Elmhurst, Ill., September 25, 2021 – The Washington University in St. Louis football team defeated CCIW foe Elmhurst, 27-7, on Saturday afternoon. The Bears are now 2-1 on the year and 2-0 in conference play.

The Bears scored 17 second-half points en route to the win and finished with 422 yards of total offense.

WashU put points on the board first, on its second drive of the game. Following an eight-play, 47-yard drive, junior Chris Vartanian kicked a 33-yard field goal with 7:22 left in the first to give the Bears a 3-0 edge.

Elmhurst scored its first and only touchdown of the game in the second quarter on a four-play, 70-yard drive.

Julian Cavallo had a short gain of two yards before a WashU penalty moved the BlueJays up 15 yards for a first down. Quarterback Noah Henkel then hit Winston Brown for a one-yard gain before unleashing for a 52-yard touchdown pass to Joseph McKinley with 8:09 left in the half. Sandro Quintanilla's extra point attempt was good to give Elmhurst a 7-3 advantage.

After several scoreless drives, WashU took back the lead on a drive made up of seven plays and 54 yards.

With 1:33 left in the first half, quarterback Matt Rush started the drive with an eight-yard pass to Collin Hoyhtya. A 16-yard gain from Brendan Morrissey put the Bears at the 30 yard line and Rush then hit Treyton Lamphier for five yards to move the Bears up.

Rush ran for 11 yards and two yards, respectively, to put WashU on the 12 and followed that up with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Cole Okmin with just seven seconds left on the clock. Vartanian's kick was good to give WashU a 10-7 edge at the half.

After an Elmhurst four-and-out to open the third quarter, WashU put together a nine-play, 51-yard touchdown drive.

Rush hit Sam Fenske for an 11-yard pass before Tennyson Holmes had back-to-back runs for nine and seven yards.

Holmes ran again for 14 yards and seven yards, respectively, to put the Bears on the 13. A short run from Morrissey and an Elmhurst penalty moved WashU up to the six yard line. The Bears were pushed back for a loss of five yards, but Rush hit Okmin for another touchdown pass, this time for 11 yards. Vartanian converted the extra point attempt again, pushing WashU's lead to 17-7.

Elmhurst's next drive was 11 plays and lasted nearly five minutes, but the BlueJays only made it to the 40 before punting.

WashU's ensuing drive ended in a punt, but Anthony Brown came up big with an interception on Elmhurst's first pass to give the Bears possession again. On the first play of WashU's drive, Rush hit Jared Harrison for a 47-yard touchdown and Vartanian's kick was good to give the Bears a 24-7 lead with 2:44 left in the third.

The Bears put up their final points of the game on their first drive of the fourth quarter, which lasted six plays and went 25 yards.

Holmes legged out a 27-yard run followed by a rush of three yards to put WashU on the 15. Rush then hit Fenske for a three-yard gain, but a sack moved the Bears back to the 14, putting them in field goal position.

Vartanian's 32-yard field goal attempt was successful to give the Bears the 27-7 edge that would hold until the end of the game.

The Bears had 422 yards of total offense compared to Elmhurt's 182.

Rush went 23-for-35 on the day for 241 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

Okmin totaled 71 receiving yards on seven catches, with two touchdowns. Harrison caught two passes for 63 yards with a touchdown.  Lamphier tallied 44 yards on four catches while Hoyhtya recorded 22 yards on three catches.

Holmes rushed for 79 yards on 14 attempts for an average of 5.6 yards per gain. Morrissey totaled 57 yards on seven attempts while Emmanuel Ebirim had 39 yards on nine attempts.

Defensively, Connor Burke had eight tackles including six solo. Zane Ahlfinger finished with four solo tackles and two assists as well as a tackle for a loss of 11 yards. Both Jack Schumacher and Noah Bryson recorded a sack for a loss.

The Bears are back home next weekend for a game against Wheaton at 6 p.m.