Rock Island, Ill., October 16, 2021 – The Washington University in St. Louis football team scored 31 unanswered points on Saturday afternoon en route to a 31-7 win over Augustana in CCIW action. The Bears are now 4-2 overall and 4-1 in conference play.

Augustana got on the board first with 10:05 remaining in the first quarter. The Vikings put together a drive made up of eight plays and 32 yards that lasted 3:12 to score.

Following a four-and-out for the Bears, Augustana's Jacob Brooks started things off with back-to-back four-yard runs to put the Vikings on the WashU 28. Mike DiGioia then ran for three yards, 17 yards and two yards, respectively, to set Augustana up for the touchdown at the two yard line. It was DiGioia that scored, running the short two yards for the score. Sidney Maroon's extra point was good, giving the Vikings a 7-0 edge.

The Bears and Augustana both followed with drives resulting in punts before the Bears scored their first touchdown of the game with 1:33 left in the first quarter. WashU put together an 11-play, 68-yard drive to tie things up.

Kenvorris Campbell had six-straight runs for the Bears, starting with a 25-yard gain. He followed that up with four, two, four, five and one-yard gains, respectively. After a pass interference call on Augustana, WashU moved up to the 41. Emmanuel Ebirim ran for four yards followed by three yards to set the Bears up at the six yard line. It was ultimately Cole Okmin who scored on the following play, running in for a six-yard touchdown. Kicker Chris Vartanian converted the extra-point attempt to tie things up, 7-7.

The Bears defense came up with a big play to start the second quarter, as DiGioia ran for a loss of one and fumbled the ball, which was recovered by John Christensen to give the Bears the possession. WashU went on to score off a five-play, 55-yard drive.

Matt Rush opened the drive up with a 30-yard pass to Collin Goldberg to put the Bears on the 25 for a first down. Tennyson Holmes followed that up with a one-yard gain and Rush hit Collin Hoyhtya for a 13-yard pass to move WashU up. Rush continued to find his targets, hitting Sam Fenske for an 11-yard touchdown pass with 12:50 remaining in the second quarter. Vartanian's kick attempt was good, giving the Bears a 14-7 lead over Augustana.

On the Vikings' ensuing drive, the Bears forced a punt and started the drive at their own 20 yard line. WashU continued the offensive dominance with a 10-play, 80-yard scoring drive.

Rush found Goldberg for a 10-yard pass to put the Bears on their own 30 for a first down. Ebirim then ran for back-to-back gains of four yards and 24 yards before Rush hit Goldberg again for a 10-yard pass.

Hoyhtya caught a 15-yard pass from Rush for a first down at the 17 and Ebirim ran for a seven-yard gain. Holmes rushed for four yards and followed that up with a six-yard touchdown run with 4:36 left in the first half. Vartanian once again hit his extra-point attempt to give the Bears a 21-7 lead.

Augustana received to open the second half and reached the WashU 22, but the Bears' defense forced a punt to regain possession at the 22. Once again, the Bears scored, this time on a 12-play, 55-yard drive that lasted 4:46 and resulted in a field goal.

Ebirim started things off with a three-yard gain and Rush hit Goldberg for a five-yard pass. Rush then ran for two yards to give the Bears a first down at their own 32.

Rush followed that up with a complete pass to Ebirim for a five-yard gain and Ebirim ran for three more yards. Rush and Ebirim continued to move the Bears forward, as Rush ran for seven yards, followed by eight and 15-yard runs from Ebirim. Rush hit Goldberg for a three-yard gain to put the Bears at the 27 before Holmes ran it up the middle for a four-yard gain. An incomplete pass put WashU in field goal position and Vartanian hit a 38-yarder for a WashU lead of 24-7.

The Vikings were forced to punt again on the next drive which led to another WashU touchdown with 1:03 left in the third quarter following a 12-play, 64-yard drive.

Following a penalty that moved the Bears back to their own 46, Rush hit Jared Harrison for a nine-yard gain. With the Bears at third-and-11, Okmin hit Zachary Ginsburg for a 22-yard pass to give the Bears a first down at the Augustana 43. Brendan Morrissey ran for back-to-back gains of three yards and one yard, respectively, before Rush found Toby Clark for a 26-yard pass, putting WashU at the 13.

Morrissey ran again, this time for a six-yard gain and Ebirim followed that with gains of three and one yard to put WashU on the three yard line. Okmin went on to score his second touchdown of the game with a three-yard run, which Vartanian followed with the extra point to put WashU up 31-7 heading into the final quarter.

The Bears finished with 367 yards of total offense, made up of 204 yards passing and 163 yards rushing. WashU's defense held Augustana to 203 total yards of offense made up of 104 yards passing and 99 yards rushing.

Offensively, Rush finished 17-for-22 with 182 yards and one touchdown. Ebirim led the Bears on the ground, totaling 104 rushing yards on 15 attempts for an average of 6.9 yards per gain. Campbell recorded 41 yards on six attempts for a 6.8 gain average. Goldberg led receivers with 65 yards on six catches while Hoyhtya finished with 33 yards on three catches.

Defensively, both Connor Burke and Kyle Schroeder finished with six solo tackles. Jamel Streater had six total tackles including five solo and 2.5 tackles for a loss as well as 2.5 sacks. JT Streepy and Christensen both had four solo tackles and one assist.

The Bears are back on the road next Saturday, October 23 with a 6 p.m. game at Millikin.