Sun Prairie, Wis. – The Washington University in St. Louis football team ended its season with a 31-24 loss to UW-River Falls in the second annual Culver's Isthmus Bowl. The Bears finish the season 8-3.
 
After winning the toss, the Bears elected to defer until the second half, giving UW-River Falls the ball to start. The drive was short-lived, however, as after gaining just nine yards, the Falcons fumbled the ball and it was recovered by WashU's Kieran Conjar.
 
The Bears, however, couldn't capitalize on the recovery, and were forced to punt. Andrew Grisack's punt was blocked and recovered by UW-River Falls' Jake Halsey and returned 10 yards to the 27.
 
UW-River Falls only made it the 21 yard line and went for fourth and four, but came up three yards short giving WashU the ball back.
 
The next few drives were fruitless for both teams but the Bears finally broke through with just under three minutes left in the first quarter.
 
Quarterback Clark Stephens hit Collin Hoyhtya for a seven-yard pass and then launched a 53-yard pass to Collin Goldberg, which would have been a touchdown but the Bears were cited for unsportsmanlike conduct, pushing back 15 yards to the 20. Stephens, however, connected with Kenneth Hamilton on the next play for a 20-yard touchdown. Chris Vartanian's kick was good, putting WashU up 7-0.
 
The Falcons had the final drive of the quarter, starting with back-to-back Tim Oeun runs up the middle for a total of six yards. Quarterback Kaleb Blaha found Tanner Canfield for seven yards and Oeun ran again for another six yards. Blaha hit Canfield for a 19-yard pass to put the Falcons on the 30 and then ran up the middle for two yards. Blaha hit Luke Kush for a 27-yard pass to the one yard line, but then loss two yards on the next run. Blaha pitched it to Mason Van Zeeland for two yards, ending the first quarter.
 
UW-River Falls opened the second quarter with a touchdown on the first play, when Blaha ran for the final yard. Justin Scheberl's kick was good, tying things up 7-7.
 
After forcing WashU to punt, UW-River Falls scored again with 11:31 remaining in the first half.
 
Blaha hit Van Zeeland for a short two-yard pass and then connected with Jager Reissman for 10 yards to the 44. The Falcons, however, we hit with a holding penalty that cost them 10 yards. On the next play, Blaha found Michael Krueger for 14 yards and a first down and then pitched it to Aaron Childers for five yards. Blaha lost a yard on a run up the middle but then connected with Van Zeeland for a 36-yard touchdown pass. Scheberl's kick was good, giving the Falcons a 14-7 edge.
 
On the first play of WashU's next drive Stephens' pass was intercepted by Isaiah Karels.
 
The Falcons opened the drive with a 37-yard pass from Blaha to Andy Groeber to the four yard line for a first down. Oeun picked up two yards and Frank Hartman ran for back-to-back one-yard gains to score. Scheberl's kick was good, extending UW-River Falls' lead to 21-7 with 9:57 left in the first half.
 
The Bears were forced to punt on the next play, but got the ball back quickly as the WashU defense forced a fumble and it was recovered by Kollin Kolb.
 
Stephens' opening pass intended for Collin Hoyhtya, however, was intercepted by Andrew Schumacher.
 
After back-to-back punts from both teams, UW-River Falls added three points on a 36-yard field goal attempted by Scheberl with 22 seconds remaining. The Falcons went into half time with a 24-7 advantage.
 
WashU received the ball to start the third quarter.
 
Stephens hurled a 57-yard pass to Goldberg for a first down at the 11 yard line. Hamilton ran for four yards but Stephens was then sacked for a loss of 11 yards. On the next play, Stephens connected with Danny Taylor for a 12-yard pass and Cole Okmin caught a short six-yard touchdown pass with 12:02 remaining in the third quarter. Vartanian's kick was good, cutting UW-River Falls lead to 24-14.
 
It wasn't until early in the fourth quarter that either team scored again.
 
The Bears closed out the third quarter with back-to-back passes from Stephens to Okmin for seven and six yards, respectively, for a first down. WashU lost five yards on a false start to open the fourth quarter. On the following play, Stephens connected with Hamilton for 11 yards and then the Bears moved up another 15 yards on a UW-River Falls personal foul call.
 
Stephens found Hoyhtya for an 18-yard pass and a first down and then hit Taylor for back-to-back catches of four and 11 yards. Stephens pitched it short to Goldberg for seven yards a first down. After a loss and a couple of incomplete passes, the Bears elected to kick a field goal. Vartanian's 27 yard attempt was good to close the gap 24-17 with 11:14 remaining on the clock.
 
UW-River Falls scored its final points of the game with 8:53 left when Aaron Borgerding intercepted Stephens' pass and ran it 50 yards for a touchdown. Scheberl's kick was good, giving the Falcons a 31-17 lead which held until the end.
 
Stephens finished 34-for-66 with 431 yards and one touchdown, throwing five interceptions and was sacked five times.
 
Hamilton led the rushing efforts with 43 yards on 13 attempts with one touchdown. Goldberg led the receivers with 198 yards on eight receptions.
 
Defensively, Kieran Conjar had a team-high nine tackles with eight solo. Matthew Schmal tallied eight including six solo as well as one tackle for a loss. Gus Christensen had eight total tackles with six solo, one tackle for a loss, one sack and one pass breakup.