Nathaniel Margolies | Student Life

Junior wide receiver Easton Knott celebrates on the sideline after scoring the game-winning touchdown. The Bears defeated No. 19 Wabash College 24-20 on Saturday.

Senior quarterback Stephen Sherman took a three-step drop from the 18-yard line and let the ball fly down the left sideline. Junior wide receiver Easton Knott brushed off a defender as the ball dropped into his hands in the back left corner of the end zone, tiptoeing inbounds for the winning touchdown catch.

“By that point in the game, we knew that we only had a few shots [left] in the endzone and that we needed to make them count,” Knott said. “We lined up, and I was one-on-one with one of their corners. [Sherman] looked over and had faith that I could beat him deep and threw a perfect ball. I just ran by the defender and caught it.”

Sophomore kicker Eric Chalifour added the extra point, to cap an eight-play, 67-yard drive, giving the Washington University football team a 24-20 lead over No. 19 Wabash College with 1:10 left in the game, a lead the Bears would hold onto for the upset win.

“I’ve been telling our kids we’ve got a good football team, and to be competitive in a game like this, we had to at least be a good football team,” head coach Larry Kindbom said. “It was really just a matter of focusing one play at a time. More than anything else, I thought our leadership was tremendous. Bottom line is our guys played and didn’t stop believing.”

That leadership came from all different positions. Sherman finished 18-28 with 266 yards and two touchdowns; senior H-back Sam Kentor threw some punishing blocks and caught three passes for 30 yards off play-action fakes; junior linebacker Nick Hillard recorded 15 total tackles, including 11 solo, three for loss, and one sack, while junior Austin Morman punted five times for a 45.6 yard average, including two punts downed inside the 20-yard line and a long of 59 yards.

Nathaniel Margolies | Student Life

Running back Jim O’Brien fights through a tackle against Wabash. O’Brien ran 18 times for 76 yards and caught two passes for 68 yards, including a screen pass then went for a 63-yard touchdown to close the first half.

With Wabash trailing after sophomore Chris Castelluccio’s 13-yard touchdown run gave Wash. U. a 7-0 lead, the Little Giants (4-1) tied the game at 7-7 with just 31 seconds left in the first half. Quarterback Chase Belton threw a 1-yard pass to running back Derrick Yoder for the score.

Even with so little time until intermission, the Bears (3-2) were not content to enter halftime tied. Senior tailback Jim O’Brien caught a screen pass at the 37-yard line, shuffled behind his offensive linemen, bounced outside and sprinted to the end zone for a 63-yard touchdown, giving the Red and Green the lead, as well as momentum heading into halftime.

“It was a great play call, because when I caught the pass, there was no one around me,” said O’Brien, who tallied 141 total yards on 20 touches in the win. “I started running to more open space but went back in to follow the line, and that sucked the defense in. The line made huge blocks, which allowed me to cut outside again and into the end zone.”

After the break, the Little Giants turned to their backup quarterback and began a comeback. After Chalifour’s 18-yard field goal gave Wash. U. a 17-7 lead, Wabash scored 13 unanswered points and gave the Bears the ball back with 4:37 left, setting the stage for Knott’s touchdown.

However, the game was not over yet. Afert Wabash advanced the ball to the Bears’ 34-yard line, freshman safety Tate Byers broke up a near-perfect pass with his outstretched fingers in the endzone with five seconds left. On the next play, senior cornerback Nick Vom Brack ended the game by leaping and breaking up a pass in the endzone, sealing the win.

“As a defense, we are growing together,” Hillard said. “We are just out there with our crew playing football, just having fun. Our D-line is nasty up front, which really opens things up for us at the linebacker level. People underestimate our [defensive backs]; they are the reason there’s nowhere to throw. We trust each other to be where we need to be, so it allows us to really fly around.”

Next week, the Bears look to push their record to 4-2 as they travel to College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio at 1 p.m. The Fighting Scots (3-2) lost to Wabash 21-17 on Sept. 11.