Senior Kenneth Hamilton, who leads the Bears in rushing, gets tackled in last week’s win over Carroll. (Sydney Strominger | Student Life)

On Sept. 28, the Washington University Bears football team found themselves in a very familiar situation to the one they found themselves in during the 2023 season.

Last October, the Bears traveled to No. 1 North Central College to face the Cardinals. North Central, boasting an intimidating roster of Division I transfers and Division III’s best, dominated the Bears and put seven touchdowns on the board in their 49-3 victory. 

On Sept. 28, the Bears once again allowed seven Cardinals touchdowns. This year, though, the Bears tripled their score, losing to North Central 49-9. 

North Central flexed their muscles early, rushing for a touchdown in the first five minutes of the contest. While the Bears could not muster anything on offense, the defense held the Cardinals to just one score in the first quarter. With six minutes left in the quarter, senior linebacker Riley Merrigan intercepted a Cardinal pass. The interception forced North Central quarterback Luke Lehnen — last year’s Gagliardi Trophy winner for being the top player in Division III — onto the bench. 

“I dropped back in coverage, and [Lehnen] threw it right at me,” Merrigan said. “And then once I caught it, I was like, ‘what?’ After getting up and coming back to the sideline, it was just awesome.” 

Two drives later, a North Central punt attempt went awry. The Cardinals’ punter mishandled the ball, which rolled all the way to the end zone. Despite a North Central attempt to push the ball back in bounds, the Bears scored a safety, bringing the score to 7-2. 

North Central found the end zone midway through the second quarter, on a 51-yard touchdown pass by Cardinal backup quarterback Calvin Lavery. Despite only recording one first down throughout the quarter, it wasn’t all sour for the Bears. Junior defensive back Ryan Schmadtke picked off Lavery late in the quarter, but WashU couldn’t make anything out of the advanced field position. 

To make matters worse for WashU, senior quarterback Clark Stephens missed the game with an injury. This forced sophomore Levi Moore — who is typically used primarily in the red zone and other rushing situations — into the spotlight, making his first collegiate start against a team ranked to be as good as FBS programs like the University of Akron and Middle Tennessee State University. On the first play of the third quarter, Moore was intercepted. The Cardinals, with Lehnen back in the game, scored on the ensuing drive, later in the third quarter, and on the first drive of the fourth quarter to improve their lead to 35-2. Midway through the third, though, Merrigan recorded his second interception of the afternoon on Lavery’s opening pass of a drive. 

In the fourth quarter, junior quarterback Luke Johnston entered the game and was able to lead WashU down the field for the first time in the contest. With 10 minutes left in the game, Johnston found senior receiver Zach Ginsburg for his first touchdown reception of the season. However, the Bears couldn’t build off the momentum on defense. The Cardinals found the end zone via the run on the next drive and then returned an interception for a touchdown on Johnston’s next try, bringing the score to 49-9 as time ran out. 

While North Central was in control for nearly the entire game, Merrigan emphasized that the team felt comfortable throughout all four quarters.

“There was no one on that field who didn’t believe we could win,” Merrigan said. “Towards the end of the game, it got away from us. But honestly, the guys’ spirits were high, and our confidence was there.” 

This is the third straight year where North Central has dominated WashU. The Bears have dropped 10 of their 11 all-time matchups against the Cardinals, with the sole WashU victory coming in 2007. Their nine points this year was their highest point total against North Central since 2019, which the team sees as a silver lining to an otherwise disappointing game.

“[North Central] has been one of the best programs, and we can see the improvement we’ve had against them from year to year,” Merrigan said. 

Next week, the Bears will travel to Bloomington, Illinois to face the 2-1 Illinois Wesleyan University Titans. WashU has beaten the Titans in their last four matchups, offering the Bears an opportunity to turn their season around and make their case for the NCAA tournament. 

“Any team in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin can beat you at any time, so you have to prepare each week for each team to not drop out of the playoff work,” Merrigan said. “If we don’t make it to the playoffs, we’re going to see this as a disappointing season.”

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on Sept. 28, 2024 at 7:17 PM, and was updated on Sept. 29, 2024 at 12:20 PM to include quotes from Riley Merrigan.