Decatur, Ill. – The RV Washington University in St. Louis football team defeated Millikin 63-13 to open CCIW play. It is the most points the Bears have scored since scoring 70 in 2015. WashU is now 2-0 on the year and 1-0 in conference play.
 
The Bears scored on their first drive of the game. After stopping Millikin at the 42 and forcing a punt, quarterback Matt Rush started things off with a six-yard pass to Collin Hoyhtya. Kenneth Hamilton picked up two yard and five yards, respectively, for a first down at the 45.
 
Rush connected with Hoyhtya again for a 12-yard pass and Hamilton ran for 21 yards and a first down at the 12. He picked up another nine yards on two runs and first-year Levi Moore finished the job with a three-yard touchdown run. The kick attempt was good, making it a 7-0 game for the Bears.
 
With 20 seconds left on the clock in the first, Millikin's Carter Hocq had a loss of 12 yards and fumbled the ball, which was recovered by Matthew Schmal to give WashU the ball back.
 
The Bears got just one snap off at the end of the first, a nine-yard pass from Rush to Fred Ware, putting the Bears on the 10 at the start of the second quarter.
 
Following a loss of four yards, Rush hit Collin Goldberg for a 14-yard touchdown pass and Ross Muchnick's kick was good, putting the Bears up 14-0.
 
After forcing a Millikin punt and starting the drive at their own 27, the Bears scored again when Ware unleashed for a 73-yard touchdown, the longest of his career thus far. Muchnick hit the extra point again, giving the Bears a 21-0 lead.
 
WashU's defense forced another punt and the Bears went on to score again on the ensuing drive. Rush hit Hamilton for a 16-yard pass to the 41, giving WashU a first down. Hamilton followed that with a 26-yard gain to the 33 and Taidhgin Trost caught a five-yard pass from Rush to put the Bears at the 28. Kenvorris Campbell finished things off with a 28-yard touchdown run and the kick was good, making it a 28-0 game with 7:33 remaining in the second half.
 
WashU continued the offensive dominance, scoring on its first drive of the second half.
 
Starting on their own 40, Hamilton picked up six yards and Rush hit Hoyhtya for 16 yards, putting the Bears on the 38. Hamilton had a big gain of 28 yards to move up to the 10. Following a fumble, Moore recovered the ball and scored. Muchnick converted the extra point to put WashU ahead 35-0.
 
Millikin put its first points on the board on the next drive. Hocq hit Chord Miller for a three-yard pass and then found Javieon Wallace for 11 yards. Hocq and Wallace connected again for seven yards to put the Big Blue on the 49 and Matthew Salazar followed with a run for two yards. Hocq kept the ball for a two-yard gain and Salazar picked up another yard.
 
Nate Light sacked Hocq for a loss of six yards to push Millikin back to the 38. Hocq followed with a nine-yard pass to Miller and then launched a 40-yard pass to Miller to give Millikin a first down at the one yard line. Hocq kept the ball to finish the play and score a one-yard touchdown for a 35-6 game.
 
After back-to-back drives that resulted in nothing for either team, the Bears scored again with 3:05 remaining in the third.
 
Campbell ran for 33 yards to put the Bears at their own 48 with a first down. He followed it up with runs of four, three and 20 yards, respectively, giving WashU a first down at the 25. The Bears gained another five yards following an illegal substitution. WashU scored on the next play as Rush hit Goldberg for a 20-yard pass. Muchnick's kick was good, putting the Bears up 42-6 with 2:57 remaining in the third quarter.
 
Millikin started its next drive with a 30-yard pass from Hocq to Ezra Burtis for a first down at the 30. The Bears, however, stopped them in their tracks on the following play when Miller fumbled the ball and Light recovered it at the 35.
 
The Big Blue went down to score on their next drive. Hocq hit Miller for a seven-yard pass and then found Wallace for three yards. Hocq launched the ball for a 54-yard pass to Wallace for a touchdown. David Ramirez hit the extra-point kick, making it a 42-13 game heading into the fourth quarter.
 
The Bears started the fourth quarter with the ball on their own 34. Hamilton picked up five yards before Clark Stephens hit Jackson Camarata for nine yards and a first down. Hamilton added another six yards to put the Bears on the 46.
 
First-year Makael Carter pulled down a 46-yard pass from Stephens, scoring his first career touchdown with 12:05 left in the fourth. Muchnick hit the extra point, putting the Bears up 49-13.
 
On the Big Blue's next drive, they reached their own 48 before Enzo Rendina intercepted Hocq's pass and returned it 37 yards to the 11.
 
The Bears needed to just one play to score, as Stephens connected with Carter again for an 11-yard touchdown with 11:06 remaining. Muchnick's kick was good, putting the Bears up 56-13.
 
WashU's defense came up with another recovered fumbled on the following drive. Hocq fumbled at the 18 and the ball was recovered by Brady Willmer, giving the Bears the ball again.
 
The Bears scored their final touchdown with 9:17 remaining in the game.
 
After a six-yard loss and an incomplete pass, WashU was third-and-16. Quarterback Connor Dechiro hit Trost for a 16-yard touchdown pass and Muchnick's kick was good, making it a 63-13 ball game.

As a team, the Bears had 586 yards of total offense – 371 rushing and 215 passing. WashU's quarterbacks – Rush, Stephens and Dechiro – went 14-for-24 with five touchdowns and no interceptions.
 
Hamilton led the Bears with 135 rushing yards on 14 attempts. Campbell tallied 116 yards on eight attempts and Ware had 82 yards on three attempts.

Carter led the receivers with 57 yards on two receptions and two touchdowns. Hoyhtya had 56 yards on four receptions and Goldberg totaled 47 yards on three receptions with two touchdowns.

Defensively, WashU held Millikin to -8 yards rushing.
 
Rendina had five total tackles (4 solo, 1 assist) with one interception while Ryan Schmadtke and Johnathan Smith each had five solo tackles with one tackle for a loss. Jack Costello had four tackles (2 solo, 2 assists) with a pass breakup and Andrew Dotson finished with four solo tackles.
 
The Bears host Carthage next Saturday, September 23 at 1 p.m. in the home opener at Francis Olympic Field.