ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The (RV) Washington University in St. Louis football team edged Illinois Wesleyan 42-40 in an exciting game under the lights on Saturday evening at Francis Olympic Field. The Bears are now 3-1 overall with a 2-1 mark in CCIW play.

After WashU won the toss and deferred, the Titans began their drive with a two-yard run from Danny Kent. Quarterback Dermot Smyth threw an incomplete pass to Cooper King, but the Bears were whistled for a face mask penalty, moving IWU up 15 yards to their own 42.

Malik Gray ran for two yards, followed by another three. Smyth hit GB Kruzick for 12 yards and a first down at the WashU 41. Smyth then connected with Michael Barnes Jr. for a 41-yard touchdown. AJ Varvrik's kick was wide, making it a 6-0 game.

WashU answered on its first drive of the game. Senior Fred Ware started things off with a 26-yard run and then added another nine yards, followed by two more yards for a first down at the 32. Junior Matthew Kinoshita picked up a yard before junior quarterback Levi Moore hit junior Makael Carter for a 31-yard touchdown pass. Sophomore Matias Adrogue's kick was good, putting WashU up 7-6.

On IWU's ensuing drive, Kent ran for four yards to start things off, and Smyth connected with Jimmy Deacy for 21 yards and a first down at the 47. Kent ran for another three yards and then hit Barnes Jr. for 12 yards and another first down at the 38.

Smyth kept the ball and ran for nine yards, followed by Kent picking up eight yards before losing one yard. Smyth hit Will Nazha for 15 yards for a first down at the seven. On the next play, the Bears were whistled for a face mask penalty, moving IWU to the three-yard line. Smyth finished it himself with a three-yard run for a touchdown, and Varvrik's kick was good, giving IWU a 13-7 lead.

The Bears ended the first quarter at their own 45 and reached IWU's 14 to start the second quarter, but Moore's pass was intercepted by Nathan Frank and returned to the 20. The Bears' defense, however, forced the Titans to punt on their next drive from the 39.

WashU opened its next drive with a nine-yard pass from Moore to sophomore Lucas Blumenthal. Kinoshita ran for four yards and a first down at the 33. Kinoshita ran for another 10 yards for another first down at the 43.

Following an incomplete pass, Kinoshita added five more yards before Moore ran for 11 yards and a first down at the 41. Kinoshita picked up another eight yards before the Bears were whistled for a false start, moving back five yards to the 38. Moore ran for six yards to the 32 and then another two yards for a first down.
Ware rushed for eight yards to the 22 and then picked up a first down following a 14-yard run to the eight-yard line. Ware went on to score the final eight yards with just 26 seconds remaining in the first half, and Adrogue's kick was good for a 14-13 WashU lead at the half.

The Bears received the ball to start the third quarter. On second-and-10, Ware ran for 15 yards for a first down at the 37 and then picked up one more yard. Following an incomplete pass, the Titans were called for offside, moving the Bears up to the 31. Ware picked up another four yards before Moore connected with junior Drew Bomar for a 17-yard touchdown. Adrogue's kick was good, extending WashU's lead to 21-13 with 11:49 remaining in the third.

After a four-and-out on IWU's next drive, the Bears began their drive with four runs from Kinoshita totaling 29 yards. Following an incomplete pass, Kinoshita finished the job with a 30-yard touchdown run. Adrogue's kick was good for a 28-13 WashU lead.

On the ensuing kickoff, Danny Kent returned the ball for an 80-yard touchdown; however, Varvrik's kick was no good, making it a 28-19 game.
The Bears punted on their next drive, and Illinois Wesleyan did as well before the Bears began their next scoring drive.

Moore connected with Blumenthal for six yards, and Kinoshita ran for 11 yards and a first down at the 40. Moore kept the ball and ran for 27 yards to the IWU 33, and Kinoshita ran for 19 yards to the 14 to end the third quarter with a first down.

Kinoshita ran four yards to start the fourth quarter, and Moore closed out the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run. Adrogue's kick was good, pushing the Bears' lead to 35-19.

After a rush that resulted in no gain, Smyth hit Nazha for a short two-yard pass. The pair connected again for a 14-yard pass and a first down at the 36. Following back-to-back incomplete passes, Smyth hit Nazha again for 23 yards and a first down at the WashU 41.

Smyth hit Kruzick for 17 yards and a first down at the 24 before keeping the ball and running for 14 yards. Smyth and Nazha connected once more for a 10-yard touchdown pass. The Titans went for a two-point conversion but were unsuccessful, making it a 35-25 game with just under 10 minutes left to play.

The Bears began their next drive with eight yards from Moore on two runs before Ware unleashed a 53-yard touchdown run. Adrogue's kick was good, extending the Bears' lead to 42-25.

The Titans began their next drive at the 30. Following an incomplete pass, Smyth hit Nazha for seven yards and then kept the ball and ran for 17 yards for a first down at the 46. Smyth followed with a 20-yard pass to Nazha and then connected with Nazha again for three yards.

The duo continued to find each other as Smyth passed to Nazha for 10 yards and a first down at the 13. Smyth kept the ball and picked up nine yards before Gray closed it out with a one-yard touchdown run. Smyth ran it in for the two-point conversion, making it a 42-33 game with 3:32 remaining.

IWU recovered the onside kick to give them the ball back. Smyth started things off with a six-yard run. Following two incomplete passes, the Titans were called for a false start, losing five yards to their own 47. Smyth connected with Kruzick for 18 yards and a first down at the 35.

The pair connected again for 15 yards to the 20, and Smyth followed with a 17-yard pass to Nazha. Gray picked up one yard before Smyth ran the final two yards for a touchdown. Varvrik's kick was good, cutting the Bears' lead to 42-40 with just over one minute remaining.

WashU had 508 yards of total offense (87 passing, 421 rushing), while IWU had 418 yards of total offense (313 passing, 105 rushing).

Moore went 7-for-19 for 87 yards and two touchdowns. Kinoshita led the Bears with 167 yards on 18 carries with one touchdown, and Ware had 159 yards on 17 carries with two touchdowns. Bomar led the receivers with 35 yards on three catches with one touchdown, while Carter had 31 yards on one catch with a touchdown.

Defensively, junior Joy Chane had seven total tackles (1 solo, 6 assists) with one tackle-for-loss, while junior Spencer Snipe had seven total tackles (2 solo, 5 assists) with 0.5 tackles-for-loss, and senior Ryan Schmadtke had seven total tackles (3 solo, 4 assists). Junior Kellen Fraile had six total tackles (3 solo, 3 assists) with 0.5 tackles-for-loss.

The Bears hit the road next weekend for a 1 p.m. game at Carthage on Saturday. They are back home on Saturday, October 18, at 1 p.m. against Elmhurst, which will be Alumni Day, Military Appreciation Day, and Neighbors Day.