St. Louis, Mo., November 6, 2021 – The Washington University in St. Louis football team lost to No. 1 North Central, 59-20, in the regular-season home final. The Bears are now 6-3 overall with a 6-2 mark in the CCIW.

North Central opened up the game with an eight-play, 70-yard drive that resulted in the first score of the game.

Ethan Greenfield started off with four-straight runs, picking up a total of 33 yards to move the Cardinals to the 41. Quarterback Luke Lehnen hit Andrew Kamienski for a 16-yard pass and DeAngelo Hardy ran for 16 yards to the five yard line. Greenfield ran for another four yards before Lehnen finished the job with a one-yard run in for a touchdown. Magnus Meyer hit the extra-point attempt to put NCC up 7-0.

On the next drive, the Bears were forced to punt, and NCC capitalized on its next drive to score. The Cardinals put together eight plays and a 94-yard run.

Lehnen started things off with a six-yard run and Greenfield picked up 18-yards on another Rush. Terrence Hill picked up a first down with a 12-yard run and followed that up with a four-yard gain to put NCC on the 46. Lehnen hit Hill for a 37-yard pass for another first down at the 17. Lehnen scored again for the Cardinals with a 17-yard run in, and Meyer's kick was good to put NCC up 14-0.

On the following drive, WashU reached its own 40 and was forced to punt. Kamienski returned Taidhgin Trost's punt for 77 yards for a touchdown. Meyer's kick was good to extend North Central's advantage to 21-0 with 53 seconds left in the first quarter.

North Central's defense continued to pressure WashU, limiting the Bears' chances and forcing another punt. The Cardinals then scored on the following possession with a six-play, 37-yard drive.

Greenfield picked up eight yards followed by three and Hardy rushed for another eight yards. Lehnen rushed for four yards to give NCC a first down and moved forward another seven yards following a Bears' penalty. WashU's defense stopped the Cardinals for a loss of four on a Connor Burke tackle, but Greenfield ultimately scored on an 11-yard run. Meyer's extra-point attempt was good to give North Central a 28-0 lead with 12:04 left in the second.

WashU reached its own 42 on the ensuing drive and were forced to punt. A WashU penalty put the Cardinals on their own 45 to start the drive. NCC's drive lasted just one play for 55 yards.

Lehnen hit Kamienski for a 55-yard pass and Meyer's extra-point kick was good, stretching NCC's lead to 35-0 with 7:25 left in the second quarter.

The Bears' possession was interrupted on the following drive, as quarterback Matt Rush's pass was intercepted by De'Angelo Roberson at the 11. The Cardinals went on to score on a two-play, 11-yard drive.

Greenfield started things with a five-yard rush before picking up the final six yards for a touchdown. Meyer's extra-point attempt was good, giving NCC the 42-0 lead with 6:37 left in the second.

Although the Bears did not score through the remainder of the first half, senior Kyle Schroeder ended the second quarter with an interception.

The Bears received the ball to start the third quarter. Rush hit Collin Hoyhtya for back-to-back passes of six and 19 yards, resulting in a WashU first down. Emmanuel Ebirim ran for a five-yard gain and Rush ran for 24-yards to pick up another first down at the 28. Ebirim picked up another three yards and an incomplete pass put the Bears in field goal position. Junior Chris Vartanian's 42-yard field goal attempt was blocked.

Greenfield started NCC's four-play, 66-yard drive with a run for five yards. Lehnen then hit Greenfield for an eight-yard pass for a first down at the 47. Hill picked up three yards before Lehnen hit Hardy for a 50-yard touchdown pass. Meyer's extra-point attempt was good, pushing NCC's lead to 49-0 with 10:08 left in the third.

WashU scored its first touchdown of the game on the next drive, consisting of five plays and 70 yards.

Rush found senior Jared Harrison for a 62-yard launch for a first down at the eight yard line. Rush picked up five yards on the ground before hitting Gabriel Sirek for a three-yard touchdown pass. Vartanian's extra-point attempt was good, cutting NCC's lead to 49-7 with 8:42 left in the third quarter.

The Bears' defense came up big on the following North Central drive, as senior Anthony Brown intercepted the pass at the 37 to give WashU the possession.

Rush hit junior Cole Okmin for a 23-yard pass to open the two-play, 38-yard drive. Okmin then took over as quarterback for the play, finding Sam Fenske in the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown pass. Vartanian's extra-point attempt was good, closing the gap to 49-14 with 7:31 remaining in the third quarter.

Following two drives resulting in punts for both teams, the Bears defense notched another interception. Seven plays into the drive, JT Streepy picked off Lehnen's pass at the 41 for his second interception of the season.

WashU opened up the fourth quarter turning it over on downs, resulting in another NCC touchdown. The Cardinals put together a seven-play, 44-yard scoring drive.

Hill picked up five yards but then lost four on a tackle by Gus Christensen. Lehnen hit Hardy for a 40-yard pass resulting in a first down at the nine yard line. Hill lost two more yards on his next rush, tackled by Christensen again. Joe Sacco picked up five yards to put the Cardinals at the six and set Meyer up for a field goal, which was good, extending NCC's lead to 52-14 with 10:33 left in the game.

Following a Bears' punt, North Central scored its final touchdown of the game.

Darius Byrd started the six-play, 30-yard drive with back-to-back rushes for a four-yard gain. Justin Lynch had three-straight runs for two, 16 and two yards, respectively. Byrd ultimately scored the touchdown on a six-yard run and Meyer's kick was good to push NCC's advantage to 59-14 with 5:20 left.

WashU closed the game out with one final touchdown following a 14-play, 71-yard drive.

Brendan Morrissey picked up one yard and quarterback Brett Simcox hit Toby Clark for a 14-yard gain and a first down at the 44. Morrissey ran again for five yards and three yards, respectively. Quarterback Clark Stephens then found Michael Allison for back-to-back 10-yard passes. WashU moved up 10 more yards to the 10 following a NCC penalty. It was ultimately Stephens who finished the deal with a two-yard run, cutting NCC's lead to 59-20.

The Bears finished with 324 yards of total offense, including 261 yards passing and 63 rushing. North Central racked up 487 yards of total offense with 246 passing and 241 rushing.

Rush went 17-for-31 with 208 yards with a touchdown. Harrison led receivers with 62 yards on one catch while Collin Goldberg had 46 yards on four catches. Ebirim notched 22 yards on nine carries.

WashU closes out the regular-season next Saturday with a road game at Carthage at 12 p.m.