St. Louis, Mo., September 18, 2021 – The Washington University in St. Louis football team defeated North Park, 41-7, in the first home game since the 2019 season. The Bears scored 41 unanswered points en route to their first CCIW win of the year.

The win also marked Head Coach Aaron Keen's first win since taking over the program in January of 2020.

It was North Park that got on the board first, on its first drive of the game.

Following a four-and-out for WashU, North Park put together a seven-play drive for its lone touchdown of the game.

Nick Del Nodal started things off with a short one-yard rush. Quarterback Matt Eck then launched a 41-yard pass to Caleb Jones to put the Vikings at the WashU 14-yard line. Del Nodal ran again for a short three yards before Eck hit Thomas Knight for a nine-yard gain.

It was ultimately AJ Harris who scored for the Vikings, making a short three-yard run into the end zone with 9:12 left in the first quarter. Michael Messersmith's extra point attempt was good to put North Park up, 7-0.

It wasn't until the second quarter that WashU scored its first points of the game on a six-play, 84-yard drive that lasted two-and-a-half minutes.

Quarterback Matt Rush started the drive off with a huge 57-yard throw to Cole Okmin to put the Bears at the 27-yard line.

Emmanel Ebirim then ran for a gain of one yard and Rush ran for three yards. Collin Hoyhtya then rushed for an eight-yard gain to put WashU at the 15. Brendan Morrissey ran for a gain of five yards and Rush followed it up with a 10-yard pass to Okmin in the end zone.

Chris Vartanian's extra point attempt was good, tying things up, 7-7, with 1:15 left in the first half.

Following a quick four-and-out by the Vikings, the Bears added another touchdown on a six-play, 54-yard drive.

Rush hit Danny Taylor for a 15-yard completion and then followed that up with an 18-yard throw to Jack Jopes to put the Bears at the 31. Rush then ran for nine yards and hit Jopes for a four-yard pass.

It was ultimately Treyton Lamphier who scored for WashU, as Rush completed a 28-yard pass for the second touchdown of the game. Once again, Vartanian's kick attempt was good to put the Bears up, 14-7 at the half.

WashU scored three minutes into the second half following a five-play, 27-yard drive.

Rush hit Lamphier for a 24-yard pass to put the Bears at the 28. Tennyson Holmes then ran for a gain of seven yards to put the Bears in field goal position. Vartanian hit a 42-yard field goal to give the Bears a 17-7 edge.

WashU forced a four-and-out once again and then capitalized by adding another touchdown. The drive consisted of nine plays.

Ebirim started it off with a 13-yard run and then Rush completed a 22-yard throw to Hoyhtya. Ebirim followed that up with a 14-yard gain to put the Bears on the 42. Morrissey had back-to-back runs for seven and 10 yards, respectively.

Rush then hit Sam Fenske for a 26-yard touchdown pass and Vartanian converted the extra point attempt to put the Bears up 24-7 with 6:06 left in the third quarter.

WashU continued to dominate the Vikings, scoring on its next three drives.

The Bears started an eight-play, 46-yard drive with five minutes left in the third quarter.

Holmes picked up yards for the Bears on three-straight runs, gaining five, 14 and five yards, respectively.

On the 35, Rush hit Fenske for a three-yard pass and followed that up with a nine-yard pass to Gabriel Sirek. Ultimately, Vartanian hit a 40-yard field goal to give the Bears the 27-7 advantage.

During North Park's next possession, TJ Perusek grabbed his second interception of the game, picking off an Eck pass and returning it for 21 yards.

The Bears transitioned onto offense as the fourth quarter began. Morrissey started it off with a short two-yard rush and Rush hit Hoyhtya for a 26-yard pass to put WashU at the 19-yard line.

Holmes added back-to-back two-yard rushes and Rush hit Fenske for a 14-yard completion, putting the Bears at the one-yard line. Ebirim took it home, scoring on the next play. Vartanian followed it up with a successful extra-point attempt to give WashU a 34-7 lead.

The Bears added one final touchdown on their next drive, which consisted of 14 plays and 62 yards.

Kenvorris Campbell highlighted the drive, starting with three-straight runs for eight, one and five yards, respectively. Quarterback Brett Simcox then ran for 14-yards to put Bears at the 42.

Campbell continued to push, completing runs for seven, four and three yards. He then unleashed for a 21-yard run to put the Bears at the nine-yard line.

It was ultimately Zachary Ginsburg who scored on an eight-yard pass from Simcox to push the Bears to their 41-7 victory.

WashU had 626 yards of total offense to North Park's 217.

The Bears went 23-for-37 and totaled 352 passing yards. They also added 274 rushing yards on 54 attempts for an average gain of 5.1 yards per rush.

Starting quarterback Rush went 21-for-31 for 313 yards with three touchdowns.

Ebirim finished with 79 yards on 10 attempts for an average of 7.9 yards per run. Holmes tallied 58 yards on 14 attempts and Campbell notched 50 yards on eight attempts.

On the receiving end, Fenske totaled 94 yards on seven catches with one touchdown while Okmin had four catches for 82 yards and one touchdown. Hoyhtya had three catches for 54 yards while Lamphier notched two catches for 52 yards and one touchdown.

Defensively, Noah Bryson had five solo and two tackle assists while Alex Harvey had two solo and two assists including a tackle for a loss. John Christensen recorded three solo tackles and one assist while Langston Laramore-Josey had three solo tackles and one tackle for a loss.

WashU is back in action next Saturday with a 2 p.m. road contest at Elmhurst. The Bears return home on Saturday, October 2 against Wheaton at 6 p.m.