Saturday’s game against Northwest Missouri State was eye opening to say the least for the Washburn Ichabods. In a game where NWMSU seemed to make no mistakes, while Washburn made plenty, the Bearcats continually punished the Ichabods on both sides of the ball.

By the time the last second ticked off the clock the Bearcats had forced six interceptions and had finished off the Bods 56-6.

Coming into the season the Ichabods had question marks on the offensive side of the ball and through the course of the season it was thought that those questions had been answered. Unfortunately the Bearcats contended that analysis and showed just how far the Ichabods have yet to develop.

“We worried too much about what other people’s jobs were and didn’t focus on our individual jobs,” said Jaime Myers, freshman linebacker. “Our assignments were mandatory to be done and we failed to do so on every snap. We have to be more mentally prepared.”

Tandem quarterbacks have been the recipe for Washburn all season long and success for the most part found its way to both of them. But against Northwest Missouri things took a turn for the worse. After Mitch Buhler threw three interceptions by the second quarter, backup Joel Piper came in with the hopes that he could turn them around and be productive. It was not to be, as Piper matched Buhler’s three interceptions with three of his own.

The pair of quarterbacks totaled 175 yards together with Buhler throwing the lone touchdown for the Bods on a 36-yard strike to Jordan Hart.. The Bearcats used only one quarterback, Adam Trevor, who threw for 216 yards and three touchdowns.

Defensively the Ichabods gave up 406 total yards of offense compared with the Bearcats who only allowed 246 yards.

“We just didn’t play fundamental football,” said Willie Williams, linebacker for the Ichabods. “We didn’t get out ran or out powered, they just executed their scheme better than we could execute ours.”

The disappointment was felt throughout the team but they are treating this as a learning experience and now have to look ahead to next Saturday’s game in St. Joseph, Mo. against the Missouri Western State Griffons. The Griffons are ranked No. 11, while the Ichabods fresh off their loss, are now ranked No. 25.

After the loss to the Bearcats, the Ichabods are now on the outside looking in at the post-season playoffs. They will need certain things to fall into place starting with winning the rest of their games this season. The rest will be out of their hands as they watch and wait to see what the other teams do in the final weeks.

“We win as a team and lose as one,” said Jake Cervantes, junior defensive tackle. “We gotta fix some mental mistakes and prepare for Western. We can’t dwell on the past and the things we can’t change. It’s a new week and we’re facing a new opponent.”