Chicago, Ill. – The (RV) Washington University in St. Louis football team continued its dominance, defeating CCIW foe North Park 56-21 on the road on Saturday. For the first time in program history, the Bears have scored 50+ points in three of their first four games.
 
WashU is now 4-0 on the year which puts the Bears in first place in the CCIW.
 
After the Bears won the coin toss and elected to defer, North Park started off with the ball. The Vikings made it just four yards before having to punt.
 
WashU started its four-play, 40 yard drive at the 40 and sophomore Kenneth Hamilton immediately picked up four yards on two rushes. Senior quarterback Matt Rush found sophomore Collin Goldberg for a 29-yard catch to put the Bears at the seven yard line for a first down. Hamilton finished things out with the seven-yard touchdown and senior Chris Vartanian capped it with the extra point.
 
On the ensuing kickoff, North Park's Juan Nieves returned the ball for a 99-yard touchdown and Mike Messersmith hit the extra point to even the score 7-8 with 10:47 remaining in the first quarter.
 
WashU started the next drive at the 27, but Hamilton picked up four yards, the Vikings' Theo Smith forced a fumble and recovered the ball at WashU's 31.
 
North Park got down to the 14 on the following drive, but due to a series of holding calls that pushed them back, they were unable to do anything and turned it over on downs.
 
WashU was able to capitalize on its next drive, starting with a Rush pass to Goldberg for nine yards. Rush followed that up with a 21 yard pass to first-year Fred Ware for a first down. Hamilton notched another first down on a 14-yard rush from Hamilton which put the Bears at the 28. Goldberg caught a 28-yard touchdown pass from Rush and Vartanian's kick was good, giving WashU a 14-7 edge.
 
Following another punt from the Vikings, WashU added another touchdown to the scoreboard, starting with a three-yard pass from Rush to Ware and Ware followed that with a one-yard run to the 34. After a WashU timeout, Rush found senior Cole Okmin for a 34-yard touchdown pass. Vartanian nailed the extra point for the 21-7 lead with 4:48 left in the first quarter.
 
The Bears scored on their next drive as well, after senior Kieran Conjar intercepted a North Park pass at the 42.
 
Toby Clark started WashU's drive with a six-yard run and Rush hit Danny Taylor for a nine-yard gain. Rush found Clark for three yards and Hamilton followed that with a 24-yard touchdown run. Vartanian once again hit the extra-point kick, giving the Bears a 28-7 lead heading into the second quarter.
 
The Vikings had the ball at the start of the second quarter and despite a 13-play, 69-yard drive, they could not convert a touchdown. Messersmith attempted a 32-yard field goal but it was short, giving WashU the ball.
 
Although the Bears opened up the next drive with a loss of two yards, Ware then picked up six yards and Rush launched a 31-yard pass to Okmin for a first down at the 45. The Bears moved up to thhe 30 on a pass interference call and Ware notched five yards.
 
Following a WashU timeout, Rush found Collin Hoyhtya for a 25-yard touchdown pass, which was followed by a converted extra-point kick from Vartanian, giving the Bears a 35-7 lead with just over six minutes remaining in the first half.
 
The Vikings scored on the next drive, which lasted 10 plays and 75 yards.
 
Quarterback Matt Eck found Bryan Boyd for a 12-yard pass and Marcel love ran for nine yards on two runs to the Viking's 43. Dante Cerasuolo picked up two yards and Eck hit Cerasuolo for 12-yards for a first down at the 40. Love recorded 11 yards on three runs before North Park moved up another 15 yards on a WashU pass interference. Cerasuolo ran one yard to put the Vikings on the two but then lost two yards and North Park was called for illegal procedure, getting pushed back to the six. Eck found Joseph Kalas on the next play for a 6-yard touchdown and Messersmith's kick was good for a 35-14 WashU lead.
 
The Bears opened the second half with drive that resulted in a punt from first-year Andrew Grisack. North Park ended up punting on its next drive as well, giving WashU the ball.
 
Rush was sacked for a loss of one yard on the first play of the drive, but Hamilton picked up seven yards on the following play. WashU then recorded a first down as North Park's defense was called for offside. Hamilton ran for three more yards before catching a 36-yard pass from Rush, but holding on WashU pushed the Bears back plus 10 yards, putting them at the 46.
 
Ware ran for 36 yards on the next play and completed the drive for WashU with another 10-yard touchdown run. Vartanian's kick was good, bumping the Bears' lead to 42-14.
 
North Park punted on the next drive and then intercepted Rush's ball at its own 22, which led to a Vikings' touchdown.
 
Eck hit Cerasuolo for five yards, one yard and two yards, respectively. Then the Bears were called for pass interference, pushing the Vikings ahead 15 yards to their own 45. Following a loss of two yards, Eck launched a 57-yard hurl to Hunter Gibson for a touchdown. Messersmith's kick was good, cutting WashU's lead to 42-21.
 
The Bears scored again to open up the fourth quarter. Rush found Hamilton for eight yards to the 41 before Hamilton unleashed for a 59-yard touchdown run. Vartanian's kick was good, giving the Bears the 49-21 lead with 14:09 left in the game.
 
WashU's defense held North Park to just three yards on the following drive, forcing the Vikings to punt.
 
The Bears, however, were also forced to punt on the following drive, but Brad Hamilton intercept Eck's pass, giving WashU the ball again.
 
Following two more punts, WashU added another touchdown, starting with a one-yard rush from Ware. Rush hit Clark for an eight-yard game before Ware picked up five yards on three runs. Following a WashU timeout, Rush completed a 28-yard pass to Gabriel Sirek and then a 23-yard touchdown pass to Treyton Lamphier. Vartanian's kick was good, giving WashU the 56-21 lead which held until the final horn.
 
Offensively, Rush went 18-for-24 with 279 yards passing and four touchdowns. Hamilton led the Bears with 165 yards rushing on 14 attempts and three touchdowns. Ware finished with 71 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown. Okmin led the Bears receiving, gaining 40 yards on four catches with one touchdown. Goldberg had 66 yards on three catches with one touchdown.
 
Defensively, Matthew Schmal recorded six solo and two assisted tackles with 0.5 tackles for a loss while Gus Christensen had five solo and one assistant with 0.5 tackles for a loss. Dalton Bingman notched five assisted tackles with one tackle for a loss.
 
Vartanian hit all eight of his extra point attempts.
 
WashU is back home next week with a 1 p.m. game against Illinois Wesleyan at Francis Olympic Field. At half time, WashU Athletics will celebrate the Bears' Fifth Place finish in the Learfield Directors' Cup during the 2021-22 school year.