Lydia Nicholson | Student Life

In all of sports, there are few plays more exhilarating than a game-winning Hail Mary. It’s a play of ultimate desperation. If you go by the numbers, there’s a miniscule chance that a Hail Mary will be successful — it’s eight times more likely that the pass will be intercepted than caught for a touchdown. The Hail Mary is a last-ditch effort, a shot in the dark — it’s quite literally a prayer, hence the Christian invocation that serves as the play’s namesake. Those lucky enough to be on the right side of a game-winning Hail Mary remember the moment as one of their core sports memories. 

What happens when you’re on the wrong side of a game-winning Hail Mary? Heartbreak. 

WashU football experienced that unparalleled feeling in its game at Wheaton College this past weekend. The #12 Thunder narrowly defeated the Bears, ending WashU’s bid to upset a Wheaton team that is perennially ranked as one of Division III’s elite. Bears football moves to 6-3 on the season and is officially eliminated from any postseason competition. Wheaton, on the other hand, escapes with a crucial victory for its NCAA tournament resume. 

Wheaton was seen as the heavy favorite entering play, but WashU was committed to changing the narrative from the opening kickoff. Late in the first quarter, graduate quarterback Matt Rush found senior receiver Collin Hoyhtya for the opening score of the game to make it a 7-0 contest. Wheaton began to hit its stride in the second quarter, finding the end zone twice. Yet for every Wheaton touchdown, graduate kicker Chris Vartanian added a field goal for the Bears, ensuring that the Wheaton lead never grew too large to come back from. The rivals traded touchdowns in the third quarter, and Wheaton entered the fourth quarter leading 21-20. Six minutes into the final period, the Thunder extended its lead to 28-20 with a 23-yard touchdown pass, putting pressure on the Bears. As the clock wound down, however, WashU appeared to find its breakthrough in the tightly contested game. 

With 4:55 to go in the fourth, sophomore running back Fred Ware ran into the endzone for a touchdown. The Bears elected to go for a two-point conversion, which was ultimately successful and tied the game at 28. On Wheaton’s ensuing drive, the Bears’ defense stood tall. A crucial tackle by junior defensive lineman Nate Light on a fourth-and-one play forced a turnover on downs, giving WashU the ball in promising field position with just three minutes remaining. WashU ran down the field, a drive highlighted by a 26-yard reception from junior receiver Collin Goldberg. On the next play and with just over a minute left to play, junior running back Kenneth Hamilton found the end zone on a short run, giving WashU its first lead since the first quarter. With just 67 seconds on the clock, it looked like the Bears had secured their first win against Wheaton since 2018 with an impressive fourth-quarter comeback. 

On the next drive, however, the Thunder struck right back. The Bears’ defense struggled to contain Wheaton receiver Ben Bonga, who linked with Thunder quarterback Ben Thorson for three passing plays to drive down to the WashU 29-yard line. In a break for the Bears, Thorson was penalized for an illegal forward pass with just five seconds left, pushing the Wheaton offense back five yards for the final play. 

Thorson and the Thunder needed a miracle, and boy, did they get one. Receiver Seth Kortenhoeven somehow caught a touchdown pass while being surrounded by six WashU defenders. With Wheaton still losing by a score of 35-34, the team members put all their cards on the table and elected to go for two — and the win — instead of settling for an overtime period. 

On the game’s deciding play, Wheaton ran a pitch to running back Giovanni Weeks. As a WashU defender attempted to force Weeks out of bounds, the Wheaton tailback barely stretched the ball over the goal line, winning the game by a margin of inches. With the clock at zero, the Thunder added its final two points to the scoreboard, enough for a narrow 36-35 victory over the Bears. 

To put a silver lining on the loss, the game was far closer than any pundit predicted. WashU was coming off a tough month, in which it suffered major losses to Augustana College and North Central College, two other rivals in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW), the conference WashU competes in for football. The Bears built off of their incredibly strong performance against Elmhurst University last week to put up a real fight against Wheaton, which — in and of itself — is a victory. Rush was brilliant at quarterback, and the engines of the WashU offense — Goldberg, Hoyhtya, Hamilton, and Ware — had excellent games of their own. The Bears outgained the Thunder offensively, logging 468 to Wheaton’s 443. Almost everything went right for WashU. The cruel nature of football, though, is that wacky flukes happen far more often than one would statistically expect. The last five minutes of the game between WashU and Wheaton were wacky — the football gods were on Wheaton’s side on Saturday, and WashU will have to settle for a moral victory. 

This week, WashU will have one final chance to respond, hoping to end its season on a positive note. The Bears will return to St. Louis to face Carroll University this Saturday, November 11th, 2023 in its final game of the season. As part of Senior Day festivities, the Bears plan to honor their 14 seniors and graduate students — including Rush, Hoyhtya, and Vartanian.