than a touchdown—had left the Washington University football team with a 0-3 start, its worst since the 1989 season. Senior quarterback Dan Burkett had been taken out of the starting quarterback position. But on Saturday, Burkett got a chance to redeem himself.

Burkett did just that and he helped lead the Bears to the win that took them out of their season-opening funk.

Burkett threw for 157 yards and two touchdowns to help Wash. U. pick up its first win of 2012 with a 28-23 defeat of the Kenyon College Lords.

“That was offense, defense and special teams that won that game at different times, coming through and making plays,” head coach Larry Kindbom said. “There were times where our defense looked good. There were times where our defense struggled a bit and our offense picked it up, and that’s what you have to do in football.”

The offense scored a season-high 28 points—after putting up 31 points in its first three losses combined—and committed no turnovers, marking a big step forward for a team that committed nine turnovers in those three games.

“Today, things just happened,” Burkett said. “We connected and moved the ball methodically. I don’t think there was any huge difference [from previous games]. I think we just executed really well.”

After junior quarterback Eric Daginella led the opening drive that concluded with an 11-yard touchdown run by senior Chris Castelluccio, Daginella stayed on the sideline as trainers tended to his knee. That put Burkett back behind center, and after two drives with no points, he had arguably his two best offensive plays of the season.

A third-down scramble by Burkett went for 41 yards, the longest offensive play for the Bears this season. On the ensuing fourth down from the Lords’ 26-yard line, Burkett rolled out to the right, avoided some pressure, shed a defender in the backfield and tossed the ball up to senior wide receiver Drew Sexton in the right side of the end zone. Sexton, despite being interfered with on the play, came down with the ball to give Wash. U. a 14-0 lead.

“I saw Drew cut in and cut back out, and he was going to be open,” Burkett said. “The defender cut at my leg, so I just kind of threw him off, and I threw it up for Drew to make a play. I tried to put it to the corner, and it kind of floated on me, but he just made a heck of a play.”

The Bears’ defense, meanwhile, saw its early season script get flipped. After struggling against the run while excelling against the pass through the early season, the Red and Green was burned on multiple long pass plays while consistently stuffing a very potent Kenyon ground attack.

Wash. U. allowed only 68 yards on 27 carries, but Kenyon quarterback Dan Shannon passed for 217 yards and three scores, all of which went to receiver Carlo Gagliardo.

After a tough second quarter for the Wash. U. secondary that left the Red and Green trailing 17-14 at the break, Bears’ sophomore defensive back Ryan Bednar made the game-changing play. On third down in Bears’ territory, Bednar grabbed an errant pass over the middle and took it all the way to the end zone to give the Red and Green a 21-17 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.

“Ryan did a great job getting it, and it did have an effect on everybody just feeling good,” Kindbom said. “We haven’t been able to get a lot of those.”

Burkett added on some insurance points when he hit sophomore Ryan Lubatkin in the left corner of the end zone early in the fourth quarter. The pass gave Lubatkin his first career TD and upped the Bears’ lead to 28-17.

Kenyon immediately followed with a touchdown pass to make it 28-23, but junior Andrew Skalman picked off Shannon on fourth down of the ensuing Kenyon drive, essentially ending the game. A last-gasp effort for the Lords ended with a fumble.

Not everything went the Bears’ way. Senior placekicker Eric Chalifour hooked two kicks wide right, thanks in part to some fierce winds that were present all game. The Bears botched a fake punt and a fake field goal and missed on two other fourth down conversion attempts, and those miscues led to 14 Kenyon points.

And that, of course, is on top of Daginella’s injury. Kindbom was unaware of his exact condition after the game, and he didn’t say what would happen if Daginella were able to play on Saturday afternoon at DePauw University.

But as the saying goes, a win is a win, and after two close losses, it feels even better to get the first one on the board.

“This was a good one to get under our belt so we can go off of this for the rest of the season,” Burkett said.

The Bears will face DePauw on Saturday in Greencastle, Ind. Kickoff will be at 1 p.m. EDT.