The Washburn Ichabods traveled to South Dakota this past Thursday night and received their first victory of the season against the University of South Dakota Sioux Falls Cougars, 33-17.

The releases of two key players caused speculation and criticism as to whether or not the team would be able to recover, but Washburn head coach Craig Schurig knew otherwise. 

“The biggest thing is we feel like we have good players here with us,” said Schurig.  “So I think our guys played the way they expected to play.  Obviously the first game you’re going to have some mistakes, but overall, particularly the first half, they played pretty well.”

One player in particular had the best performance of his career, Washburn senior quarterback, Dane Simoneau.  Simoneau was 27 for 40 throwing for 452 yards, accompanied by five touchdowns, three of which came within the first quarter, and only one interception. 

“I feel like I did alright,” Simoneau said.  “It was an overall good team effort.  I think I got tackled once or twice the whole game which is always nice.  I give credit to the offensive line they did a nice job handling the pressure.”

       Early in the first quarter during the Ichabod’s first drive sophomore tight end Tore Hurst put Washburn on the board, 7-0 after a 10-yard reception.  Senior running back, Justin Cooper followed up with the second touchdown of the quarter with a 47-yard reception.  Towards the final minutes of the first quarter sophomore wide reciever, Matt Kobeman would be the third Ichabod to complete a touchdown pass extending the Ichabod’s lead to 21-0.  Opening the second quarter Sioux Falls’ sophomore quarterback, Carrington Hanna rallied the Cougars to Washburn’s 30-yard line, only to be intercepted by the first of two picks by Washburn senior linebacker/safety, Marty Pfannenstiel.  After two first down drives the play resulted in Simouneau’s first interception of the season by the Cougar’s junior linebacker, Eric Anderson.  Fortunately, Washburn’s defense prevailed and forced Sioux Falls to punt after a sack by senior defensive end, Cameron Jackson.  After a scoreless quarter, Washburn’s Simouneau completed a 10-yard pass with 2:44 left in the half to sophomore wide receiver, Dejuan Beard for their fourth score of the game.  Inside the two minute warning the Cougars would respond with a touchdown wrapping up the first half, 27-7.

      With a series of incomplete passes and rushes for negative yardage the beginning of the third quarter brought no good news or score to the Ichabods.  Sioux Falls would be the first to take a crack at the scoreboard with a touchdown reception by junior wide receiver, Jeremiah Oates.  Washburn’s final touchdown would come in the last eighteen seconds of the quarter with a reception by sophomore wide receiver, Ronnell Garner.  The last score of the game would be a field goal by Sioux Falls making the final score, 33-17.  Although the Ichabods dominated many aspects of the game, they also racked up a few turnovers as well as numerous penalties.  Head Coach Craig Schurig will make this the primary focus of this week’s practices.

      “That is our big push this week, to correct the penalties and also ball security,” said Schurig.

      The Ichabods will face off against Lincoln University at 6pm on September 8, at Washburn’s very own Yager Stadium.