St. Louis, Mo., September 6, 2014 – The Washington University in St. Louis football team suffered a 31-24 loss to Ohio Northern University in the season opener for both teams Saturday afternoon at Francis Field in St. Louis. Ohio Northern scored 31-unanswered points after Washington U. built a 17-0 first-quarter lead.
"They made some big plays in there and we're still trying to figure out our identity. Even when it was 17-0 we didn't think we had this game won," said Washington University in St. Louis head coach Larry Kindbom. "As coaches we knew that we were having some issues, and the thing was that they weren't making some plays and we were starting to pick up some steam."
Washington U. took advantage of a turnover by Ohio Northern on its first possession after sophomore defensive lineman Josiah Situmeang picked off Ohio Northern quarterback Patrick Angle on the ONU 35-yard line. Situmeang gathered the ball after it was deflected at the line of scrimmage for the first INT of his career.
Nine plays later, sophomore quarterback J.J. Tomlin found senior wide receiver Will Smith open in the end zone for a touchdown. The extra point by junior kicker Alex Hallwachs made it 7-0 with 11:11 left in the first quarter.
Washington U.'s defense continued to keep the ONU offense in check, and good field position resulted in a 36-field goal by Hallwachs to push the lead to 10-0. The WUSTL defensive allowed three first downs and just 32 yards in the opening quarter.
After the Bears' defense forced its third punt of the first quarter, Washington U. capped a 14-play, 77-yard drive when Tomlin found sophomore wide receiver Zach Strittmatter for a two-yard touchdown pass to make it 17-0 with 13:16 left in the second.
Ohio Northern (1-0) trimmed the lead to 17-3 after a 21-yard field goal by Terrance Jones, and then a 69-yard screen pass from Angle to Devon Price made it 17-10 with 5:41 to play before half. Justin Magazine capped a two-play, 56-yard drive with a 10-yard TD run to tie the score at 17-17, and then a four-yard run by Angel with 0:32 seconds left before half made it 24-17. Washington U.'s defense allowed 249 yards of offense in the second quarter.
Ohio Northern had a 281-218 advantage in total offense in the opening half. Tomlin was 17-of-25 for 122 and two TDs, while sophomore running back Austin Smestad gained 48 yards on the ground. Each team scored in their three red zone chances.
After ONU forced a WUSTL punt on the opening possession of the third quarter, the Polar Bears continued to pour it on the offensive end after Angel capped an 80-yard drive with a 12-yard touchdown run. The TD for Angle was his second of the game and pushed the lead to 31-17 with 5:11 left in the third.
Washington U. put a stop to the 31-straight points by Ohio Northern after Tomlin found Strittmatter for a two-yard touchdown reception with 3:12 to play in the third to trim the lead to 31-24.
Ohio Northern put together a six-minute drive that got the clock under four minutes, and had a chance to ice the game, but Andrew DiMario's 31-yard field goal was blocked by junior Quincy Marting to give the Bears one last chance. Washington U. drove to midfield on the ensuing possession, but had a turnover on downs.
"Obviously, there's a little disappointment there, but in terms of the way we were playing it was hard," Kindbom added. "It's fun to watch your offense score those points, and control the football and move the ball, and I keep thinking that defensively when we begin to find that identity, we could have a pretty good situation here."
Tomlin was 28-for-42 for 228 and three touchdowns in his first career start. Senior running backZach Lonneman led the rushing attack with 58 yards on 17 carries, while Smestad had 48 yards on 12 carries. Strittmatter had a career-high 10 receptions for 53 yards and two touchdowns to lead the receiving corps.
Senior linebacker Jonathan Paramore and senior defensive back Patrick Cantwell each had a career-high 13 tackles in the loss for Washington U. Ohio Northern had a 492-348 advantage in total offense. Junior punter Alec Stanke led the special teams unit with five punts for a 41.4 average with a long of 46, while sophomore Dylan Newcomb had six kickoff returns for 113 yards (18.8 average).
Washington University (0-1) plays its first road game of the 2014 season Saturday, Sept. 13, at Rhodes College. Game time is set for 6 p.m. at Fargason Field in Memphis.
Bear Notebook: Washington U. and Ohio Northern met for the first time in school history … The loss ended the Bears' seven-game regular-season winning streak … The Bears are 18-8 in season openers under Kindbom … Washington U. had its 24-game win streak dating back to 2007 when scoring 21 or more points.