St. Louis, Mo. – The No. 21/23 Washington University in St. Louis football team suffered its first loss to No. 1 North Central, 31-0, on Saturday afternoon at Francis Olympic Field. The Bears are now 6-1 overall and 5-1 in the CCIW.
 
North Central won the toss and elected to receive, leading to a first-drive touchdown. Ethan Greenfield started things off with a 15-yard run followed by a two-yard run and Dangelo Hardy added another five yards to move the Cardinals up to the 47. They moved up another five yards following a WashU offside penalty. Quarterback Luke Lehnen found Greenfield for a nine-yard pass and Jake Johnson notched four yards. Terrence Hill ran for three yards and Johnson ran for another two yards before Greenfield ran three yards for a first down at the 19. Greenfield ran for another six yards before Lehnen hit Hardy for a 13-yard touchdown pass. Tanner Rains' kick was good, giving NCC a 7-0 edge with 8:15 remaining in the first quarter.
 
On the Bears first possession, senior quarterback Matt Rush hit Cole Okmin for eight yards and Kenneth Hamilton ran for 12 yards for a WashU first down at its own 45. Hamilton picked up another five yards before Rush ran for a loss of one yard. The Bears were forced to punt after a penalty, putting the ball back in the Cardinals' possession.
 
North Central scored again on the following possession, starting with a 22-yard pass from Lehnen to Alec Wolff for a first down. Greenfield ran for 14 yards but the Cardinals were then hit with an unnecessary roughness penalty, losing 15 yards. Greenfield made up for it with back-to-back rushes of four and seven yards, respectively before Lehnen found Hardy for a nine-yard pass. Lehnen then hit John Michael Scumaci for nine more yards and Johnson ran for four yards.
 
Hill ran for 18 yards and Greenfield picked up eight yards on two carries before Lehnen ran it in for a one-yard touchdown. Rains' kick was good, giving the Cardinals a 14-0 advantage.
 
The Bears started their next drive with just 28 second left in the first quarter. WashU lost five yards due to a false start and Matt Rush found Okmin for five yards to end the quarter. Rush hit Goldberg for eight yards and then launched a 26-yard pass to Collin Hoyhtya for a first down at the 30. Hamilton ran for five yards then two yards before catching a 16-yard pass from Rush but fumbling it. The ball was recovered by North Central's Nic Rummell.
 
The Cardinals went on to score again on the following drive to make it a 21-0 game.
 
Greenfield ran for eight yards followed by four yards for a first down and Lehnen hit Rory Hills with a 15-yard pass for another first down at NCC's 29. Hill picked up 18 yards and Lehnen hit Hardy for 13 yards for a first down at the 40. Greenfield ran for five yards and Joe Sacco recorded six yards on two runs. Hill ran again for another yard before Lehnen drilled Hardy with a 28-yard touchdown pass. Rains' kick was good.
 
The Bears had their deepest drive yet on the next possession.
 
Rush hit Hoyhtya for 17 yards for a first down at the Bears' 42. Fred Ware had back-to-back rushes for three and two yards, respectively and then Rush found Goldberg for four yards. Okmin picked up two yards and Ware ran for three. The Bears picked up a first down when Rush hit Goldberg for 13 yards. Following a loss of two yards and a sack for a loss of two yards, Rush hit Gabriel Sirek for 17 yards to the 18. Unfortunately, Rush's next pass was intercepted in the end zone by Zac Orr.
 
The Bears received to open the second half, but were forced to punt after only making it to their own 24.
 
North Central started its next drive with a 20-yard rush from Greenfield for a first down at the 47. Lehnen launched a 47-yard touchdown pass to Hardy and Rains' kick was good to give the Cardinals a 28-0 lead with 13:05 left in the third quarter.
 
The Bears struggled on the following drive with two sacks and a punt after only making it to their own 44.
 
Both North Central and WashU punted on the next possessions.
 
The Cardinals had the final possession of the third quarter which ultimately led to a field goal attempt from Rains, however the attempt was blocked by Hamilton and recovered by Kieran Conjar, putting the ball back in the Bears' hands.
 
WashU turned the ball over on downs on the following possession, after coming up one yard short of a first down.
 
The Cardinals went on to score again with just over two minutes left in the game. Lehnen hit Matt Robinson for a two-yard touchdown pass, but the play was called back following an ineligible downfield call. That set NCC up for a field goal attempt and Rain's 24-yard attempt was good.
 
Rush went 13-for-20 for 155 yards. Hamilton ran for 32 yards on eight carries and Goldberg led the receivers with 50 yards on four catches.
 
Defensively, Matthew Schmal had 13 total tackles, with six solo and 1.5 tackles for a loss.
 
WashU is back in action next weekend at Elmhurst for a 1 p.m. kickoff before returning home for the last regular-season home game against Wheaton on Saturday, November 5.