After last week’s major win against Elmhurst, Illinois Wesleyan football geared up for another victory in St. Louis. Instead, the Bears took down the Titans 38-22. This defeat leaves IWU football at 1-4 so far this season and WashU was bumped to 3-2.
Both teams kept up a steady pace for the first half of the game. By the time halftime rolled around, the Bears and the Titans were tied at 14-14.
Minutes into the first quarter, WashU made a one-yard touchdown, but the Titans would not let those points go unmatched. Senior Wesley Watson caught sophomore quarterback Sage Schindler’s 58-yard pass in the endzone. Junior Andrew Stange kicked the extra point for the Titans, bringing the score to an even 7-7.
WashU managed to add another seven to the score before the first quarter ended, giving the Bears a 14-7 lead.
Senior running back Hamid Bullie scored in the second quarter on a on-yard touchdown run to cap off a 12-play drive by the Titans.
As the third quarter progressed, the Bears pulled off an extra 14 unanswered points, bringing the score to a wide 22-14 gap. WashU added to their lead in the fourth quarter with another 28 points, expanding their already commanding lead to 38-14.
With 4:13 left on the clock, the Titans were ready to pull out all the stops to narrow the divide. Schindler made one more seven-yard touchdown pass to senior tight end Zach Tencza. Tencza connected, finishing the Titans at 38-22.
Schindler finished out the game with 19 completed passes out of 30, two touchdowns, two interceptions, and 264 offensive yards in the air.
The team high 101 yards rushed by Bullie led to one Titan touchdown. Alongside Bullie were senior Anthony Marre with 41 rushing yards and sophomore Seth Albin with 30 yards.
Tencza’s 58-yard touchdown catch made up part of his 113-yard receiving total. Watson added another 81 yards, followed by junior Charlie Hamilton with 40 receiving yards.
Senior Skyler Metzger and sophomore Connor Nigro contributed nine tackle apiece for the Titans’ defense. Metzger also led with one sack. Senior Daniel Gibbons was right behind Metzger, contributing eight tackles and 0.5 sacks.
Junior Connor Murphy led defense in sacks with a team high of 1.5, along with five tackles.
Illinois Wesleyan also brought home another team recognition this week. D3football.com is a website run by ex-Division III players and sports journalists known for creating a weekly roster using the top performances from each position. This time, D3football.com added Tencza and Metzger to their Team of the Week.
Following their performances in last week’s Homecoming victory against Elmhurst, Tencza and Metzger filled the tight end and linebacker spots, respectively. Both players listed together marks the first time in Wesleyan history that two Titans hold spots on the Team of the Week simultaneously.
Tencza, Metzger and the rest of the Titan football team will return to the field on Saturday, October 16 for a home game matchup against Millikin University. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00.